Mayoral Matters | March 21, 2025
Published on 21 March 2025
These past few weeks councillors have once again been kept busy with meetings, celebrations in St Arnaud and Stawell for International Women’s Day, Council Plan workshops and a Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Stakeholder Engagement Workshop.
A big thank you to councillors and our amazing staff for your time and commitment to our community to help these events run successfully.
On Thursday last week, our CEO, two directors and I met with the Local Government Minister Nick Staikos MP and the Deputy Leader of the opposition, Sam Groth MP.
Up at 5.45am we drove to Wendouree, where we caught the train to Melbourne. We did a lot of walking and a lot of talking, raising several issues such as: bushfire insurance; housing; red tape; the adequacy of the recent State Government financial support for small businesses after the bushfires; the impact of the emergency levy; and the restrictions around funding the waste charge.
We had a very educational and eventful day with some really good outcomes. Both ministers were very helpful and are willing to work with us to help where needed. After our conversations we were encouraged to keep advocating to government to reconsider the scope and structure of the business package to provide more targeted and financial relief for the 130 businesses impacted by the recent fires in the Grampians – which is what we will do for as long as needed.
While we are thankful for the $5000 in financial support from the State Government for businesses affected by the Grampians fires, the support measures fall significantly short of what is required to safeguard businesses and ensure their long-term sustainability.
This week we also had a catch-up with our Member for Lowan Emma Kealy and updated her following our meeting with the above ministers.
We also spoke about and showed our support for the campaign for the return of passenger rail to Stawell and Horsham, adding that we would also like to see rail siding in Stawell, ‘a short section of track branching off from a main line used for loading and unloading’. Some of our businesses have shown an interest in and a need for a rail siding in Stawell, as it is costly and time-consuming to transport goods to the Port of Melbourne.
I also had the wonderful opportunity to help celebrate Kenneth and Helene Greenbergers’ 70th wedding anniversary by presenting them with some flowers on behalf of council.
The CEO and I also visited and spoke with three businesses. It was great to hear their exciting new ventures planned and to hear that this year's Labour Day long weekend in the Grampians was busy – it is fantastic to see our beautiful Grampians receive much-needed support from visitors locally and far and wide.