National Reconciliation Week provides an opportunity promote reconciliation and an understanding of Indigenous culture. Maroondah celebrates Reconciliation Week through an official launch, as well as a series of events, including cultural awareness training.
This year I was invited to speak at the launch of National Reconciliation Week and the copy of speech is provided within this post:
Continue reading “Maroondah Celebrations for National Reconciliation Week”
This evening Maroondah City Council held its Statutory Meeting, whereby the Mayor is elected for the 2011 Council Year. While I have enjoyed the challenges experienced throughout this year I chose not to seek re-nomination as Mayor and Cr Tony Dib has been unanimously elected as Mayor for the oncoming Council year.
Maroondah is truly fortunate to have such a vibrant sense of community and I would like to thank the many community organisations and individuals that I have met throughout this year. While the volume of work undertaken as Mayor is immense it is also incredibly rewarding to meet the many people that are dedicated to their local community.
2010 has marked the year that Council delivered financial sustainability, ensuring that future Councils will be able to invest in community facilities and services. Maroondah City Council has finally reversed over 12 years of annual financial operating deficits to ensure that Council is able to meet future challenges. In addition, partnerships with neighbouring Councils have been strengthened and Maroondah is at the forefront of a newly formed alliance between the six Councils containing Central Activities Districts and the City of Melbourne.
Furthermore, Council has reaffirmed its commitment to Reconciliation through incorporating the Acknowledgement of Country at all Council events and Council meetings. Likewise, reforms to strengthen accountability and governance through encouraging debate and discussion were undertaken, including the rearrangement of the Council Chamber to ensure that Councillors are able to see members of the public present at Council meetings.
Council’s advocacy for an accessible, safe and integrated transit interchange for Ringwood proved successful and I congratulate the incoming State Government for their pledge to overhaul Ringwood Station.
Lastly, I would like to thank my colleagues for their support throughout this year, being Mayor is an incredible experience and I wish Cr Tony Dib all the best of success in the year ahead. I will be continuing as a Councillor for the Mullum Ward and I welcome feedback from residents and the community.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be signed between City of Melbourne’s Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle, and Mayors from the State Government’s six designated Central Activities Districts (CADs) – Frankston, Maroondah, Greater Dandenong, Hume, Maribyrnong and Whitehorse – on Monday 22 November at 9.30am in the Frankston City Council Chambers to officially cement their unanimous commitment to seek State Government support and funding to create the most productive, liveable and sustainable city centres.
The MOU acknowledges that mutual benefit can be derived by these municipalities through measures of mutual support, collaboration and by providing a united voice and joint approach to lobbying.
Frankston City Council Mayor, Cr Christine Richards said these six metropolitan hubs have been selected to attract people, investment and jobs and it is pivotal they remain supported to achieve the objectives of the State Government’s Melbourne 2030 and Melbourne @ 5 million strategies.
“This is a historical political event – the joining of Mayors to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome. The CAD municipalities are ready, willing and able to face the challenges ahead together to make our CADs thriving metropolises. However, we cannot do so without a whole-of-government commitment to CAD planning,” Cr Richards said.
Maroondah City Council Mayor, Cr Alex Makin, said despite the CADs individual differences, synergies do exist between the municipal city centres.
“This alliance means we can work co-operatively to provide a united voice with more weight that will give greater strength to plans and solutions to state-wide issues. We need a State Government supported implementation plan to ensure our city centres can achieve their designated potential,” said Cr Makin.
The Mayors’ will further discuss how to best achieve the objectives set out in the State Government’s Planning Policy Framework. The Mayors’ are unanimous that at a minimum CADs must:
“This Memorandum of Understanding between the Central Activities District Mayors and the Mayor of the City of Melbourne will allow for increased co-operation between our municipalities and allow us to jointly advocate for our key priorities,” Cr Makin said.
“Our main priority at a state level is to secure a long term funding commitment for the CADs. With Melbourne quickly becoming a city of many cities, we want to ensure certainty for the respective CADs, as well as bolstering the opportunity for all levels of governments to provide more services across greater metropolitan Melbourne”, Cr. Makin concluded.
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Throughout this year I have been focused on working cooperatively as a region to provide a regional perspective on issues and challenges facing Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
As Mayor, I have been working with the Mayors of Knox, Manningham, Whitehorse and the Shire of Yarra Ranges to deliver a cohesive approach to advocacy and priorities. An agreement for regional cooperation, has been signed between these councils and the Maroondah Leader has reported on this pledge:
Maroondah Mayor said the pact put the council in a better position to tackle issues affecting the region, such as transport and housing.
“Our aim is ensure that all levels of government are well aware of the issues we face in the eastern suburbs,” Cr Makin said.
The agreement, which is a first for Victoria, will deliver a collective voice for regional issues, through working together on activities that have common interest throughout the region.
In recent years the City of Maroondah has become home to refugees from Sudan, who have settled into the municipality to start a life within Australia. This evening, Maroondah’s Sudanese community prepared a traditional Sudanese meal to share with the Maroondah community, with the aim of bringing bring people together and to discuss common challenges facing people in the municipality.
Like many people within our community, Maroondah’s Sudanese population is finding it challenging to secure housing and employment opportunities and there is a need for all levels of government to work together in providing a diverse range of employment and housing options.
As the Mayor of Maroondah, I have assisted in the Sudanese community in establishing a dialogue with Central Ringwood Community Centre, with the aim of providing a meeting space for their community and thus encourage civic participation within the municipality.
While solutions to housing and employment focus on State and Federal Governments, local government can support this through delivering on a vision for the municipality. For example, the Ringwood Central Activities District aims to create a diverse range of employment opportunities and this will need to be reinforced through a range of housing types and community facilities.
I welcome Maroondah’s Sudanese community and thank them for the meal they have shared with the Maroondah community. The food, included lamb and cous cous with members explaining the different range of cuisines that exist within Sudan.
Transition Towns is a community based movement that aims to empower communities to respond to the challenges of peak oil and climate change.
Transition Towns aims to promote thinking globally and acting locally, through localised groups. Maroondah has a transition towns organisation that has established several working groups exploring strategies in developing a future that is resilient to climate change and peak oil.
This morning I met with the transport working group of Transition Towns Maroondah to discuss how council and the group can work together in promoting sustainable forms of transport.
Transport is Australia’s fastest growing source of greenhouse emissions and improvements to sustainable forms of transport, such as walking, cycling and public transport, are required to reduce car dependence and costs associated with the rising cost of petrol.
Transition Towns Maroondah aims to work collaboratively with Council and other community organisations to raise awareness and mitigate the challenges of climate change and peak oil.