economic development Archives

Maroondah 2010 Business Lunch with Tara Moss

Posted on 8 October 2010 by alex

The 2010 Maroondah Business Week was held from the 4th of October through to the 8th and offered a range of events to develop skills and business promotion, concluded with a networking lunch, featuring model and author Tara Moss, as the guest speaker.

The lunch is aimed specifically at women in business and Tara spoke about her life growing up in Canada, as well as her transition into modelling and her development as an author. Tara discussed the need to persevere with dreams and highlighted her passion for writing, which she developed as a student in primary school.

Alex with Tara Moss and Phil Turner, Director City Development, at the 2010 Maroondah Business Lunch

The lunch marks the conclusion of the 2010 Maroondah Business Week and the speech I provided to welcome guests to this event is available within this post:

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Maroondah Business Week Breakfast with David Schwarz

Posted on 6 October 2010 by alex

Maroondah Business Week is an annual Council initiated program that aims to promote and enhance businesses within the municipality. The Week consists of workshops, tours and networking events offering a range of activities to cater to the business sectors within Maroondah.

One of these events is the Maroondah Business Week Breakfast, which featured David Schwarz as the speaker. David was a former footballer and Vice-Captain for Melbourne Football Club and discussed the challenges he faced during this career, including a gambling addiction, which he spoke about candidly during the breakfast session.

Alex with David Schwarz and Cr Rob Steane at the 2010 Maroondah Business Week Breakfast

David’s openness set him apart from some of the speakers of other years and he spoke candidly about the difficulties in establishing a post football career. David’s comments reflect the need for ongoing perseverance and the advantages of networking within businesses and provided a number of parallels between his experiences and the challenges facing business.

As part of the proceedings I had the opportunity to introduce Maroondah Business Week and the speech I provided is available in this post:

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Media Release: Ensuring a sustainable financial future for Maroondah

Posted on 30 June 2010 by alex

Maroondah City Council’s Proposed Council Plan 2010-2014 and Proposed Budget 2010-2011 were formally adopted during Council’s Monday 28 June meeting. The documents highlight the key initiatives which underpin the planning and budget blueprints for the Maroondah community.

Mayor of Maroondah, Councillor Alex Makin, said the Council Plan set out a broad range of Council activities designed to assist Council and the community move towards the future, as identified in Maroondah 2025: A Community Planning Together.

“The Council Plan clearly details the range of strategies that will be adopted over the coming four years and outlines Council’s commitment to working in partnership with the community to foster quality and sustainable lifestyles,” Cr Makin said.

“There are eight themes within the Council Plan: community; economic development and employment; infrastructure; leisure and culture; natural environment; transport; urban design and development; governance and corporate support,” Cr Makin said.

“The 2010-2011 Budget outlines the provision of financial resources for the coming 12 months, and details how these resources will be applied to delivering the many services Council provides to the community,” Cr Makin said.

FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

“One of the key factors in this year’s Budget is providing the resources to bring forward the operational deficit that has existed in 12 out of the past 14 Council Budgets,” said Cr Makin.

“It is imperative that this Council draws a line in the sand to ensure that ongoing deficits are no longer acceptable. We must move our financial status into surplus as soon as possible to allow Council to be in the position to invest in community facilities and to meet our obligations now and into the future,” said Cr Makin.

“Council has determined that the operational surplus will now be brought forward to the 2012/13 financial year (three years earlier), commencing with the 2010/11 Budget,” said Cr Makin.

“The operating result for the 2010/11 year is planned at a $1.782 million deficit which halves that of the 09/10 Budget,” said Cr Makin.

“It is important to remember that rates and charges provide 63 per cent of Council’s operating revenue, with the remainder sourced from user charges, operating and capital grants and interest,” said Cr Makin.

“The cost of services delivered to the Maroondah community in 2010/2011 is expected to be $91 million, which is an increase of $6.2million over the 2009/2010 Budget,” said Cr Makin.

The Budget is based on a proposed general rate and charges increase of 9.8 per cent.

This increase is made up from:

CPI (taken from the December 2009 quarter)	3%
Infrastructure Levy	2.5%
New initiatives	2.5%
Regional Aquatic & Leisure Centre in Ringwood	1.1%
State Government imposed increase in Landfill Levy	0.7%

For the average ratepayer living in a median priced house in Maroondah this represents a $98.10 increase in annual rates and charges, or $1.88 extra per week.

“Maroondah remains one of the lowest rating councils in Victoria, with figures released this week by the Municipal Association of Victoria indicating Maroondah has the 7th lowest (per capita) rates and charges of 71 Victorian Councils,” said Cr Makin.

“When further assessing these figures, the six lower rating Councils (per capita) are much larger in population than Maroondah, and therefore benefit from substantial economies of scale as well as other sources of income,” said Cr Makin.

“In addition, at an average rate of $549 per head, Maroondah has the lowest rating of all nine Victorian Councils of similar size (90,000 to 120,000 people),” said Cr Makin.

INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES

“Council’s Budget provides the resources to ensure we are able to sustainably provide over 120 services to the 105,000 members of our community, as well as providing resources for a number of new initiatives,” said Cr Makin.

These new initiatives include

$445,000 to provide ongoing maintenance on new capital works projects, such as the new Ringwood multi-purpose shared sports pavilion and all weather synthetic surface
An additional $126,000 in funding to Ringwood and Croydon libraries provides books and computer access for all members of the community, with over 1 million library books borrowed each year
An extra $150,000 to be spent on bushland clearance and fire prevention works in our bush reserves
Additional $250,000 to ensure powerline clearance of trees throughout the municipality
Investment of $50,000 to develop the Heathmont Structure Plan to identify and plan for residential and community needs around this transport hub and shopping precinct
Additional $50,000 on striking new signage throughout Maroondah identifying parks, reserves and buildings, includes pedestrian/cycling signage

LEISURE FACILITIES – MEETING THE COMMUNITY’S FUTURE NEEDS

“The allocation of funding in the 2010-2011 Budget (1.1% of rate increase) will be used to develop the design work and continue the community consultation for the proposed Regional Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Ringwood, which will replace the existing Ringwood Aquatic Centre,” said Cr Makin.

“It is important that Council looks to the future to ensure that we meet the expectations and needs of the Maroondah community. A new regional aquatic and leisure facility is an exciting project that will generate enormous community benefit, and ensure significant leisure and aquatic facilities for the Maroondah community into the next 50 years,” said Cr Makin.

“Maroondah is maintaining its position as a lower rating council in metropolitan Melbourne and returning the budget to surplus allows us to deliver exciting projects like the proposed Regional Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Ringwood,” said Cr Makin.

The 2010-2011 Budget and 2010-2014 Council Plan will be available for viewing on the Maroondah City Council website at www.maroondah.vic.gov.au

– ENDS –

Business Expansion and Retention Program returns for 2010

Posted on 10 March 2010 by alex

The Maroondah Business Expansion and Retention Program consists of interviews with business owners and employers to provide quantitative and qualitative research into the challenges facing business within Maroondah.

This afternoon I accompanied the Maroondah Economic Development Unit with the interviews. The respondents provided similar feedback in regard to a generally optimistic economic outlook, as well as expressing interest in the business events organised by Council.

The feedback compiled during the Business Expansion and Retention Program will assist Council in updating its Economic Development Strategy to ensure that it is relevant to the needs of the business community.

Media Release: Reconciliation – Turning Words into Action

Posted on 6 May 2009 by alex

Maroondah’s National Reconciliation Week celebrations will get under way with a special launch in Ringwood on Wednesday 27 May.

The free celebration is open to the public and will feature a number of activities including the launch of Council’s Reconciliation Policy Statement. The event begins at 10am with a traditional Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony at Maroondah Federation Estate, 32 Greenwood Avenue, Ringwood.

Councillor Alex Makin said National Reconciliation Week – Wednesday 27 May to Wednesday 3 June – provided a chance for the community to celebrate unity and respect between all peoples in line with the event’s theme for 2009, Reconciliation: Turning Words into Action.

“A key aspect of Council’s pursuit of this theme will be the launch of our Reconciliation Policy Statement,” Cr Makin said.

“The Reconciliation Policy Statement outlines four key areas of Council’s commitment – cultural heritage and community education; economic development and employment; health and wellbeing; and governance – and identifies strategies to assist in achieving our vision,” Cr Makin said.

Cr Makin said National Reconciliation Week provided the Maroondah community with an opportunity to show their support for Indigenous Australians and the reconciliation process.

“The opening of this year’s celebrations in Maroondah will be marked by a traditional Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony, followed by a flag ceremony and a display by the One Fire Aboriginal Dance Troupe,” Cr Makin said.

“Students from local primary and secondary schools will round the day off with a ‘hands-on’ taste of Indigenous culture including clap stick making, story telling, basket coiling and Aboriginal dance & didgeridoo playing,” Cr Makin said.

Council’s Arts and Cultural Services will be exhibiting a community art project throughout National Reconciliation Week at Maroondah Federation Estate. The Crossing Cultures Experience has been produced by two local Indigenous artists working in-house with the Monkami Centre and Kalinda Primary School.

To find out more about the The Crossing Cultures Experience and the celebrations at Maroondah Federation Estate phone 9298 4553.

Elsewhere, an Indigenous program will be held at Yarrunga Community Centre on Wednesday 27 May. A movie screening and free workshops will feature, giving the Maroondah community an opportunity to become involved in a range of Indigenous-based experiences.

For more information about the program, phone Yarrunga Community Centre Program Manager Jeanette McRae on 9722 8942.

National Reconciliation Week was first celebrated in 1996 and is timed to coincide with two significant dates in Australia’s history.

The first date, 27 May, marks the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum when over 90 per cent of Australians voted to remove clauses from the Australian Constitution that discriminated against Indigenous Australians. The week of celebration concludes on 3 June, which marks the anniversary of the High Court of Australia’s Mabo decision in 1992 which recognised the Native Title rights of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

For further information on Maroondah’s National Reconciliation Week activities, phone Council’s Arts and Cultural Services team on 9298 4553.

Maroondah Movement for Reconciliation Meeting

Posted on 13 October 2008 by alex

This evening, after a meeting at Maroondah Council, Cr. Jo-anne Taylor and I attended a Maroondah Movement for Reconciliation (MMR) meeting.

Maroondah Movement for Reconciliation is one of two local groups that aim to raise awareness about Indigenous communities and culture. Tonight’s meeting included a presentation from the Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place to discuss the aims of the organisation.

The Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place is committed to the social, cultural and economic development of the Indigenous community. The Gathering Place operates on a community house based model and provides early childhood, youth, elderly, women’s and men’s programs.

The Gathering Place has recently leased a building at 47 Patterson Street in Ringwood East. In 2004 Wurundjeri Elder, Aunty Joy Murphy-Wandin named the property and its community Djerrnong, which means “many feet walking together”.

The name describes the journey that this community is undertaking to purchase Djerrnong to provide a permanent meeting place for Indigenous communities and to promote cultural understanding and respect.

For further details on the Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place please visit www.mmigp.org.au.

Further interviews for the Maroondah Business Expansion and Retention Program

Posted on 21 July 2008 by alex

This afternoon I accompanied Maroondah’s Economic Development team for another interview as part of Maroondah’s Business Expansion and Retention Program. The project aims to identify the key challenges facing businesses and to reinforce links between the business company and council.

The business we interviewed today was a large manufacturer and as such the issues facing this company were quite distinct to the challenges experienced by smaller manufacturers. Key challenges facing the company included the global economy and competition from developing countries, particularly in regard to research and development and labor.

Regardless of the size of the businesses being interviewed, it appears that in most cases employees tend to live fairly locally to their employer. This demonstrates that immense potential exists through initiatives such as the Ringwood Transit City, which aim to further provide lifestyle and employment opportunities to local Maroondah residents.

For more information on the programs available for business within Maroondah please visit www.bizmaroondah.com.au.

Delegates' Report: Reconciliation Week, engaging our youth, supporting people with disabilities and calling for an investment in public transport

Posted on 16 June 2008 by alex

While held slightly before Reconciliation Week I attended the screening of a film Liyarn Ngarn by Eastern Access Community Health on the 23rd of May. The screening was held as part of EACH’s Stage Club program at Lifeworks in Ringwood. Stage Club hosts film or life performances every third Friday and provides an opportunity for people with mental illnesses to learn skills relevant to the hospitality industry.

Liyarn Ngarn means ‘Coming Together of the Spirit’ in the Yawuru language of the West Kimberley region. The film is a documentary which explores the treatment of Indigenous Australians from the perspective of English actor Peter Postlethwaite. The film focuses on the journey undertaken by Peter, singer/songwriter Archie Roach and Patrick Dodson as they travel from Perth through to Archie Roach’s home country in south west Victoria. Throughout the journey they hear from personal accounts and discuss major turning points in the relationship with Indigenous Australians such as the Bringing them Home Report and the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Inquiry.

The film, which features a soundtrack by Archie Roach is a very moving and thought provoking documentary. The theme for this year’s Reconciliation Week was it’s all our story, representing that to progress reconciliation it will involve all of Australia coming together and I certainly encourage people to view the film and consider how reconciliation can become part of our story.

On the 30th of May I had the pleasure of officiating the Young Leaders Presentation Evening held at EV’s Youth Centre. The presentation provided an opportunity to acknowledge the twenty Year 10 students who participated in council’s young leaders program.

Young Leaders is a week long program that helps develop a wide variety of leadership skills, such as public speaking, communication and conflict resolution. The program is held during the school week and while some students may look forward a week off school, in reality it means that they will need to catch up on the work they have missed. Participating in the program is a huge responsibility and one which each student passed with superb results.

The presentation evening provides an opportunity to see firsthand the skills these students have learnt and I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Youth Services Team for facilitating the program and also to the schools and parents for their cooperation. I hope that these students will remember the skills they have learnt and use them not only in school and employment but also within the community. Many community groups would welcome the involvement of younger people and I hope they will use these skills to assist in strengthening our community.

On the 10th of June I attended the launch of Youth Voices at Ringwood Secondary College. Youth Voices will develop a magazine to provide a voice for our youth and to demonstrate the positive contribution that young people make within society. The launch began with an online interactive forum which covered a range of topics, including the future of Ringwood. Council’s Youth Services Team and Economic Development Team, as well as Eastland, need to be congratulated for using this opportunity to consult our youth to understand their vision for Ringwood. This an exciting project and it was great to see the embracing of technology through interactive online forums to encourage people to offer their thoughts. I hope that as a council we will continue to explore innovative methods of community engagement.

On the 15th of June I attended a game of the Ringwood Spiders and their Sponsors Gala function. The Ringwood Spiders is part of the 14 team league organised through the Football Integration Development Association (FIDA). The Ringwood Spiders have a strong focus on the community and they encourage community engagement through their sponsorship program where businesses and community members can sponsor a player for $150 to provide funds for uniforms and other expenses. While the Spiders narrowly lost to Parkside they played some great football and it was great to see the player I sponsored, half back Tom Raisebeck, out on the field. The Spiders have just two remaining home games on the 29th of June and 27th of July and I wish them all the best for the remaining rounds in the season.

On the 15th of June I attended the EastLink open day like many other people and while it certainly is true that Eastlink is an engineering feat we need to remind ourselves that it is not the end of our transport needs in the eastern region. In fact with evidence suggesting $2 per litre petrol prices being common in the not too distant future we need the public transport equivalent of Eastlink.

For those among us that are sceptical about petrol ever reaching $2 a litre we only need to look back a few years and remember how many people claimed that a $1 litre was unforeseeable.

Fortunately Maroondah and the eastern region is focused on the needs of public transport and I am pleased to announce that the Eastern Transport Coalition, the consortium of the seven eastern councils, will be hosting a public transport summit aptly titled ‘It’s Time to Move On’. This summit will explore the public transport needs for eastern Melbourne including a session on Ringwood and its importance as a regional centre.

The summit will be held on Friday the 4th of July from 8.30 am through to 11 am at the Manningham Function Centre in Doncaster. To RSVP please visit www.etc.org.au or let me know as Maroondah’s delegated representative to the ETC.

We have had the investment in our road network – it now is time to move on to ensure that we also receive the necessary investment in our public transport network.

Continuing the Maroondah Business Expansion and Retention Program

Posted on 5 May 2008 by alex

This afternoon I accompanied Maroondah’s Economic Development team to interview another business as part of the Business Expansion and Retention Program.

The program aims to gather qualitative data into current business conditions and to determine ways in which Maroondah can further assist the business community. While it would appear that businesses are quite optimistic about the future there is some concern given the uncertain economic climate.

Common themes include issues relating to the differing regulations across state boundaries and the need to further streamline and harmonise state legislation. Likewise there is a need for consistency with local government requirements.

A report compiling the information gathered through this program will be released as part of Maroondah Business Week in October.

For more information on the programs available for businesses please visit www.bizmaroondah.com.au.

Maroondah Business Expansion and Retention Program

Posted on 7 April 2008 by alex

Loughnan’s Hill Ward, which includes the commercial and retail centre of Ringwood, as well as the industrial areas along Heatherdale and Canterbury Road, includes a diverse range of businesses that provide goods and services to our community.

It is important for any municipality to have a strong business sector so that we can provide local employment and opportunities for our community. The Maroondah Business Expansion and Retention Program aims to interview individual business owners and managers to discuss the challenges facing their businesses.

This afternoon I accompanied Maroondah’s Economic Development Team as we interviewed two businesses to discuss the challenges they face and opportunities for the future. While the business community is largely optimistic about future growth there are concerns about finding people with the right skills for their business. Maroondah provides a range of workshops to assist businesses in expanding their knowledge in areas such as the Internet, sustainability and occupational health and safety.

For more information on the programs available for businesses please visit www.bizmaroondah.com.au.