Mail - Mountain Views Star Mail - 21st May 2024

Mountain Views

Culturally safe clinic

By Dongyun Kwon

Eastern Health opened a new First Nations cancer clinic at Healesville Hospital on 9 May, aiming at delivering free, culturally safe oncology services to the region’s large Aboriginal population.

Providing medical oncology services, the clinic is staffed with oncologists specially trained in treating the most common types of cancer for First Nations Australians such as lung, prostate, breast, and bowel cancers.

Eastern Health cancer services director adjunct clinical professor Phillip Parente said the Aboriginal community chose Healesville to have a new First Nations cancer clinic for themselves.

“It was pretty clear to me that the Aboriginal community did not want to go to other Eastern Health hospitals in Box Hill or Maroondah, they wanted to be at Healesville because it’s a culturally safe space for them at Healesville and that’s not replicated at other sites as much,” he said.

Turn to page 15 for more

Pleas unheeded

By Callum Ludwig

The death of an endangered Greater Glider in the Yarra Ranges National Park at the site of tree removal has prompted further calls from environmental groups to better protect native species during fire-reduction works.

Found early in the morning of Wednesday 15 May, the greater glider is believed to have been living in a large tree that was felled by

Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) for bushfire mitigation works, which can include cutting down trees that present a risk to firefighter safety.

Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) spokesperson Blake Nisbet said this was endangered wildlife culling.

“We specifically told the government that Greater Gliders were nesting in this tree. In-

stead of stepping in, they chose to knowingly kill endangered wildlife,” he said

“This is disgraceful, and has to stop. Even when notified of the presence of a federally listed threatened wildlife, the information was ignored – with deadly consequences.”

WOTCH and the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) had each expressed concerns that the removal of hollow-bearing trees

across the Yarra Ranges National Park would destroy critical habitat for endangered wildlife such as Leadbeater’s Possums, Gang-gang Cockatoos, Swift Parrots, and Greater Gliders and was already when furious when trees had been logged near the intersection of Road 12 and Forty Mile Break in the Yarra Ranges National Park in recent weeks.

Continued page 3

The smoking ceremony conducted by Craig Murphy-Wandin.

Picture: EASTERN HEALTH

Fire guts house

By Callum Ludwig

A Launching Place home that went up in flames on Monday 13 May was unable to be saved.

Crews from brigades across the UpperYarra flocked to Alpine Boulevard at about 12.07pm responding to calls of a home fully involved in fire.

Hillcrest CFA 3rd Lieutenant Peter Jenkin was the incident controller for the blaze and said the Yarra Junction and Hillcrest CFA pumpers rocked up at the same time to a house fully involved from end-to-end and top to bottom.

“I did a quick initial size up and walkaround and realised we weren’t going to be able to save it, so it became about the asset protection of the other properties,” he said.

“Straight away I tasked the Yarra Junction crew to protect the closest house to the left of the property on fire, meanwhile we got water for our appliances to continue the firefight while we waited for other crews to arrive.”

A CFA spokesperson confirmed that 10 CFA units responded from the Wesburn, Hillcrest, Yarra Junction, Yellingbo, Hoddles Creek, Seville and Wesburn-Millgrove brigades, while Victoria Police also attended the scene.

Mr Jenkin said as crews were driving down the Warburton Highway, they could already see the plume of smoke and he requested over brigades be paged.

“There’d been multiple calls reporting

flames showing, so we knew the house was going to be well alight and we were also told that there were no occupants in the house, the only thing that was in the house was the family pet,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to save the dog, as by the time we got there, it was just way too hot to get anywhere near the house and I certainly wasn’t going to be able to send any crews inside.”

The cause of the fire is believed to be known to fire investigators and will not be treated as suspicious.

Mr Jenkin said he feels for the family.

“I’ve got pet dogs and so forth, and they do become part of the family, so it will be a very hard time for them,” he said.

“The owners attended the fire, neighbours must have rung them and husband and wife were there at the fire and were pretty upset as you can imagine, they’d only been in the house for two months,”

“This is just one of those unfortunate things that happens, you can’t blame anyone.”

The incident was deemed under control at 12.44pm and safe at 2.11pm.

Greater glider death prompts concern

From page 1

VNPA Executive Director Matt Ruchel said this is out of control.

“We are furious at this deadly failure to take the survival of threatened wildlife seriously,” he said.

“State and federal environment ministers need to fulfil their responsibilities and stop these works immediately. The situation urgently requires a full and proper ecological assessment.”

Staff from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) will be visiting the site to determine the cause of death for the Greater Glider.

FFMVic Chief Fire Officer Chris Hardman said they make every effort to minimise impacts on flora and fauna and follow a rigorous planning and approvals process to ensure they’re consistent with the Forests Act, Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act and Wildlife Act.

“We are working within the footprint of existing fuel breaks and crews are only treating dangerous trees and clearing encroaching vegetation,” he said.

“These fuel breaks are critical to enable firefighters to carry out backburning in the event of a major bushfire, protect Melbourne’s main water supply and prevent or lessen the impact of large scale bushfires that can lead to mass wildlife deaths.”

Picture: FOREST CONSERVATION VICTORIA

FFMVic determines that trees that are structurally compromised and a threat to firefighter safety are marked as hazardous and removed or treated during bushfire mitigation works.

WOTCH and the VNPA have already engaged lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) who have written to the Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and State Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos detailing allegations that claim the FFMVic operations contravene the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC), which legislates the referral, assessment and approval of any works likely to

have significant impacts on listed threatened species.

Currently, bushfire mitigation works do not require an EPBC Act referral.

EJA Special Counsel Danya Jacobs said destroying scores of ancient hollow-bearing trees home to critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possums and endangered Greater Gliders, and killing those species in the process, is plainly illegal under Federal environment law and it has to stop.

“Killing endangered species is also obviously illegal underVictorian law - Forest Fire Management is acting with impunity and must be reigned in by the regulators,” she said.

“This destruction of critical habitat of endangered species is clearly breaking federal environment laws designed to protect Greater Gliders and Leadbeater’s Possums, and this is a real test of whether Minister Plibersek will match her words with action and get serious about enforcing the law.”

Leader of the Victorian Greens Ellen Sandall has also denounced the incident and announced the Greens plan to refer the incident to both the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) and Victorian Ombudsman.

“The department is making enquiries to determine whether national environment law is being complied with. As enquiries are ongoing the department will not provide comment at this time,” a DCCEEW spokesperson said.

IN BRIEF

Correction from Tuesday 14 May edition

In the article ‘Sanctuary set to turn 90’ in last week’s paper on Tuesday 14 May, it was printed that the activities at Healesville Sanctuary came ‘with free entry’.

It should have read ‘free with entry’.

Witnesses wanted for erratic driver incident in Wandin North Police are appealing for witnesses who saw some concerning driving behaviour inWandin North on Thursday 16 May.

At about 12.15pm on the day in question, a Red Ford Utility was reported driving erratically on Warburton Highway, Wandin North.

The utility has allegedly forced another car, being a white sedan, off the road and was followed by members of the public in an attempt to obtain the vehicle registration.

Investigators are appealing for any person/s who witnessed the incident/have dash cam footage or know the identity of the other vehicle that has been forced off the road to contact Leading Senior Constable Rhodes at Yarra Junction Police (03) 5967 1104.

Ryobi nailer/stapler recalled

A Ryobi S Airwave 2-in-1 Brad Nailer/Stapler, model RA-NBS1832, available at Bunning stores nationally has been recalled.

Affected products will display a date code on the side of the nail magazine betweenWeek (W) 43 and Year (Y) 2021 to Week (W) 9 and Year (Y) 2024.

The RYOBI Nailer/Stapler is a multi-tool and is equipped with a mechanical interlock feature designed to prevent unintentional actuation of the Nailer.

It has been recalled as the safety device can get stuck and allow a nail or staple to discharge through use of the trigger alone and not via the usual two-step actuation process, creating a risk of laceration injuries if the nailer/stapler discharges unintentionally.

Consumers should stop using the product immediately and follow the steps below:

1. Please return the product to a Bunnings store for a full refund of the purchase price.

2. Contact the Ryobi customer service team on 1300 859 017 or email recall@ryobi.com. au to let us know you have purchased this product and if you need more information.

1700 Mazda BT-50s recalled

1703 Mazda BT-50 (TF) 1.9 ltr models with a year range of 2021 - 2023 have been recalled. Due to a software issue within the Body Control Module, the parking lamps and number plate lamp may not illuminate when the vehicle is travelling below the speed of 10 kilometres per hour.

If the vehicle’s lights do not work as intended, other road users may not be able to identify the vehicle in parked position and when driven at night.This could lead to an increased risk of accident, resulting in serious injury and/or death to vehicle occupants and other road users.

When parts are available, owners of affected vehicles will be contacted by Mazda Australia to schedule an appointment with their preferred Mazda dealer to replace the body control module, free of charge.

10 CFA units from across the Upper Yarra attended the Launching Place house fire. Picture: SUPPLIED

Conservationists discovered a greater glider killed in an area where fire reduction works were undertaken.

Hits and misses of relief

By Mikayla van Loon, with AAP

There were a number of measures announced in the Federal Budget under the scope of costof-living relief, some immediate and others over time.

Approved earlier this year, 13.6 million Australian tax payers will reap the benefits of tax cuts from 1 July with an average of $36 saved each week.

“Our new tax cuts for middle Australia are the biggest part of the cost of living relief in this Budget,” Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.

“This is about rewarding the hard work of our nurses and teachers, truckies and tradies… Our tax cuts are better for families, communities, women, and young people, and better for business and the economy.”

The most immediate relief for households will come in the form of energy relief, with a $300 rebate, broken into $75 lots, going to all as it won’t be means tested.

“We’ve found a responsible and affordable, but meaningful, way to help people with the cost of living, not just people on low and fixed incomes, but people in middle Australia too,” Dr Chalmers said in an interview with the ABC.

This has stirred some criticism from the opposition, with Federal Casey MP Aaron Violi stating the cost-of-living relief “missed the mark”.

“The reason they need to give money to everyone through a handout is because energy prices are having double digit growth every year for the last two years, and they don’t actually have any solutions to those problems,” he said.

“It’s a temporary fix, it’s a band-aid over a bullet hole. While the relief is welcome, it’s actually not making a big difference, and it’s not dealing with the underlying cause.

“I don’t think giving billionaires and mil-

lionaires $300 of taxpayer money is a great use of taxpayer money.”

Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie said the billions of dollars spent should have been used to increase income support payments.

“Somebody who is on $200,000 plus, who owns their own home, who possibly has an investment property ... they will be getting $300 extra when we’ve got somebody in poverty who is unable to feed themselves more than once a day,” she told reporters in Canberra.

Energy relief of $325 has been budgeted for small businesses, something Mr Violi said was “better than nothing” but was concerned “isn’t going to make a tangible and significant difference for these businesses that are, in many cases, struggling to survive”.

In total the energy relief equates to $3.5 billion and will come into effect from 1 July.

“The ABS has shown how cutting energy bills directly cuts inflation too,” Dr Chalmers said.

“Keeping the lights on for families and businesses – and keeping downward pressure on inflation.”

Businesses will also be supported by the extended instant asset write off, a welcomed inclusion from MrVioli.

“I’m a big fan of the instant asset write off and the more we can do it to allow businesses to invest in productive capital and decide how they want to manage their cash flow and their tax bill is a good thing.

“Credit where it’s due, it’s good to see the instant asset write off has continued and it’s a space where I think governments can continue to support small business because it’s not a handout, it’s just encouraging them to invest and make the most of their accounting situation.”

The cost of medicines will also be frozen, with a cap of $31.60 set for prescriptions includedinthePharmaceuticalBenefitsScheme.

Cost caps of $7.70 will also be in place for five years for pensioners and concession holders.

“We’re also investing $3.4 billion to add life-changing and life saving medicines to the PBS,” Dr Chalmers said.

“Cutting the cost of one breast cancer treatment from around $100,000 down to just $31.60.”

While not instant relief, the budget allocated funds to making the Food and Grocery Code mandatory, with CHOICE enabled for three years to produce quarterly price comparison reports.

The idea is that consumers will be able to make more informed decisions about the products they are purchasing based on the reports. The first one will be released at the end of June.

Reducing the burden for parents, especially women, the government has announced it will pay superannuation on government funded Paid Parental Leave (PPL) for parents of babies born or adopted on or after 1 July 2025.

Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said while the budget makes headway in tax fairness, aged care and cost of living, “an increase to JobSeeker remains unfinished business”.

“Tonight’s Budget beds in the newer, fairer tax cut package. It also makes a down payment on aged care reforms. These changes are this Government at its best, listening to the community and taking action to get a fairer deal for everyone,” she said.

“We need to see them take a similar approach when it comes to giving relief for people who need it most.”

Get your gas heater serviced at least once every two years, by a qualified gasfitter. Energy Safe. Always | esv.vic.gov.au

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers unveiled measures for cost of living relief in the 2024-25 budget. Picture: AAP

$9.3 billion surplus spruiked

By Callum Ludwig

The Albanese Labor Government handed down its second successive operating surplus in the Federal Budget on Tuesday 14 May.

Casey MP Aaron Violi shared his thoughts on the budget with the Star Mail and said at a very top-line level, a surplus can look like it’s a good thing.

“But they’ve [the Albanese Government] significantly increased spending at a time when we’re in a high inflation environment and I believe in a high inflation cost of living crisis, any support for families in Casey is important because people are doing it so tough,” he said.

“But the reality is, for the last three budgets, this Treasurer and this Prime Minister have missed the mark, they’re treating the symptoms, not the cause of the challenge we face in high inflation.”

The underlying cash balance for Australia is forecast to be $9.3 billion for 202334, despite predicting a $1.1 billion dollar deficit in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) released in December 2023.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers MP said in a press conference at Parliament House that this is a budget about near-term pressures and long-term priorities.

“It’s a responsible budget which eases cost of living, fights inflation and makes really important investments in the future of our economy,” he said.

“It is equal parts relief, restraint and reform; cost-of-living relief and spending restraint, which is expected to deliver a second surplus, and also reform and renewal to make sure that we’re getting our industrial base right to create good, secure, wellpaid jobs into the future.”

This year’s budget marks the first backto-back surpluses in Australia in over two decades, though Treasury predicts this to be followed by large deficits over the next decade including predicted deficits of $28.3 and $42.8 billion in the next two years. These deficits are greater than previously anticipated in the MYEFO which Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher has claimed is due to ‘unavoidable spending’ on operational costs and renewing expiring government programs and initiatives.

In a press conference, Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said what we need is a structural surplus, not a windfall surplus.

“It’s all well and good to see the biggest increase in personal income taxes we’ve seen for a long, long time, 23 per cent in two years, that’s 23 per cent in personal income taxes being paid by Australians in two years, that’s robbing Peter to pay Paul where Paul’s the government,”

“If you want to beat inflation, you’ve got to do what every household in Australia is doing right now, which is showing restraint, Australians understand that.”

Despite their disagreements, the Government and the Opposition have agreed upon a few budget measures with the aim of easing the pinch on Australian households,

namely the energy credit for every household, increased rent assistance, capped Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicine prices and changes to HECS debt indexation.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told the ABC’s AM program that the Coalition will support those measures.

“We’ll support those measures because I think a lot of Australians are hurting a lot more than what we might realise at the moment,” he said.

Mr Violi wasn’t entirely as supportive of all the cost of living measures announced in the budget, indicating the relief could have been more targeted.

“Australian people and people in Casey have a right to ask why this [energy bill] rebate of $300 is going to billionaires and millionaires, in what world does Clive Palmer need an extra $300 of taxpayer money,” he said.

“Very similar to the overall budget, it’s [the increase to Commonwealth Rent Assitance] is treating the symptoms, not the causes and the cause is there is not enough houses and not enough available for rent, so prices are getting pushed up,”

“I’ve heard the government call it [HECS debt indexation changes] cost of living relief, but let’s be clear, it’s not, because the weekly and monthly payments on the HECS is the same, it’s just reducing the overall amount which is a positive move, but if inflation didn’t bring the indexation to 7.1 per cent, it might not have been needed.”

The Australian Government’s budget outlook estimates its cost of living measures will directly reduce headline inflation by half of a percentage point in 2024–25 and may see headline inflation return to the target band of 2 to 3 per cent by the end of 2024, currently sitting at 3.6 per cent at the end of the March 2024 quarter.

Mr Violi did have some support for budget expenditure in the areas of defence, health and migration.

“We need to make sure that we have a strong defence system and the best form of defence is deterrence, so investing more in our defence forces is crucial. To say that increase is good, we will need to await a bit more detail, understand what’s been funded and where it’s going to be spent but I think any increase in defence is important in the current environment,” he said.

“I’ve always been a strong advocate for a strong healthcare system and making sure that those in my community can get access to the healthcare that they need, so I’ll have a look at the detail, but anything that makes it easier for residents in Casey to get to the doctor, to get their medicines cheaper or to get access to a hospital, I’ll support,”

“With the pressure on infrastructure, we need to look at the migration numbers, but be very careful in how we do it, we need skilled migration and targeted migration to unblock some of the labour supply challenges we have but at the same time getting that right while investing in infrastructure for these people is important.”

Budget bust

By Mikayla van Loon

The handing down of the Federal Budget came with a wave of disappointment for community legal centres with only a fraction of the required funding to stay afloat allocated.

A total of $44.1 million was budgeted for legal assistance services in 2024-25, which includes community legal centres (CLCs), Family Violence Prevention Legal Services (FVPLSs), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILSs), and Legal Aid Commissions (LACs), with no forward estimates of potential funding beyond June 2025 indicated.

Eastern Community Legal Centre (ECLC) chief executive officer Michael Smith said with a “couple of crises going on” the funding appeared “tokenistic”.

“The figures we’ve seen say that there’s only about $9 million for community legal centres and most of that’s just to support wage increases, so it’s not going to help us really expand services and meet the crushing demand that we’re facing every day,” he said.

“There’s a crisis and just demand for legal help generally because we’re turning away hundreds of people a year in need of legal help, and particularly in the area of family violence.

“We are having so many women and children in particular that we’re not able to help because we just haven’t got the capacity.”

Despite the National Legal Assistance Partnership review, which was completed in March, hinting at chronic underfunding in the sector and Community Legal Centres Australia (CLCA) requesting $125 million in this year’s budget, neither were acted on.

CLCA chief executive officer Tim Leach said the budget was a failure and sent a message that CLCs across the country should start to wind down services.

“The government’s failure to deliver sufficient legal assistance funding or long-term funding security in [the] budget means people and communities across Australia face the very real risk that free legal services they rely on will not be available in the near future,” he said.

“The $9.3 million bump for community legal centres is welcome and will go some way towards keeping some lights on in some centres.

“However, we have been very clear over recent months that our sector needed an extra $125m for 2024-25. We have over 150 centres, so [the] boost is about $60,000 per centre. This may help some centres limp on, but that’s about it.”

Mr Smith said the uncertainty and insecurity of not knowing what June 2025 and beyond looks like was “concerning” for staff, the community and CLCs.

“Maybe the Federal Government has a long term plan to do something bigger and bolder. We were really hoping for that ongoing commitment in the forward estimates but at the moment, we’re left with a government saying ‘trust me it’ll be OK’. So that leaves people hanging and nervous.”

Last year, Mr Smith said ECLC had to “reduce some services and reduce some staffing

positions because of the lack of funding from the State and Federal Government” with the risk of that happening again without sufficient funding.

Increasingly, Mr Smith said CLCs are a key pillar of the family, domestic and genderbased violence response and support system.

Off the back of the State budget, which also left a gaping hole in funding, Mr Smith said particularly at a time when there is a “national crisis” of gendered violence, despite the Commonwealth’s announcements and headway being made after Victoria’s Royal Commission, “we are concerned that legal support is sometimes overlooked in that family violence response”.

More broadly Mr Smith said the announcements following the national cabinet meeting on gender-based violence earlier this month were rather narrow focused.

“The announcements by the Prime Minister recently around the family violence funding, it’s a significant amount of money but it’s really around one particular program.

“We have a national plan to address family violence in Australia and that really talks about working right across the continuum. So it talks about primary prevention, it talks about early intervention, it talks about response services.

“[The program] doesn’t really look at our strategic approach right across the board. We hope that the announcement after the national cabinet on family violence was just the first step and there’s a lot more steps the Federal Government needs to lead and provide resources for.”

While the Federal Government’s contribution of $6.3 million to reduce the pay disparity within CLCs was welcomed by Mr Smith “because historically, the Commonwealth Government has not provided that kind of support”, the urgency of service funding outweighed the positive impact.

“We want to keep reminding both governments that the situation is urgent, it can’t always be put off to another day. Every day we don’t have the supports we need is another day we’re concerned about women and children at risk of family violence,” he said.

“But also there are lots of other people in the community who need help with their legal problems in a timely way, they grow and become worse and become more expensive for the community, more expensive for the client and more expensive for the government.”

Eastern Community Legal Centre CEO Michael Smith was left disappointed by the Federal Budget for 2024-25. Picture: ON FILE

Treasurer Jim Chalmers,Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher delivered their third budget on Tuesday 14 May. Picture: MICK TSIKAS/AAP

Urgent care clinic here?

By Callum Ludwig

Support for some of the most pressing healthcare concerns in Australia received some support in the 2024/25 Federal Budget.

The first cab off the rank for boosting the health of Australians came prior to the Budget’s release as Labor announced that 29 more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics (UCC) will be delivered, though locations are as yet unknown.

Casey MP Aaron Violi has been calling for a UCC to service the Casey electorate and said he is following up on the announcement to find out if one of the new UCCs will service the region.

“Our information is that in the next couple of weeks, they’ll be announced or start to be announced so we are very hopeful that we do receive one,” he said.

“It’s clear that Casey as an electorate and the Yarra Ranges needs at least one if not two urgent care clinics so I’ll watch with interest and obviously to those that have signed my petition, I say thank you,”

“We do know the government’s aware of the petition and the paper [the Star Mail] had an article about it with a response from the minister so they’re aware of our need and we’ll continue to lobby them.”

The announcement will bring the number of UCCs around the country to 87 and Health Minister Mark Butler said Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are already fulfilling their promise by making sure Australians can walk in and receive urgent care quickly and for free.

“Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are making a difference, for patients and for busy hospital emergency departments,” he said.

“More UCCs, in more locations, and all patients need is their Medicare card.”

The Federal Government will consult state and territory governments and Primary Health Networks in implementing the UCCs.

The Australian Government will spend

$146.1 billion on health and aged care in 2024–25 while the government claims $8.5 billion in new funding will be spent on health and $2.2 billion in aged care (mostly delivering reforms and implementing recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety).

In further efforts to reduce the pressure on the healthcare system, $90 million has been pledged over three years to implement recommendations of the ‘Independent review of Australia’s regulatory settings relating to overseas health practitioners’, which includes a new pre-fellowship program for nonvocational doctors to support international medical graduates to settle in small communities in Australia and work in primary care while $17.4 million has been spent to extend the General Practice Incentive Fund for another year.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners was disappointed by the budget with President Dr Nicole Higgins having said the Government has dropped the ball in its commitment to strengthen Medicare and reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients.

“The Government took the first step to repair decades of devastating underfunding of Medicare and general practice care last year –

now this work will stall,” she said.

“There is no more support for rural and regional patients, or people with chronic conditions, which is where the need is greatest,”

“There is no substitute for the quality care provided by a GP who knows you and your history. General practice helps people live healthier lives and stay out of hospital. The smartest and most cost-effective health investment Government can make is increasing patients’ Medicare rebates, so they can access affordable care.”

The RACGP also believes UCCs are not ‘value for money’ and are an ‘inefficient use of limited health resources’.

The flagship funding for mental health in the budget came in three specific measures:

$588.5 million over the next eight years to establish a new national low-intensity digital mental health service that can be accessed free of charge and without a referral to address mental health concerns before high-intensity mental health services are required and

$71.7 million over four years to fund Primary Health Networks, in partnership with GPs, to recruit mental health nurses and other allied health supports to offer free care and

support to patients with complex needs, in between their GP and specialist appointments and Upgrading the clinical capacity of the established Head to Health program to provide free mental health services through a network of 61 walk-in Medicare Mental Health Centres.

The controversial decision from the Federal Government to halve the number of psychology sessions that are eligible for a rebate from 20 to 10 per year in 2023 has not been reversed, which has drawn the ire of Independent Senator David Pocock, Casey MP Aaron Violi and organisations like the Australian Association of Psychologists and Australian Medical Association. MrVioli said he would have rather that that money was invested in going back to the 20 sessions [subsidised psychology sessions], but any money spent on mental health is a step in the right direction.

“There’s definitely a role for digital health mental health but I don’t think it’s enough in terms of acute mental health, as let’s be honest, a face-to-face session is more impactful,” he said.

“If you think about it in a 12-month period, 20 sessions allow you to go roughly every three weeks, whereas 10 means you’ve got to stretch it out to every five to six weeks.”

People suffering from endometriosis have received another welcome boost as Medicare will cover longer specialist consultations for women with endometriosis and other complex gynaecological conditions like chronic pelvic pain and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) will now be covered from July 2025.

The two new rebates will be added to the Medicare Benefits Schedule to enable extended consultation times and increase the rebates for specialist care. The announcement follows the delivery of endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics and funding for research and awareness of these conditions since the Labor Government was elected in 2022.

Women’s Health East was contacted for comment.

Healthcare has received significant funding in the Federal Budget,but criticisms stem from the effectiveness of the measures being funded. Picture: ON FILE

NEWS Housing concerns linger

By Dongyun Kwon

The housing crisis is one of the top prioritised sectors in the 2024-2025 Federal budget, handed down on Tuesday 14 May, aiming to ease housing shortages and affordability pressures by boosting existing house projects.

The Federal Government allocated $6.2 billion to increase the supply of social and affordable housing with an extra $1 billion being provided to states and territories to deliver new housing including for connecting essential services such as water, power, sewerage and roads.

Despite the multi-billion dollar announcements, those in the housing and homelessness sector, like Anchor Community Care’s chief executive officer Heidi Tucker, remain sceptical about affordability but welcomed the boost.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the $6.2 billion over the medium term in new investments is to achieve the Federal Government’s ambitious target of 1.2 million homes in the five years from July this year.

“The achievable target to build 1.2 million homes in the five years from July will be difficult and it requires everyone [including the local and state governments] to do their bit,” he said.

“Huge new investments in housing from a Commonwealth point of view, that’s us doing our bit. I’m confident the states, territories and local governments are prepared to do their bit as well. And one of the key parts of the investment that we are making is in the priority work stream, a billion dollars this year, which is about funding for headworks and the sorts of small-scale infrastructure that makes it possible to plan and release more land and to build more homes.

“We’re training more people, we’re investing in social housing, affordable housing.”

$1.9 billion was allocated for a 10 per cent increase in Commonwealth Rent Assistance and additional $1.9 billion in concessional finance for social and affordable homes along with an extra $423 million for the National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness.

Despite the large amount of money going towards the housing crisis, Federal Casey MP Aaron Violi is concerned that it is to treat the symptoms, not the causes.

Mr Violi said the cause is lack of houses available for rent which pushed the prices up.

“So, that’s what we need to focus on because history says when you give people a subsidy, particularly when there’s a constrained market and there’s a limited supply, it’ll just increase the price of whether it’s a rental or anything else, by that much,” he said.

“That’s the bit we need to see. No doubt families that are renting and are eligible for the rent assistance will appreciate and will welcome the money, and I do welcome support for them in that sense. There’s no doubt they need it, but the real test will be in the next six to 12 months. Once they’ve received the subsidy, if their rent goes up by the same amount as the subsidy or more, it’s not actually achieving anything.

“Because again, unless there’s more supply in the market, it’s not going to alleviate the problem in the long term or the short term. There are fewer houses in the pipeline.”

Community Housing Limited (CHL) chief executive officer Danny Dracic, a leading notfor-profit housing provider for Australia which has built some social houses in Croydon and Lilydale, shared his thoughts about the Federal Budget.

Mr Dracic has welcomed the 10 per cent increase in the Commonwealth Rent Assistance and an additional $1.9 billion in concessional financing for community housing organisations to deliver projects via the Housing Australia Future Fund announced in the Federal budget.

“They were important measures to address the rising rent pressures and growing housing shortage,” he said.

“However, these are not adequate to meet the anticipated demand of 1 million homes by 2036 and more needs to be done. The community housing sector is already delivering thousands of social and affordable homes and has established itself as a confident and capable partner for the Government to deliver innovative housing solutions in collaboration with the private sector.

“We are well-positioned and ready to ramp up the current momentum in providing more

homes ensuring more people can be housed sooner.”

Mr Dracic has also welcomed the $13 million funding to support the building and construction industry sector to gain the Work Health and Safety accreditation required to participate in Government-funded housing projects and said that will encourage construction companies to proactively partner with the community house sector to deliver new social and affordable housing.

Ms Tucker said although the housing sector is pleased with the attention the Federal Government is paying to it, there is still not a grand plan.

“People are in a situation at the moment where rentals are completely unaffordable. In fact, if you’re on a Youth Allowance, you can’t afford anything anywhere in Australia and you can barely, in the capital cities, afford a room to rent. Our concentration is on those people who are very much in that income support space,” she said.

“In terms of this Government, what we are pleased about is that a billion dollars of money that has already been announced as part of the housing fund has been put aside into another bucket from the national housing infrastructure facility, known as NHIF, and it’s been put towards housing for young people, women and children escaping violence.

“Now $700 million of that billion are grants to housing providers so that they can actually afford to provide social housing for those groups. What $700 million will do is that it’s able to provide grants that you don’t have to pay back. And it really means that they can start to build some new housing stock.”

As part of theYouth Foyer movement, which aims at providing accommodation and support for young people motivated to engage in education, Anchor operates Lilydale Youth Foyer.

“We already have a very small Foyer in Lilydale, and we’d like to have a bigger one for more young people,” Ms Tucker said.

“So the Foyer Foundation is looking at that $700 million, thinking that we’ll be able to apply for grants through that and potentially build some more Foyers across Australia.”

Besides that, the Government included $88.8 million in the budget to deliver 20,000 new fee-free TAFE places, including pre-apprenticeship programs, in courses relevant to the construction sector to train more skilled tradespeople.

The Federal Government also announced it would work with the higher education sector to develop regulations that will require universities to increase their supply of student accommodation.

HeidiTucker.

Picture:ONFILEDannyDracic.

Picture:SUPPLIED

NEWS HECS help not enough...

By Gabriella Vukman

Following the release of the Australian Universities Accord on February 25 calling for HECS to be “simpler and fairer,” the federal government has announced new reforms for students with HECS and HELP loans.

Published just prior to the delivery of last week’s 2024 federal budget, the federal government has declared that they will be cutting roughly $3 billion from student debts Australia-wide. Financial support in the form of payments for student placement work is also a part of this new scheme.

Lilydale resident and student of biomedical science Cassidy Iedema said, “I am very concerned about paying my HECS debt back, especially because I owe so much at the moment and have so many years of university still to complete.”

“The fact that they are waiving some student debt makes me feel better but there is still so much more that needs to be done, especially regarding placements undertaken by students,” Cassidy said.

Currently, the government’s changes to the HECS and HELP loan programs mean that $1200 is deducted from the total HECS sum owed by students with a debt over $26,000. Students with a HECS debt of $40,000 will see a cut of $1800.

State president of the Country Women’s Association of Victoria Jennifer Nola said, “this debt cut is only a temporary measure. Our issue is that the indexation is still based on the CPI. For some people in the last three years, their loan has increased by 15.7 per cent which is absolutely huge and unmanageable compared to when debts rose by one to two per cent.”.

“The Australian Credential Regulation Authority (the financial services regulator) now requires banks to consider the HECS and HELP debt as similar to a credit card debt when you are applying for a housing loan.”

“We’ve already got a housing crisis and now people are getting out there with a reasonable deposit and they might have a good job but with the addition of that $50,000-$60,000 HECS debt they are being knocked back for housing loans when previously they weren’t,” Ms Nolan said.

Where last year’s indexation rate sent HECS debts skyrocketing by 7.1 per cent, leaving students who had paid off thousands of dollars owing more by the end of 2023 than what they began with before they had made any payments, this year’s indexation rate is scheduled to be 4.1 per cent as of 1 June.

Ms Nolan said, “Last year’s 7.1 per cent increase meant that people who had been in their part time jobs and were trying to pay off their loans found that they owed more at the end of the 12 months than they did at the start, even though they had been paying it off for the whole year.”

“We are asking the federal government to remove indexation on tertiary students’ HECS/HELP loans to enable young Australians to more quickly repay their debts.”

“This indexing is meaning that the debt just keeps going up and up and young people are becoming despondent about the prospect of

ever achieving the dream of owning a home.”

Today, the average Business, Arts and Law degree will cost roughly over $48,000, with degrees in STEM costing around $28,000.

Economist and HECS developer and consultant Bruce Chapman said, “Right now, humanities and arts students are most likely paying more than what it costs to teach them which is inherently unfair.”

“Arts have the highest charge for HECS per year due to the radical price changes elicited by the former government in 2020 and this is a major problem in the whole system.”

“The price for arts students, compared to four years ago, went up by more than double whilst prices for Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine (STEM) which used to be high came down. Before the Accord process began when this price change happened, I thought that this was a major mistake and that the change in the prices was not going to achieve what the government at the time wanted, which was to encourage students to choose STEM subjects,” Mr Chapman said.

As the designer of the implementation of HECS in 1989, Mr Chapman obliged to help with the University’s Accord which commenced roughly 18 months ago and recommended that teachers, nurses and humanities students who expect to earn less from their degrees, should pay less than students who expect higher incomes.

Mr Chapman said, “When you change the prices for something like arts or anything, it is going to have very little effect on what people want to study.”

“There are thousands of students who think ‘this is unfair but I will enrol anyway because this is what I want to do.”

“I hope that the prices for humanities and other areas where people don’t expect to earn that much fall, and I hope that the other prices in compensation will go up for people who hope to do well in the labour market,”

Mr Chapman said.

Highlighting another issue with the current HECS system, Mr Chapman noted the incentivisation for those with a HECS debt to earn below the threshold of $51,550 in order to avoid making repayments.

Mr Chapman said, “The current system is where you pay nothing until you earn roughly $52,000 per year, which means that if you earn just below that you pay nothing but if you earn just above that- even if it is just $10, you will have to pay $500 per year.”

“Collecting a tax on a certain proportion of every additional dollar over the threshold amount, like income tax, is a better way to manage this,” Mr Chapman said.

“That’s always been a problem with HECS. Other countries who have systems that are similar to HECS collect on the basis of additional income and they have avoided this problem.”

The accord published earlier this year, recommended a list of reforms for the tertiary sector from financial support for those undertaking placement as part of their degree (such as teachers and nurses) and the establishment of a new sector‘watchdog’ titled the‘Australian Tertiary Education Commission.’

Mr Chapman said, “The biggest impact for taxpayers will be for taxpayers who have HECS debts. They will be the people where the prices change importantly over time.”

“The government needs to find ways in which to do this without damaging taxpayers too much through the budget and because of this, I think change will be gradual.”

“The more the government thinks this is going to be politically popular, the more they will be interested in changing it,” Mr Chapman said.

From the impacts on the ability of current students to purchase housing to a petition that received over 233,000 signatures, the discussion of HECS debt and reform in the tertiary sector continues.

2024 HECS reform and student aid announced.

Picture: UNSEEN STUDIO

A renewable step forward

By Tanya Steele

The recent Federal budget drop has made decisive moves towards renewable energy future in Australia.

The budget has backed billions for clean industry, funding to deliver more EV vehicle charging infrastructure to help people make the switch to EV cars and eventually implement the New Vehicle Efficiency standard.

With plans to make Australia a renewable energy superpower the Government is unlocking more than $65 billion of investment in renewable capacity through the Capacity Investment Scheme by 2030.

President of Repower The Dandenongs (formally known under the name Dandenong, Ranges Renewable Energy Association) Neil Evenden said that the recent Federal Budget is positive.

“Fortunately this budget is pretty good, better than we had in the past,” he said.

Australia is committed to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and this Budget will invest $27.7 million to integrate consumer energy resources like batteries and solar into the grid.

“The investment in future manufacturing of renewables is really good for the long term.” Mr Everden said.

The Climate Council has described the 2024-25 Federal Budget as a decisive turn towards Australia’s clean energy future.

Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said building a renewable future and clean industrial base will deliver good jobs and greater prospects for Australians.

“The budget makes an important and overdue opening bid to claim our place as one of the world’s clean energy market leaders,” she said.

“Both sides of politics should back this vision for Australia. It’s not political, it is for our kids.”

$300 energy rebates cost of living relief for

every household are another bonus for all Australian households and around one million small businesses - From 1 July 2024, more than 10 million households will receive a total rebate of $300 and eligible small businesses will receive $325 on their electricity bills throughout the year.

Mr Evenden said that he can see why there is a one-off immediate payment for the short term.

“We’re not going to get energy bill relief, until later down the track when all these plans play out,” he said.

Mr Evenden said he was disappointed by the lack of funding for community electrification

“I think the next budget or maybe the one after that, we’ll have funding to help people change their household appliances to more electric and get off the gas – but that wasn’t in this budget,” he said.

The government also recently announced it wanted to see more gas exploration and and has pledged to use to gas a source of energy until 2050 and beyond - there has been 19 billion allocated to accelerate investment in ‘Future Made in Australia’ priority industries like renewable hydrogen, green metals, low carbon liquid fuels (not gas and carbon).

With no new budget allocations for gas, Climate Council Head of Policy and Advocacy Dr Jennifer Rayner said on 9 May that the recent announcement was more ‘Back to the Future’ than ‘Future Made in Australia’.

“Australia is already using less gas, so the suggestion we need more of it sounds like Scott Morrison’s ‘gas led recovery’, not Anthony Albanese’s ‘renewable energy superpower’,” she said.

Mr Evenden said that overall the latest funding is heading in the right direction.

“So some people are not happy certain things aren’t in – I’m talking about energy, it could have gone further,” he said.

EXCITING NEWS!

We are thrilled to announce that Agpower & Transport Pty Ltd has been selected as a finalist in two categories in the prestigious VACC Automotive Industry Awards; Best Large Automotive Business –MetropolitanVictoriaandEmployee of the Year - Dylan Eagleton.

This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team. We take immense pride in providing exceptional servicesandsolutionstoourvalued customers.

Being a finalist among industry leadersisaremarkableachievement, and we are honoured to be recognised for our efforts in the automotive sector.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our loyal customers, partners, and supporters who have placed their trust in us. This achievement would not have been possible without your unwavering support.

Stay tuned for more updates as we eagerly await the final results!

Brendan O’Donnell, General Manager

The Federal Budget has made positive steps for energy. Pictured: Neil Evenden,President of Repower The Dandenongs.

Picture: SUPPLIED

VCAT sides with council

By Dongyun Kwon

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has ruled in Yarra Ranges Council’s (YRC) favour, allowing the council to proceed with an enforcement order.

YRC alleged the respondents, the Slawinski family, had unlawfully used the land as a store at 81-83 Don Road, Healesville and had ordered them to remove all the items on the property by 7 August.

The property is included in the Low Density Residential Zone (LDRZ) under the Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme and under the planning scheme, it is required to have a permit for the use of a store.

According to one of the clauses, the condition to apply for the permit is that the store must be in a building, not a dwelling and used to store equipment, goods, or motor vehicles used in conjunction with the occupation of a resident of a dwelling on the lot.

In the decision, VCAT Senior Member S P Djohan said YRC claimed the existing dwelling on the subject land has not been occupied at any relevant time.

“YRC alleged that the subject land is used to store equipment, goods, boats, tyres, construction materials and motor vehicles not in conjunction with the occupation of a resident of the existing dwelling and claimed the use of the subject land should be prohibited,” the decision reads.

YRC building planning and compliance officer Nadine Harvie undertook six inspections of the subject land on 15 February 2022, 10 May 2022, 30 June 2022, 5 December 2022, 24 July 2023 and 15 April 2024 respectively.

“She [Ms Harvie] observed that the subject land was being used to store a variety of goods and equipment, such as garden equipment, push lawn mowers, brush cutters, ride-on mowers, registered and unregistered vehicles, registered and unregistered vehicles trailers,

boats and unregistered boat trailers, construction and building materials, automotive parts, tyres, scrap metal, car parts and other vehicle parts without any occupant,” the decision reads.

“She described the existing dwelling as a dilapidated building that was not currently capable of residential use.”

The two registered owners didn’t attend the final hearing.

The first respondent (John Merak Slawinski) didn’t attend it without reasonable excuse and Andrew Slawinski, who attended it on behalf of the second respondent (John Peter Slawinski), informed the VCAT that the second respondent did not object to the making of the enforcement orders sought by the YRC.

“Considering the nature of the items, I am satisfied that with diligent effort, complete removal of the items can occur by 7 August,” the decision reads.

“Andrew Slawinski submitted that none of the items identified by Council as requiring removal belong to his father, the second respondent.

“There is simply no evidence before the Tribunal as to the ownership of the items and in addition, there is no evidence that the second respondent could not have entered upon the land and brought its use in compliance with the planning scheme by removal of the relevant items.”

VCAT included an order allowing YRC to carry out any work required to be carried out

under the enforcement orders and to seek to recover the costs of doing so as a debt in a court of competent jurisdiction if there should be non-compliance with the enforcement orders by 7 August.

Ms Djohan said the council has foreshadowed that it would seek its costs of the proceeding against the first and second respondents.

“Timetabling orders have been made for the receipt of any application for costs and response submissions,” the decision reads.

“The Tribunal will determine any application for costs on the papers unless a party seeks the application to be listed for hearing.”

The subject land is located at 81-83 Don Road, Healesville.

Pictures: DONGYUN KWON

The subject land was being used to store a variety of goods and equipment without any occupant.

Dire need for chefs to stay

By Callum Ludwig

Local hospitality businesses in the Outer East have met with Casey MP Aaron Violi to express concerns about the impact that ongoing changes in Australia’s Migration Strategy could have on skills shortages in the industry.

Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen in Warburton and Belgrave could be one such business affected by potential changes to visas, with the restaurants built around the authentic skills of South Indian chefs sponsored by the business to work in their restaurants.

Co-owner Billy Crombie said being a specialist restaurant does make it a little bit more challenging but she couldn’t operate without these chefs.

“We employ 47 staff between those two restaurants, and there are seven chefs, and for us, our chefs are very specialist in their cooking skills so we sponsor those chefs, and without the ability to do that, we would not be open,” she said.

“We’d have to close Warburton and probably even Belgrave, obviously I’d love to employ locals, and we do employ a lot of locals, but if we put the adverts in the paper to seek young chefs, we don’t get a single applicant.”

Ms Crombie co-owns the business with her husband Max Kamil Hassan who hails from Kerala, starting out as a food truck selling dosa which has expanded to its two current venues and gone on to be one of only two Indian restaurants inVictoria to be hatted by food critics from The Age.

Ms Crombie said losing the ability to sponsor chefs could have massive knock-on effects for other local staff.

“That’s potentially 38 jobs [not including herself and Mr Hassan who is a head chef] that are not here for a start, and then obviously you’ve got the impact on the suppliers that you’re supporting whether that be for your vegetables, your meat or your wine,” she said.

“That’s even though we are a little bit different to some other hospitality businesses as we’re still totally open to training locals to cook our food,”

“I’m extremely anxious about it at the moment, and I know we’re only in the consultation stage and waiting to hear what they say, but I actually can’t imagine them doing this because so many of us have to rely on sponsored chefs and I just don’t understand how they think we’d be supposed to operate.”

Any mooted changes are being considered as part of the Australian Government’s Migration Strategy following the 2023 Review of the

Migration System.

Chefs (not including positions in factory settings or limited service roles such as at fast food restaurants or cafes) had previously been eligible for the Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457) before it was abolished in 2017 and evolved into the current Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa (subclass 482) which now will be abolished and replaced by the Skills in Demand visa in late 2024.

The four-year Skills in Demand visa is split into three pathways defined by skill level; Specialist (highly skilled, earning over $135,000 per annum in key fields like technology and energy), Core (high demand, $70,000 to $135,000 per annum, updated and changed over time) and Essential (address labour shortages, pathway for lower incomes to residency, below $70,000 per annum).

The $70,000 threshold comes from the new Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) implemented in July 2023 which had not previously been updated from $53,900 and taking it to where it would have been if it was indexed over the decade. It will now be indexed annually to prevent similar circumstances, with the Migration Strategy stating that by 2023, around 90 per cent of all full-time

jobs in Australia paid more than the TSMIT, a fact which ‘undermined the basis of Australia’s skilled migration system and helped erode public confidence in it.’

Mr Violi said hospitality is a big part of the community and the reality is it’s not possible for businesses to access the labour that they need, chefs and cooks in particular, in short demand.

“For a business like Billy’s, it’s a bit more unique, given the nature of the Southern Indian traditional cooking, she needs to bring chefs in but for all hospitality venues in the electorate, it’s really challenging to get local workers, so they need to have the ability to bring workers in,” he said.

“I’m concerned that the review might carve out chefs and cooks, and I’ve made representations to the Shadow Minister for Immigration Dan Tehan and we’ll be working together to make sure we understand what’s going to happen.”

The most recent Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) data gathered by the Bureau of Statistics indicates that the ‘Chef’ profession has been in shortage nationally in each of the last three years while future demand was estimat-

ed to be above the economy-wide average in 2021 before reducing to the at economy-average in 2022 and 2023.

Chef also featured as one of the top 20 largest employing occupations in shortage in Australia in the Jobs and Skills Australia’s 2023 Skills Priority List - Key Finding Report.

Mr Violi said it’s important to remember visas can help create jobs for everyone.

“It’s not a trade-off, it’s not taking an overseas worker taking the place of an Australian worker, they complement and allow more jobs in the area,” he said.

“We’re blessed in Australia and in Casey to have a wonderful multicultural community and food is a large part of that, so to have this variety of venues from a cultural experience perspective is wonderful and I do hope and do think that it does play a little bit of a role in social harmony as well,”

“If you go and eat Indian food and speak to the team and understand a bit more about the culture, human nature says you’re going to be a little bit more understanding and it takes away some of that mystery, so there’s an important social cohesion aspect as well.”

Warburton Mountain Bike Destination set for works in June

After years of planning and approvals, the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination is set to commence construction on Stage 1 of the project in mid-June.

Since its inception in 2013, the vision for this project has been guided by meticulous planning, culminating in the most comprehensive approvals process ever undertaken for a recreational project.The rigorous evaluation of environmental and social impacts, as demonstrated by the Environment Effects Statement, ensures a sustainable legacy for generations to come.

Yarra Ranges Mayor Councillor Sophie Todorov said starting construction of the trails is an exciting step in this project.

“We have worked tirelessly to get to this point but the hard work doesn’t end here. This project includes many plans to ensure that we are considering our local environment, community and importantly safety not just during construction but going into the future too.

“It is important that along with the economic and tourism benefits this project will bring to Warburton and surrounds, that we continue to balance the needs of our local community. And this is something we will continue to review during and after construction.”

“We are immensely grateful for the unwavering support of our funding partners— State, Federal, and the Community Bank as

we start to see this project become a reality,” said Cr Todorov.

World Trail, renowned for crafting extraordinary trail experiences, will be de-

livering Stage 1, which will span over 100 kilometres of new and upgraded trails. Anticipation mounts with the first trails due to be open to the public in early 2025, marking a

monumental milestone for the project. With planning approval secured, the Emergency Management Plan approved and secondary approvals nearing completion, we are able to now mark a start-date for construction.

“At long last, the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination is set to become a reality,” said O’ShannassyWard Councillor Jim Child.

“We have now received an endorsed Emergency Management Plan from the Victorian Minister for Planning along with support from the emergency services. This Plan underscores Council’s commitment to ensuring the well-being of trail users and the community in the event of an emergency.

“This project is a game-changer for our community, offering unparalleled recreational opportunities while preserving our natural environment. The Warburton Mountain Bike Destination is a testament to our commitment to sustainable development and boosting the local economy. We are thrilled to see this vision come to life and to witness the positive impact it will have on our community,” said councillor Child. For more information, and to sign up for updates, visit rideyarraranges.com.au/warburton-mtb-destination/

Paid parking trial backed

By Callum Ludwig

A new pilot program for parking is set to be trialled in Warburton after being approved by councillors at the Tuesday 14 May Yarra Ranges Council meeting.

As part of Council’s Integrated Transport Strategy 2020 – 2040 and reviews of parking across the region, Yarra Ranges Council is trying to find ways to address the concerns of residents regarding parking, particularly in popular tourist areas.

O’Shanassy Ward Councillor Jim Child said the item is about parking management across the region, not specifically all about Warburton.

“The visitations to our municipality have been quite extensive, especially post-Covid but we could see signs of it happening at our hot spots like Olinda, Sassafras, Warburton, Healesville and other places,” he said.

“The majority of them are from people outside our municipality so if you look at visitations to other municipalities and I look at Mornington Peninsula and Cardinia Shire, they have management procedures in place to manage traffic flow and to manage that situation they have with an influx of visitors.”

Increased parking enforcement in tourist areas has already been underway in the Yarra Ranges since the start of the year, including in Warburton, with number plate recognition technology, physically chalking vehicles and new signage all being implemented.

Cr Child said people have become aware of the Yarra Ranges location in relation to Melbourne.

“What we’re seeing now is that they’ve all of a sudden been awoken to a journey they can take on a tank full of fuel, they don’t have to fill up their fuel tank at Warburton or Healesville and still make the return journey back to Melbourne,” he said.

“But now it’s about managing the visitations when they come to our hot spots.”

With Yarra Ranges Council predicting tourism to double over the next decade, the pilot program and increased enforcement, are part of a plan to reduce the impact on local communities and traffic.

The pilot program in Warburton will involve the installation of real-time parking information technology to display parking availability as well as a new paid parking system for non-Yarra Ranges residents. A permit for Yarra Ranges residents would exempt them from parking fees.

Cr Child said they want to be able to improve parking outcomes through the pilot program.

“That’s to use information technology to identify parking positions, to be able to display their availability and to be able to notify the public when we reach saturation or very close

to,” he said.

“I draw the example of Thomas Avenue up in Warburton. it’s a decision at the moment, ‘Well I’ll turn left coming from Melbourne and let’s hope I can get a car park down in Thomas Avenue by theYarra’ but this technology will be able to say there are no car parks down there at the moment, visit one of the other locations, which there are many.”

Thomas Avenue in Warburton has become notorious for cars struggling to turn around after being unable to get to a park in busy times, usually in the summer, and a proposal to turn it into a thoroughfare in the Warburton Urban Design Framework was scrapped due to community backlash regarding the proposed relocation of the Warburton Tennis Club courts.

The pilot program will be trialled for a period of up to 12 months, alongside the already increased enforcement.

Cr Child said it’s important for residents

to remember that even though they will be exempt from parking fees, Yarra Ranges residents won’t be exempt from staying overtime in a parking space.

“Irrespective of if you live in Upwey, Sassafras or over at Healesville, if you come over to Warburton and you’re a local, you won’t have to pay,” he said.

“It’s really about capturing those visitors that come and use our facilities that our ratepayers pay for so why shouldn’t there be user pays.”

Yarra Ranges Council expects the pilot program to improve traffic flow, safe parking behaviours and parking accessibility for the community, support local businesses by increasing traffic turnaround and patronage, provide clarity on the number of available parking spaces and contribute funds to go back into Council assets through the paid parking scheme.

RyrieWard Councillor Fiona McAllister said she was very keen to see how this plays out over the next 12 months.

“It is about getting the balance right about not charging local or charging residents but actually acknowledging that there is a cost and an impact on our infrastructure in our communities from the millions of people that love to come and visit this place that we call home,” she said.

“It’s a great opportunity to trial an approach that meets many needs and with residents and local communities very front of mind.”

Details of the permit process have not been finalised yet and expansion of the pilot would be considered after Council evaluation that would take into account operational performance, system performance (including the resident permit system), community and local business feedback and the endorsed Parking Management Framework.

The motion was carried unanimously.

Are your kids living in a world revolving around their passions? That’s a good thing.

It’s why the VCE’s new Vocational Major creates worlds where passions can be explored.

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Thomas Avenue, Warburton is a particular problem area for parking that will be involved in the pilot program. Picture: ON FILE

Fair access support

By Callum Ludwig

14

The Melbourne East Region Sport and Recreation Fair Access Policy has been established across the wider group of councils in the east which includes Knox City Council and Maroondah City Council among others with the aim of improving recreational facilities for women, girls, transgender and gender diverse people.

Chandler Ward Councillor David Eastham spoke to the motion and said he sees it as a piece of a larger puzzle.

“If anyone saw what played out with Knox Football Club, you’ll see that as a society we have a long way to go and whilst a lot of this talks about infrastructure and how to support female participation in sport, there’s clearly also a lot of investment that needs to happen from a social side as well,” he said.

“The state government for this were not prescriptive in what the Fair Access Policy needed to be and I think for us that has worked out very much to our advantage, we just need to make sure that the work that we do as Coun-

cil is relevant to local clubs.”

Adopting the mandated Fair Access Policy also opens up opportunities for Councils to access State Government funding avenues to upgrade facilities from 1 July 2024.

Cr Eastham said he also thinks taking an Eastern Region approach was a great move.

“Many of the sporting leagues and associations out here cross the local government boundaries, the Ringwood and District Cricket Association, Football Victoria, Eastern Football Netball League and so on, they aren’t just sitting within one municipality, a lot of them do operate across the entire Eastern Region,” he said.

“There’s the efficiency and use of resources so the cost of developing the policy that’s going to be shared but also the knowledge as well that will come from the representation across those councils,”

“While it is an Eastern Region approach, it will be targeted locally as well to ensure that the outcomes benefit us at a local level and council officers will work with the strategy working group to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of the access policy.”

As well as improving facilities, the policy will also aim to encourage women, girls, trans-

gender and gender-diverse people to take up roles in sport, push for leadership positions, have fair allocation and scheduling, create a positive and supportive culture and environment at sporting organisations and reward, celebrate and prioritise sporting clubs and groups that demonstrate an ongoing commitment to gender equality.

RyrieWard Councillor Fiona McAllister said fair access is something Yarra Ranges Council has been actively committed to and seeking to address for quite a long time and have been successful in starting to do so.

“Fair access, particularly through participation in sport, these simple things make a big difference and we’ve had quite compelling presentations recently from clubs where change facilities and the necessary infrastructure has been a barrier, particularly for younger girls or to continue through sports as they get older,” she said.

“I’m very happy to see this come to us and as a council, we’ve fully committed fair access not just through our sporting facilities but also through everything we do and if this is formalising at a regional level it gives us a better platform for supporting the work we do as well as advocacy for funding.”

More cash for community through grants

By Dongyun Kwon

Yarra Ranges Council (YRC) approved the 2025 Annual Grants program including increasing the amount of money available to the community.

Councillors approved increasing funding to the three grants under the Annual Grants program along with changes to the Monthly Grants program.

In the Annual Grants program, the Community Development stream was increased by $25,000 to a total pool of $275,000, the Festival and Events and Arts and Heritage streams were increased by $50,000 to a total pool of $300,000 and the limit for large festivals was raised from $10,000 to $15,000.

Streeton Ward councillor Andrew Fullagar said it was his pleasure and privilege to recommend the motion.

“Our multi-year grants provide large amounts to support the key organisations across the shire, areas such as health, emergency relief, music and the arts,” he said.

“Our Monthly Grants provide funding to dozens of individuals and groups for a diverse range of projects and events, and these groups leverage this funding many times through in-kind volunteering efforts.

“The result is a profound rippling effect through the economy in the community, providing avenues to new connections, fostering inclusive actions and spreading goodwill.”

The maximum that community groups can apply for the Monthly Grants program was increased to $1500 aligning with the increase of the budget for this program.

The Business and Trader Group Develop-

Applications for Annual Grants opened on Wednesday 15 May. Picture: ON FILE

ment stream was increased from $10,000 to $18,000 per year, and another $12,000 was allocated for capacity-building support for not-for-profit Business and Trader Groups.

The Connected and Vibrant Communities Monthly Grants stream was enlarged by $20,000 to support small projects that focus on social connection.

“I’m also personally relieved and delighted that we’ve carefully scrutinised the application forms for our Annual Grants to cull superfluous questions, and it’s now nearly half the length of the previous,” Cr Fullagar said.

“That’s a major cut and it’ll be a huge time saver for applicants.

“Other improvements in the program

relate to clear language, budgetary information and more efficient handling of in-kind provisions.”

Community member Wendy Rush raised a question about increasing funding to areas such as arts and events at the meeting.

“Unless they draw clear financial benefit to residents, we’re doing a tough at the moment, evaluating the shire’s wonderful events in the arts, however, I cannot see how we can justify this type of expenditure or increased expenditure in an environment where we have residents in hardship,” she said.

In response to the question, Ryrie Ward councillor Fiona McAllister said she loved being asked provocative questions and being made to think deeply about the money that the council is spending on the right things.

“There are many things we do as a council that are hidden, complex, not popular or controversial, but, I do think our grants programs deliver a huge return for the community,” she said.

“I’m reflecting on the events and the programs and the investment in the community that I’ve seen playing out with these grants in my time on council, and they touch the lives, whether people realise or not, almost everybody in our municipality.”

Due to the council elections occurring in October, panel recommendations for Annual Grants applications will be presented to the council’s Executive Leadership Team for consideration and final endorsement, in line with the council’s Election Policy.

Applications for Annual Grants will be closed on 17 June.

Help turn ideas into solid business cases

Yarra Ranges Council is seeking expressions of interest from community members in the Upper Yarra to be part of some upcoming InnovationWorking Groups, as part of the Upper Yarra Local Development Project.

The working groups will further develop ideas into solid business cases, and develop feasibility studies and pilot projects to bring long-term social, environmental and economic benefits to the area.

As a result of earlier community engagement that included more than 100 face-to-face interviews with locals and a number of workshops to refine and assess the viability of the ideas put forward, six topics of focus have been created:

· Eco tourism – multi-day hikes

· Energy resilience and renewable energy

· Repurposing abandoned places

· Improving transport and access

· Animal processing facility (Abattoir) for deer and livestock

· Sustainable and productive land management

A working group will be created for each topic.

In addition to community members, subject matter experts are also encouraged to apply to be a part of the working groups.

The first three working groups listed above will commence meeting in July, while the latter three will commence meeting in September.

At this stage, each working group would hold one, two-hour meeting each month to discuss ideas and opportunities relating to that particular topic.

A terms of reference for the groups can be

Upgrades closer

Parks Victoria has issued an update on the progress of plans to upgrade the Cement Creek Redwood Forest as they currently seeking tenders to construct new visitor facilities at the site.

Visitors can look forward to a number of upgrades set to be delivered by Parks Victoria, including additional carparking, an accessible public toilet, a safety gate and a visitor shelter, as well as formalising sections of the existing trail network.

The upgrades aim to improve the site’s accessibility and provide a better visitor experience, while also managing visitor impacts to help protect the park’s unique environment.

Draft designs were shared with the community early last year and have since been going through cultural heritage and town planning approvals.

Parks Victoria expects to be able to share final designs with the community in the coming months, once they have received the relevant permits, awarded the construction tender and scoped final costs with the selected contractor.

The upgrades being delivered by Parks Victoria are funded by $2.6 million from the Victorian Government. This includes $2.3 million from the Regional Tourism Investment Fund, which supports new and innovative tourism infrastructure projects that increase visitation, drive private investment and deliver more jobs.

An additional $400,000 of works funded and delivered by Melbourne Water will support visitor accessibility and additional open space opportunities. These works will include constructing boardwalks, viewing platforms and fencing along the Cement Creek. Revegetation along the Cement Creek and the Yarra River will also be undertaken to improve river health and provide habitat.

The Cement Creek Redwood Forest in the Yarra Ranges National Park has become an increasingly popular site over recent years due to the enchanting and photogenic Californian Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) trees.

In April 2023 the Cement Creek Plantation (which includes the Redwood Forest) was added to the Victorian Heritage Register due to its aesthetic, historic and scientific significance.

Parks Victoria and Melbourne Water are working with Wurundjeri Woiwurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, Yarra Ranges Shire Council and Heritage Victoria to ensure the site’s natural and cultural values are protected during works and into the future.

Subject to on-ground and construction industry conditions, and environmental, cultural heritage and town planning assessments and approvals, Parks Victoria’s portion of works is expected to start in mid-2024.

For more information about the project visit the Cement Creek Redwood Forest facility upgrades project page at: parks.vic.gov.au/projects/melbourneregion/cement-creek-redwood-forestfacility-upgrades.

found at: shaping.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/upper- yarra-local-development-strategy/upperyarra-local-development-project-innovationworking-groups-eoi.

For more information on the Upper Yarra Development Project or to express your interest in joining an innovation working group, visit https://shaping.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/ upper-yarra-local-development-strategy.

This project was created following the 2019 State Government decision to transition away from native timber harvesting, with the Upper Yarra being one of eleven priority communities in Victoria that were identified to benefit from support of a Local Development Strategy.

The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) has partnered with RMIT University and are supported by Yarra Ranges Council to deliver this project.

The upgrades to the Cement Creek Redwood Forest are getting closer to beginning. Picture: LJUBICA VRANKOVIC

Yarra Ranges councillors have endorsed a new Fair Access Policy at the Tuesday

May council meeting.

NEWS Reworking Lilydale Road

In recent years, the way people use Lilydale Road in Healesville has changed with an increase in pedestrians and visitors to the area following the success of the Four Pillars Gin distillery and other restaurants and businesses on the road.

In 2019, Yarra Ranges Council (YRC) engaged with the local community on the proposed design and requirements of Lilydale Road.

The road was transformed to include connecting footpaths, 64 formalised parking spaces, improved drainage and lighting and street trees.

Upon completion of the road, YRC further engaged with the community and strong concerns were expressed around the parking bays and width of the road.

Yarra Ranges Mayor Sophie Todorov said YRC is aware there are some aspects of the design of this road that community are unhappy with, however, it needs to look at the future use and requirements of the road, not what it has been used for in the past.

“Council’s main aim for the construction of this road is to slow traffic down to make it safer for all pedestrians in the area, improve the parking by formalising the spaces, provide enough parking for predicted visitor numbers, plan for our future needs, connect with shared paths and plant a streetscape that will grow and mature in time,” she said.

“Following the completion of the road, we received some feedback about the size of the parking spaces and width of the road. While the road was built to regulation standards, we will be making some adjustments to widen the parking bays and round off the corners from the areas where the trees are.

“In addition, we shall also move some of the trees from one side of the road to the other to enable the widening but keep the increased number of trees on the road.”

Some alterations will now take place including relocating three trees, re-line marking the bays to increase the width and rounding the corners of the remaining tree bays.

The parking will remain at the 90-degree angle as part of the safety requirements to

force traffic to slow down and to maintain a similar number of parking bays.

These alterations will result in a reduction of the number of parking bays from 64 to 61, whereas angled parking would result in a loss of 19 spaces leaving only 45, which does not support the requirements for the increased visitor numbers in the area.

These works were completed after the council obtained a grant from the Federal Government as part of the Safer Roads Initiative with the main aim to make the road safer for pedestrians.

Cr Todorov said the road has been used in the past as a cut-through but as the number of pedestrians in the area has increased, YRC needed to ensure the traffic was slowed down.

“Along with 40kph signs, the angle of the parking means that the road users must be mindful of people pulling into and out of parking spaces, which forces people to slow down,” she said.

“And while angled parking is popular, this does not have the desired impact of forcing the traffic on the road to slow down and decreases the number of spaces available by a third, which will not meet projected requirements for parking in the future for Healesville.”

Along with changes to the parking, a wide shared path has been installed. This path has been widened so that once the trails from Yarra Glen to Healesville are completed, there is

a connection to the businesses in this part of Healesville.

Cr Todorov said prior to these works, there were limited pathways from the parking bays to the businesses and this connection is now in place.

“This path has been built with the future in mind and the connection to the trails, however right now it means that those people in wheelchairs, or people with pushchairs can easily and safely use this footpath,” she said.

“We were also conscious of increasing the number of trees in this street and ensuring that they could survive. This meant using a special mesh under the area where they are planted to protect their root system so they can grow and mature. Protecting the future root system of the trees resulted in bays of a certain size to do this.

“In order to increase the size of the bays to accommodate larger vehicles, three trees will be relocated to the opposite side of the road. These trees, Nyssa sylvatica ‘Forum’ have been selected specifically as they are a deciduous upright tree with a pyramidal form.

“While we know that the changes to this road are significant to the local community, we ask for their support as we work towards improving the safety of the area for pedestrians as the local economy grows.”

These alteration works are due to be undertaken in the coming months.

School plans new learning space amid growth surge

By Dongyun Kwon

St Brigid’s Primary School in Healesville is looking forward to having a new facility for its preppies and Year 1 students.

The school made an application to Yarra Ranges Council to get the relevant permit on Monday 6 May.

St Brigid’s Primary School principal Tess Dwyer said they would remove the old portables which currently have three classrooms.

“We’re building a new building in the same location of those portables, which will be an early learning facility,” she said.

“The classrooms will be joining each other. They’ll be much more in line with the way that we now teach in teams.

“It’ll be really connected with the envi-

ronment with indoor and outdoor learning spaces, which is very important for us.”

The enrolment numbers at St Brigid’s Primary School have significantly increased over time since 2015 and the old portables were built as a temporary solution.

The school has received a $1 million grant from the Federal Government to carry out this project.

“The rest has been funded by the school and also by MACS [Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools],” Ms Tess Dwyer said.

“We’re hoping the construction will begin around November this year, that all depends on the council’s permit process, and we expect them to take about 12 months to complete.”

Native timber support available now

Native timber harvesting has ended in Victoria but support is still available.

Native timber businesses, workers and communities can continue to access a range of support including:

• The Victorian Forestry Worker Support Program –including payments and training, 1:1 case management, employment services, health and wellbeing support.

• Business support – including exit packages and funding to help diversify.

• Community support – health and wellbeing services and community development planning and funding. For more information:

• Forestry Transition hotline1800 318 182

• Victorian Forestry Worker Support Program - 1800 122 001 vic.gov.au/forestry

Artist impression of Lilydale Road after the construction. Picture: SUPPLIED

The old portables had to be built as a temporary solution when the enrolment number dramatically increased from about 150 to 300. Picture: DONGYUN KWON

First Nations cancer clinic

By Dongyun Kwon

Eastern Health opened a new First Nations cancer clinic at Healesville Hospital on 9 May, aiming at delivering free, culturally safe oncology services to the region’s large Aboriginal population.

Sadly, research shows that cancer disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people inVictoria, with the fiveyear survival rate among Aboriginal Victorians 12 per cent lower than non-Aboriginal Victorians.

Providing medical oncology services, the clinic is staffed with oncologists specially trained in treating the most common types of cancer for First Nations Australians such as lung, prostate, breast, and bowel cancers.

Eastern Health cancer services director adjunct clinical professor Phillip Parente said the Aboriginal community chose Healesville to have a new First Nations cancer clinic for themselves.

“I knew from the Bureau of Statistics that the largest Aboriginal population within Victoria resides in Healesville, Eastern Health’s catchment area. I spoke to our Aboriginal health care team and made up a time to meet with patients and families who’ve been affected by cancer in Healesville,” he said.

“It was pretty clear to me that the Aboriginal community did not want to go to other Eastern Health hospitals in Box Hill or Maroondah,

they wanted to be at Healesville because it’s a culturally safe space for them at Healesville and that’s not replicated at other sites as much.

“Once I got what they wanted and that was really non-negotiable, if a culturally safe can-

cer clinic for Aboriginals was going to be set up, the location had to be Healesville.”

Delivered by Eastern Health and Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium (MPCCC), the name of the new clinic was cho-

sen, by the

Warr Bagora.

Operated by Eastern Health, the facility will cater to the medical, social, and emotional well-being of patients, with embedded social workers and an Aboriginal liaison officer working.

“What it [launch of the new First Nations cancer clinic] means is that hopefully, we’re going to close the gap by enabling trust and enabling patients to access health care causing improvement in cancer outcome,” Adj Clinprof Parente said

“We know that vulnerable people in the Aboriginal population in a culturally safe space require extra time to enable trust and explanation, and therefore, these vulnerable patients can be lost with the big clinics.

“But identifying them in a smaller clinic, giving them more time with the oncologist and seeing them with the Aboriginal liaison officer and the social worker together, so you’re seeing them in a multidisciplinary manner in a culturally safe space which enables trust.”

Nangnak Warr Bagora clinic is open to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for free.

“This new First Nations Cancer Clinic in Healesville will help us deliver equitable access to cancer treatment, therapies and clinical trials in a culturally sensitive setting,” Victorian Parliamentary health infrastructure secretary Tim Richardson said.

Shining a light on the darkness of Schizophrenia

By Dongyun Kwon

The Rotary Club of Healesville has invited a special guest for its Thursday night meeting on 30 May.

Sandy Jeffs, a community educator, will speak about her journey of dealing with schizophrenia.

Healesville Rotary Club program director Terry Hill said the club has tried to invite guest speakers regularly to its Thursday night meeting regarding topics that the community needs to know about.

“In this case with the schizophrenia issue of the Bondi Junction Massacre, we felt that it was a good time to have something about community mental health,” he said.

“That’s a huge topic. I know as a teacher that we are getting many more mental health issues in schools nowadays than we’ve had ever before.”

Ms Jeffs was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1976, a time when recovery was seen as unlikely.

The guest speaker said it’s a privilege to educate the audience about schizophrenia.

“In the wake of the PR disaster, that was Joel Cauchi in Bondi Junction, a lot of misconceptions, misreporting and stigma have been floating around the community about schizophrenia,” she said.

“So, it’s nice to have a chance to set the record straight and just give people a sense that I live with schizophrenia, but I’m

not a monster.”

Ms Jeffs was among the first to start speaking publicly about living with a mental illness, and much of her writing has been about her struggle to live a full life despite this, including eight volumes of poetry.

“This is normally diagnosed late teens or early 20s. I was diagnosed at 23,” Ms Jeffs said.

“I’d say it’s really important because when you’re diagnosed with a serious mental ill-

ness like that, it’s very easy to lose all your hope, purpose and meaning, and when you lose those, you have no reason to get out of bed and you become very trapped in the psychiatric system.

“So, I’ll talk about that and what’s helped me to get to the place that I am at now which is a really nice place. [I’ll also talk about] what brought me to this place, how I got here, how it was about restoring my hope, purpose and meaning and how important it is to have a team.”

Being creative is one of the ways that she has been dealing with her illness along with taking medications.

“Dealing with schizophrenia is about having other things in your life that give you a reason to get out of bed,” Ms Jeffs said.

“For me, it’s being a poet and a writer. It’s also about having my team. I’m playing sports now and I’m a goalkeeper at hockey.

“It has been a whole raft of different ways of treating it but it’s more than just taking drugs and just being caught in that chapter in the psych system. It’s about trying to get out of the psych system and heal yourself with other positive means.”

For all her dedication, she has been honoured in the Victorian Honour Roll of Women, Her Place Women’s Museum, and with an OAM in 2020.

The event is open to not only rotarians but also to the whole community.

The meeting will start at 6pm with dinner at Sanctuary House Resort Motel in Badger Creek followed by Sandy’s speech commencing at 7pm.

Attendance of the dinner is optional which will cost $25.

It is free of charge for people who want to attend only the speech.

The booking can be made via contacting Chrissy Harsant on 0408 579 352.

It is encouraged to make a booking by Tuesday 28 May due to the catering reason.

Guest speaker Sandy Jeffs.

Picture: DONGYUN KWON

Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, Nangnak

The smoking ceremony conducted by Craig Murphy-Wandin.

Pictures: EASTERN HEALTH

Phillip Parente took a group on a tour of the new clinic.

Phillip Parente (centre) with Eastern Health staff.

Tim Richardson (left) with Eastern Health board chair Tass Mousaferiadis.

Help during emergencies

By Dongyun Kwon

Healesville community members have gathered to make the community more prepared for emergencies.

Healesville Community Emergency Hub (HCEH) aims to be a place for the community to coordinate its efforts to help each other during and after any disaster by sharing information and resources.

HCEH coordinating member Rachael Davidson said strong and connected communities would be better prepared to respond to and recover from disasters.

“As Healesville has experienced throughout its history, the community naturally comes together to support one another after a disaster,” she said.

“In a major emergency, emergency services and the council need to prioritise the most urgent issues, so it is likely that for the first few days, we may need to pitch in and help each other.

“The hub is a designated place where people can gather, connect with one another and solve problems using the skills and resources which already exist among us.”

HCEH is designed to be run by volunteers.

“Any community member is welcome to offer their help. You don’t have to be an expert in anything,” Ms Davidson said.

“We’re going to connect lots of groups in the community so that people can get help in the right way.

“The hub would have a role in communicating with the emergency management team in the Yarra Ranges Council (YRC).”

The hub will be only activated in emergencies and it remains the standby on ordinary days.

Rather than being in a set location, volunteers will set up a hub near the disaster in case of emergency.

“For example, if there were trees down and people in Badger Creek were isolated, we could stand a hub up in Badger Creek, so that people, who are affected, can easily access,” Ms Davidson said.

Another coordinating member Bruce Argyle said they had gotten the idea from the successful models in New Zealand.

“They have successful hubs as part of the response to earthquakes. Quite often in earthquakes, no one can get into the town because roads are damaged,” he said.

Have your say

REFCL draft guidelines community feedback

Energy Safe Victoria invites community feedback on draft guidelines for the safe operation of Victoria’s rapid earth fault current limiters (REFCLs).

REFCLs help to prevent fire and electrocution by quickly detecting faults on 22 kilovolt distribution powerlines and reducing the energy flowing through the affected line.

Register for an online information session

Find out how REFCLs are protecting your community and how you can contribute to the consultation at an online info session:

• Sunday 26 May, 2pm

• Monday 27 May, 7pm

• Thursday 30 May, 12pm.

Register online: esv.vic.gov.au/consultations

Have your say

Feedback on the draft guidelines is open until Monday 8 July 2024. More info: esv.vic.gov.au/consultations

To have a consultation pack posted to you call, 03 9203 9700.

“So the community has to rely on itself.”

HCEH now has about a dozen members with the support from the YRC.

“We’re working very closely with the council. They’re very supportive of this. We also got a Regional Community Recovery Committees grant,” Ms Davidson said.

“It [HCEH] is also linked with the Healesville Community Emergency Group which was set up after the bushfires in 2015 or 2016,” Mr Argyle said.

HCEH is still in the planning stage.

“We want to let people know if they want to get involved to help and be part of our group, they are more than welcome to come and help us with the planning,” Ms Davidson said.

“We are hoping the hub will be able to have an independent power source so people can charge devices.”

Anyone, interested in or have further questions, is encouraged to contact coordinating members via their Facebook page, facebook. com/HealesvilleCommunityEmergencyHub

Grants to enhance nature

By Callum Ludwig

The Friends groups of the Upper Yarra have received a pair of grants set to be put back into their efforts at the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area.

Both the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater (FOHH) and Friends of the Leadbeater’s Possum (FOLP) are recipients of the 2024 round of People of Post grants from Australia Post, with nominees put forward by Australia Post employees themselves.

FOLP President Steve Meacher said the grant will enable them to make some significant improvements through ‘Project Possum’.

“It’s part of an ongoing project to regenerate vegetation at Yellingbo, we’re replanting areas that have been damaged in the past to expand the habitat for the Leadbeater’s Possum and of course the Helmeted Honeyeater as well,” he said.

“It involves having groups of volunteers come to put plants in which were ordered from the FOHH nursery and we’re hoping for this occasion, and this is where the grant comes in, to involve a local school in the planting activity.”

As well as planting, Project Possum aims to help FOLP to visit for informative sessions or provide forest tours for local schools, as well as work towards establishing a new habitat for the Leadbeater’s Possum at Haining Farm in Launching Place.

Mr Meacher said the grant will increase the number of plants that they can put in the ground and provide a lunch for the students.

“This school approached FOLP last year because they were interested in planting suitable habitat around their school, and we pointed out that in fact the location of the school is not appropriate for Leadbeater’s Possums but we attended the school and gave a presentation on the possum,” he said.

“On that occasion, I asked them if they might be interested in doing planting at

Yellingbo and they were really enthusiastic about it so hopefully that will all now come together in the next few months.”

FOHH will also be planting at the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area, with their grant going towards holding a Community Planting Day.

FOHH President Virginia Wallace said it was actually an Australia Post staff member within the group who put them forward.

“We’re unbelievably grateful for that person’s thoughtfulness and generosity, which has resulted in us getting the grant for a Community Planting Day, and I think it says a lot about Australia Post, they’re obviously very committed to the environment and our local species,” she said.

“Some people from Australia Post are even coming on board for the planting day which is great.”

FOHH will plant another 500 indigenous plants in theYellingbo Nature Conservation Area with the support of the grant.

Ms Wallace said all the 500 plants will make a difference.

“We’ve got a few target areas, but we’ll be guided by our Environmental Coordinator and also, what Parks Victoria and DEECA (the Department of of Energy, Environment and Climate Action) think, because we like to do infill so it connects up various pieces of habitat,” she said.

The Friends groups that use the Yellingbo Nature Conservation area have received grants for community planting.

Picture: JO HOWELL, ZOOS VICTORIA

HCEH coordinating members Rachael Davidson (left) and Bruce Argyle.

Picture: DONGYUN KWON

Chance to meet the artists

By Dongyun Kwon

The Pink Gallery is inviting locals to its event where they will be able to meet local artists.

Artist Cherie Brown, who has lived in the YarraValley for most of her life, opened the gallery in December last year.

Brown said she wanted to showcase local artists through the free event Meet the Artists.

“It was a dream of mine to have my own gallery and studio and I’m just taking the risk to become a full-time artist,” she said.

“It [Meet the Artists] is going to be a good opportunity for people to come and meet the local artists, chat with them about their work and also about a commissioned piece if they need one for their house.”

Brown was inspired by her mum Julie Lawson to get into the painting world and she has been painting for about 10 years now.

Lawson has been doing acrylic and charcoal painting for about 40 years and she is also coming to the event too.

“[Other artists that are coming to the event are] Crystal Knight who grew up in Healesville, Julie Ricketts who is also a Yarra Valley artist, Kerrie Jacobs, and Nicole Donegan, she also grew up in Healesville,” Brown said.

“Di King whom many locals are familiar with, Mim Kocher, she does little sculptures which are really cute, Savaad Felich, he is a local sculptor as well but he’s also got into collage.

“Healesville Pottery, she’s quite well known

and she has beautiful pottery, and Willow Jewellery, she makes beautiful enamel pieces.”

Meet the Artists will be held from 2pm to 4pm on Sunday 26 May at The Pink Gallery located at 184 Maroondah Highway, Healesville.

“I just want to take the opportunity to thank locals because they’ve been very supportive since I opened my gallery,” Brown said.

The Pink Gallery opens between 10am and 4pm from Thursday to Saturday and between 11am and 4pm on Sunday.

A new initiative targeted at young people has been launched by Eastern Community Legal Centre in partnership with Anglicare’s TRAK Forward Program.

For family law and young people Legal matters

The ‘Family Law & Young People’ (FLYP) project was funded by the Victoria Law Foundation and came about as the result of a gap identified by project partner Anglicare’s TRAK Forward program.

The FLYP resources developed by the project provide information for young people impacted by the family law system to help them be more aware of their rights.

CEO Michael Smith is proud of the partnership between ECLC and Anglicare’s TRAK Forward Program and believes that these resources are an excellent step forward for young people affected by the family law system.

“The FLYP information provides a basic understanding of common questions that arise for young people in the family law system in a

Great horror

Monster Starring Anantya Kirana, Sultan Hamonangan and Alex Abbad

Rated MA15+

4.5/5

An Indonesian remake of the American film The Boy Behind The Door, Monster is a harrowing horror film with a mostlysuccessful wordless gimmick.

The film follows Alana (Anantya Kirana) and Rabin (Sultan Hamonangan), two schoolkids who are abducted by a serial killer. After escaping from the killer’s clutches, Alana resolves to stay and rescue Rabin.

Kirana delivers a phenomenal performance of terror, courage and cunning as Alana, and the film has no dialogue whatsoever, with the characters’ names being the only spoken words in the whole film.

Director Rako Prijanto uses an extraordinary command of time, geography and perspective to craft excruciatingly tense cat-and-mouse sequences.

Every inch of the killer Jack’s (Alex Abbad) gloomy house is well-defined, with clear planting of crucial items, making every step of Alana’s ordeal easy to follow (but no less nerve-shreddingly suspenseful).

As a claustrophobic horror film about a resourceful child abducted by a serial killer, Monster is reminiscent of The Black Phone (and has a couple of scenes that pay tribute a little too closely to The Shining and Misery), but also reminds me of the 2014 Ukrainian drama The Tribe.

Set in a school for the deaf,TheTribe is told entirely through Ukrainian sign language with no subtitles; through context, gesture and expression, you still know what everyone is talking about. Even with no dialogue, the emotions of every character in Monster and the puzzle-solving gears in Alana’s head are unmistakeable; there are just a handful of scenes in which the lack of dialogue feels slightly forced.

Not to be confused with the 2003 Patty Jenkins serial killer thriller Monster or the 2023 Japanese drama Monster, Rako Prijanto’s Monster is a chilling, tightlycontrolled horror film available to stream on Netflix.

Anita Koochew

Eastern Community Legal Centre

way they can understand,” he said.

“Young people are largely excluded from the family law process, but the reality is that they can still come into contact with the system at various points and without proper access to information and support, the outcomes can have significant ramifications.”

The project developed a set of 10 one-minute videos and an informational brochure, that are available online.

CARTOON

The resources cover a range of topics, including how to access legal help as a young person handling disagreements with parents, and runs through key aspects of the family law system such as going to court, family reports and court orders.

“We believe these resources will be really useful for young people who need access to information about the family law system and is a convenient and less intrusive way for young people receive it,” Smith said.

All FLYP resources can be accessed on ECLC’s website, eclc.org.au/flyp/ Young people who live, work and study in the East can also seek further clarity or information about their personal situation, by contacting ECLC via the online application form here, eclc.org.au/help, by email eclc@eclc.org. au or calling 1300 32 52 00 during business hours.

Enjoy fun in the theatres

The 1812 Theatre

The Great Gatsby

The 1812 Theatre opened its May season with F. S. Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby.

A smooth running show with great acting from the cast.

The set was tabs on each side of stage with a dais in the middle rear with a screen above it.

This was used very successfully to illustrate various scenes in the production.

Set in the jazz age of USA the opening scene was the cast coming out individually doing the Charlton. Very effective and setting the scene for the era.

Jay Gatsby was well played by Rob Flowers, a good performance and Rob captured the essence of the character.

Daisy Buchanan, Rob’s true love? was portrayed by Melody Taylor.

Melody appeared natural on such a role and gave an excellent performance.

Nick Carraway was played by Luke Peverelle, whose role was Jay’s friend and also narrator.

A great performance and highly commended.

Tom Buchanan was played by Julian Campobasso who really caught the character as envisaged by F. S. Fitzgerald. Some of his scenes were very well done.

Jordan Baker was played by Madeline Broen giving a great performance and worked extremely well with Luke Peverelle.

Myrtle Wilson was given a good performance by Georgia Clare.

Her husband George Wilson waws played by Nathan Williams who added to the overall high standard of the evening.

Jackson Langelaan had the task of playing the MayorWolfsheim Mr McKee Policeman, all handled professionally.

Magical tale PASSION FOR PROSE

WITH CHRISTINE SUN

A review of A Hunger of Thorns by Lili Wilkinson Lili Wilkinson is one of Australia’s finest authors of books for children and young adults.

Her novel A Hunger of Thorns – winner of the 2024 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award forWriting forYoung Adults – is a captivating tale about missing girls who don’t need handsome princes to rescue them.

The story is dedicated to “every good girl who has a wild girl inside”. It begins by quoting Irish-Indian poet Nikita Gill: “They won’t tell you fairytales of how girls can be dangerous and still win.

They will only tell you stories where girls are sweet and kind and reject all sin.

I guess to them, it’s a terrifying thought, a red riding hood who knew exactly what she was doing when she invited the wild in.”

It’s worth keeping this quote in mind because A Hunger of Thorns is set in a world where magic is deemed dangerous and illegal, and those who defy the law are sent to detention camps where their magical life force is drained to make commercial products, synthetic and disposable potions, spells, charms and illusions that make life convenient and beautiful.

And this is a world where all girls are endlessly lectured about what is expected and appropriate, where they are made civilised and demure, unwrinkled and unstained, their voices disciplined, destined to become good wives and productive consumers.

As the first-person protagonist Maude confesses: “I cry out for every girl who was told to comb her hair and wash the mud from her face. To keep herself contained.

Kemp’s curtain call

Ellen Leask played Mrs McKee and Mrs Michaels. Both parts were up to the standard set by the cast.

The scene after interval was the cast doing the Charleston and jazz dancing, very smooth and a delight to see.

A good evening of theatre and a company not to be missed.

Comedy theatre Exhibition St. Melbourne. The Odd Couple Starring as Oscar and Felix are Shane Jacobson and Todd McKenney, the archetypal odd couple as different as chalk and cheese, but best mates and constant collaborators.

Two suddenly single pals – a sloppy sportswriter and a fastidious news writer – strain their friendship by becoming roommates and unconsciously repeating the same mistakes they made in the marriages they just left. Neurotic and neat, Felix Unger is thrown out by his wife, and moves in with his slovenly friend Oscar Madison.

The characteristics that drove each of them to leave their wives soon have them at each other’s throats un this classic comedy.

The play opensThursday 23 May and closes 23 June.

REMEMBER:

The Basin Theatre Jimmie the Beatle 13 – 23 June.

To be ashamed of her voice, her hair, her flesh. To be quiet and good and nice. Girls are not nice. Girls are wild and fierce and powerful, and I will not let anyone take that away. Not ever again.”

Maude is determined to find her childhood friend Odette, who appears to have been lost in an abandoned electrical power plant. Here the magic is lush and primitive, thriving and throbbing in exuberant trees, maliciously spying roses, carnivorous plants and mycorrhizal bacteria that connect it all together. There are also magical girls and a terrifying monster.

To counter all this, the only weapon Maude has is her stories, for she is a gifted storyteller.

In her words: “To me, telling a story felt exactly like doing magic – reaching for invisible threads and weaving them together to make something greater than the sum of its parts.” She soon realises her stories are so good that her characters come to life.

Like all good stories, A Hunger of Thorns is complex and full of unexpected plot twists as Maude discovers her true powers.

One particular focus is the importance of family and friendship, where strong yet less-than-perfect female characters go to great lengths to rescue each other.

Another memorable feature is the nature itself, which, like magic, cannot be contained.

Like roses always growing out of their pots, nature ultimately strikes back. Stories are pure magic, and this one is exquisite and compelling.

Highly recommended.

PROPERTY

GLORIOUS YARRA VALLEY LIFESTYLE

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE GLORIOUS YARRA VALLEY LIFESTYLE

WELCOME to 465 Douthie rd, a truly remarkable property in every aspect, situated on just over 17 glorious Yarra Valley acres featuring ever changing picturesque valley views.

A stunning Mt Gambier limestone masterpiece that will captivate you the moment you arrive at the impressive front gates.

Step inside and be impressed even more with this luxurious residence, versatile and innovative in every way.

Showcasing upscale family living at it’s finest featuring 4 large bedrooms all with built in robes plus a luxurious ensuite in the main bedroom and a king size walk in robe.

A focus on entertaining and relaxation with the main living, family and dining areas seamlessly and effortlessly connecting and blending with the outdoors via huge sliding doors.

The kitchen is exceptional with quality, premium fixtures and finishes plus a butler’s pantry and prep station.

Venture outdoors and be exhilarated and excited, a haven for the horse enthusiast

with multiple paddocks, quality fencing and numerous horse shelters plus a riding arena.

A large high clearance garage and ‘garaport’ offers plenty of space for floats, trucks, trailers, heavy equipment and caravans.

Off grid living with a high end state of the art multiple solar panel system, lithium battery bank and generator back up, intelligently designed with current high end components and with long term energy efficiency in mind.

A magnificent property showcasing the picturesque and colourful scenery of the Yarra Valley at it’s finest attractive and captivating from all angles. A premium property for those wanting quality, luxury, style and grace, a dream country and rural acreage lifestyle that the whole family will enjoy with something for everyone on offer, it’s a place you will love to call home.

Inspection by Private Appointment -

Contact David Carroll direct on 0419 539 320. ●

HOME FOCUS

’COLLIS HOUSE’- ALMOST AN ACRE OF GARDENS AND CONTEMPORARY LIVING

OVERLOOKING a peaceful view of the nearby valley, ‘Collis House’ Sits on over three quarters of an acre, surrounded by beautifully maintained gardens whilst offering both a character and contemporary finish both inside and out.

Elevated over two levels of versatile living space, the home includes a practical, versatile floorplan that includes four bedrooms, the master suite boasting full ensuite and parents’ retreat. There are two living areas, with the oversized fourth bedroom potentially a third. Open plan in its design, the central, sun filled family room adjoins the relaxed dining area and the expansive kitchen that is certainly a talking point, with its large island bench, stunning granite bench top, butler’s pantry, and quality appliances. Perfect for either growing or extended families, and also ideal for those who work from home, this well designed and well-maintained home offers a quiet space for everyone including a separate studio that is ideal as a music room, office, or hobby space.

With gas ducted heating, along with a split system and refrigerated cooling, temperature control has been well taken care of, and along with beautiful French doors that allow you to open up the home to the fresh afternoon breeze, makes heating and cooling convenient and cosy all year round.

Outside is a garden lovers paradise with bursts of colour, hidden seating areas and pretty pathways take you on a tour of this delightful property. A sealed, circular driveway with a double garage with workshop, single carport and large 3 car parking bay will be a bonus for those with extra cars, trailers, and other toys and along with a garden shed, offers a great amount of space and storage.

With access to local bus route almost at your front gate and within only a few minutes’ drive to Belgrave train station, shops and local schools, ‘Collis House’ is steeped in local history and offers an executive style property in an absolute sought after location. ●

HUGE FAMILY LIVING IN COURT LOCATION

BRILLIANTLY located in a stylish cul de sac, full of quality homes with mountain views sits this stunning four bedroom residence that boasts contemporary design and comfort, offering the perfect blend of style and functionality.

As you enter the home, you are greeted by quality flooring and a sense of space as you note the large master bedroom to your left, that boasts a walk in robe and ensuite. Ideally positioned adjacent to the stunning formal lounge, this makes a zone that is the perfect retreat for relaxation and privacy.

Continuing through the home, you’ll find yourself in the heart of the house - the expansive kitchen, dining, and family room. With its open layout, this area seamlessly connects to the outdoor entertainment area and private rear yard, inviting you to host unforgettable gatherings or simply enjoy the outdoors.

The kitchen showcases an island bench, ample cupboard space and all created with a stylish and clean, crisp palette to complement the home.

Venturing further through the house, you will discover bedrooms 2 and 3 in a separate wing, providing privacy and comfort for family members or guests. Meanwhile bed 4 is conveniently located off the family area, offering versatility and flexibility to suit your lifestyle needs.

With its thoughtful design and modern amenities, this home offers a harmonious blend of comfort, convenience, and style.

Some of the many features of this absolutely lovely home are natural gas ducted heating, split systems, double lock up garage with internal access, and all still within the builder’s warranty time frame. This home is a surprise package waiting to unfold, as one of the largest blocks and homes in the court location gives you a very private frontage and opens to an expansive and very useable block where the family can all spread out and enjoy the good life in this wonderful location with quality schools, shopping and sporting facilities, and public transport all nearby. A gem indeed. ●

SmallAcreageLifestyleEscape

PerchedaboveandoverlookingtheWooriYallocktownshipandcolorfulsurroundingfarmland boastingfantasticviewsthispropertyoffersloadsofpotentialandscopeforimprovement.With approx1.5picturesqueacrestoexploreandenjoy,it’stheidealspottolivethesemirurallifestyle. Theoriginalfarmhouseownedandlovedforover50yearsoffers 2bedroomswitha combined lounge/livingareaandseparatekitchen.Outsideisthedreamsmallacreageescapewitha park likesettingon abeautifulallotmentandwithamplespaceforthebigandthesmallpetsplusplenty ofspaceforthekidstospreadout,enjoyandexplore.Amplestoragewitha lockupgarage,plusa gardenshedandsmallmachineryshed/workshoparea.A fantasticsmallacreagepropertysituated in aconvenientandpopularlocation,it’s agreatplacetobe.

DavidCarroll M 0419539320

60DonnaBuangRoad,Warburton$700,000 -$770,000

UniquelyWarburtonVibeonover1/2acre

Stepinsidetodiscover ahavenofcharmandcharacter.Multiplelivingzonesofferendless possibilitiesforrelaxationandentertainment,fromthecozywarmthofthewoodfiretothecharm ofanopenfireplace.Whetheryou’reinneedof 3or4bedrooms,thishomeadaptstoyourlifestyle withease.Ascendtotheupstairsloftroomandbecaptivatedbypanoramicviewsfromthepicture windowandenjoyfreshairfromtheJulietbalcony.Downstairs,twogenerouslysizedbedroomsand twobathroomsawait,completewithpedestalbasins,baths,andtoilets.Themasterbedroomenjoys awalkthroughrobetotheensuite,lovelysashwindowsandviewsofyourgarden.Theversatile layoutoffersendlessoptions-astudy,library,formaldining,orsimplyleaveitopenforextraliving spacethechoiceisyours!Don’tmissthechancetomakethisextraordinaryhomeyours.

SamanthaPrice M 0438795190

Inspection: Sat1:00-1:30pm 4 A 2 B

GorgeousfamilyhomewithValleyViews

Muchlovedandawaitingyourinspectionisthislovelyfamilyhome,lookingfor anewfamilytoenjoy. Thesplitlevelhomehas aspaciousandairyfeelwiththenaturallightandslidingdoorsthatopento thebalconyfromthemainlivingroom.A gorgeouskitchenthatshowcases aspaciousislandbench, glasssplashbacksandcrispwhitecupboards,andpositionedperfectlytoaccessthedining/living andthespaciousundercoverreardeck.Themasterbedroomhasanensuitewithshower,toilet anda niftylittlebasin,a deepdoublerobewithamplestorageanda thereare afurthertwowell proportionedbedroomswithbuiltinrobes.Addedfeaturesofthepropertyincludea doubleendto endcarport,a lovelyflatuseablebackyardforthekidsandpetstosafelyplay,naturalgasducted heating,ceilingfans,dishwasherandloadsmore!A specialhomethatyouwillbeproudtoown.

Thismudbrickhomehasbeenbuiltwithloveandistruly amagicalproperty.A picture-perfect setting,itsitsonwelloveranacre,whichincludesmountainviewsandwell-maintainedgardens. Featuringa fernery,Japanesegarden,spaciouslawn,largestudio,lock-updoublegarageapprox. 9x6,doublecarport,woodshed,veggiegarden,fruittrees,andisfullyfenced.Privatelytucked awayfromtheroad,delightfulsceneryawaitsateveryglance. Acosylayouttosuiteveryone,with3 bedroomsand abonusoptionfora 4th.Theupdatedkitchenfeaturesa stunningFalconovenand bamboobenchtopsandcountrylookcabinetsallfortheenthusiasticchefs.Devinecosyloungewith awoodfireandsplitsystemandbonusseparatestudiowithpowerprovides agreatwork-from-home space.Only afewminutesfromthebustlingtownofWarburton.A musttoinspect.

DUAL LIVING POTENTIAL WITH RURAL OUTLOOK

THIS property is a versatile gem! The dual living potential offers flexibility for various living arrangements, whether it’s accommodating extended family or creating separate workspaces. The rural setting with its scenic views adds a serene charm and the proximity to towns and amenities balances convenience with a peaceful atmosphere.

The main house boasts ample space with 3 bedrooms plus a study, featuring modern amenities like a walk-in shower, soaking tub and quality kitchen. The open-plan living areas and expansive deck make it perfect for entertaining or simply enjoying the countryside vistas. Comfort is ensured yearround including ducted heating, a wood fire and a split system.

The attached unit provides additional living space with its own bedroom, ensuite and kitchenette, making it ideal for guests or independent living. The option to incorporate the unit back into the main house offers even more flexibility for future needs.

Outside, the property offers practical amenities like a sealed driveway, remote gated entry and ample parking for vehicles, including designated space for a caravan or boat. The established gardens, shedding, garage and workshop add to the appeal, providing space for hobbies or storage.

Overall, this property seems to offer a harmonious blend of comfort, functionality, and rural charm, making it a desirable destination for families seeking an adaptable living space in a picturesque setting. ●

IdEALLOCATIONANdpONYREAdY

$1,150,000-$1,250,000

Private& perfect,thishomefeatures astunningensuite,mainbathroomincludes a walk-inrainshower,soakingtub &customvanity.Openplanlivingwithtimberfloors, contemporarykitchenwithinductioncooking,hugelaundry,woodheater,splitsystem studynook,twolargefencedpaddocks,doublegarage,3 bay7.5mx 10.5mshedwith mezzanine &power.MinutestoGembrookTownship,a shortdrivetoPakenham& rail connections,trailrides,hikes& adventurestobehadexploringthebushandsurrounds

JanetHawkins 0409117432

Erindavies 0493136937

AdREAmLIFESTYLE

Thisdelightfulhomeistheperfectblendofcomfort,convenienceandrusticcharm.step insideto find awarmandinvitinglivingspace,GDH,split systema/c, agenerousfront deckwithglassbalustrade,modernkitchen,BIr’s,anunder-decklockupworkshop/ storagearea, atieredbackyard, achookhouseandampleoff-streetparking.This locationoffers apeacefulescapefromthehustleandbustleofeveryday life.Located closetogreatrestaurants,publictransportandhighly regardedschools.

JanBrewster 0409558805

$800,000-$880,000

Theperfectblendofconvenienceandserenity,accessedvia asealedroad,with a buildingenvelopeinpositiontomakeyourvisiona realitya loteasier(sTcA).Thelandis mainlyclearedandisscenicallyblessed,overlookinga beautifuldam.Pleasenotedam iscommonproperty.youareminutestocafes,specialtyshops,restaurants,amenities primaryschool,busconnections,horsetrailsandhikes.connectionsatthegateare electricityandtelephone.Domesticwaterrightswithscopetoincrease.

JanetHawkins 0409117432

DUALLIVINGPOTENTIAL

Erindavies 0493136937

$1,100,000-$1,210,000

Theduallivingpotentialoffers flexibilityfor various livingarrangements &the rural setting withitsscenic views addsaserenecharm.Themainspacious househas 3bedrooms,a study,featuringmodernamenities,expansivedeck,DGH, awood fire& asplit system. Theattachedunitprovides additionallivingspacewithits ownbedroom,ensuite & kitchenette,idealfor independentliving.Outside,the propertyoffers asealeddriveway, remotegatedentry,ampleparking,establishedgardens,shedding,garage& workshop.

Erindavies 0493136937

JanetHawkins 0409117432

HOME FOCUS

THE MAGIC HOUSE

AFFECTIONATELY known as ‘The Magic House’ by passersby, this unique, family friendly home is a rare treasure that takes in the tranquil mountain vistas and offers a flexible layout that spans over three spacious levels of living.

Bursting with character and natural light, the home offers an enchanting design making you feel welcomed and intrigued from the moment you walk through the front door.

The mezzanine top storey is home to both the master suite and separate sitting room with Juliette balcony, allowing for views across the mountain ridge and also a glorious place to sit and read, whilst underneath, on the lower level, a large lounge with wood fire, French doors and pretty colonial windows provides a warm and cosy place to relax and enjoy a wintery night.

Overlooking the rear garden that has been carefully created to reveal itself with colour all throughout the year, a beautiful bay window is the feature of the relaxed meals area that also adjoins an updated, contemporary and well-designed kitchen.

There are three bedrooms in total, however, the versatile floorplan can provide an option for which rooms you choose, one being the formal lounge room that is centred around a glorious fireplace with gas fire and its very own French doors that lead to separate parking at the far end of the property.

Another adaptable living area is the opulent formal dining room where friends and family can gather on a large scale and enjoy a great night in. With gas ducted heating throughout plus evaporative cooling, and the wood fire plus gas fireplace, there is nothing left to do here but move in and let the magic happen.

Outside, a timber verandah takes in the peaceful garden setting of 908m2 that is highlighted by an almost spiritual gathering place with fire pit but also a chorus from local birdlife that include Kookaburra, King Parrots, Yellow Crested Cockatoos and Rainbow Lorikeets whilst the occasional Echidna can be found wandering quietly whilst you sit and enjoy your very own peaceful oasis. ●

PUZZLES

To solve a Sudoku puzzle, every number from 1 to 9 must appear in: each of the nine vertical columns, each of the nine horizontal rows and each of the nine 3 x 3 boxes. Remember, no number can occur more than once in any row, column or box.

ACROSS

1 Possibility (6)

4 Oblation (8)

9 Fierce animals (5)

10 Originating city of The Beatles (9)

11 Australian rugby league player and former Senator, – Lazarus (5)

12 Grant (9)

13 Diplomatic representative sent on a mission (8)

15 Smear (6)

16 Nakedness (6)

18 Positions in a hierarchy or scale (8)

23 One half of Oxbridge (9)

24 ‘Not on your – !’ (5)

26 Point above focus of an earthquake (9)

27 Dwelling (5)

28 Number in fluid mechanics, symbol Re (8)

29 Hurries (6)

DOWN

1 Toiletry (7)

2 Sun-dried brick (5)

3 Gambling buildings (7)

5 Act of kindness (6)

6 Made of fired clay (7)

7 Quarantine (9)

8 Theatrical partners – and Sullivan (7)

10 Vital organ (5)

14 Insurance; immunity (9)

16 Atomic (7)

17 Sink (7)

19 Skyfall theme singer (5)

20 Relatedness (7)

21 Reserve (7)

22 Revised and corrected (6)

25 Cad (coll) (5)

Using the nine letters in the grid, how many words of four letters or more can you list? The centre letter must be included and each letter may only be used

No colloquial or foreign words. No capitalised nouns, apostrophes or plural nouns ending in “s”.

No. 186 No. 186

Slim pickings for top scores

By Ron Hottes

The V.V.V’s:

Although there was no comp this week, of those Ladies who played, Georgie Houniet recorded the best score, with 17 points. Well done, Saffron Lady.!

Wednesday 15 May, Stableford:

On a lovely weather day, there were surprisingly moderate results recorded. The best score posted on the day was from David Waterman, with a solid 35 points. This is David’s first win in a while, so well done to him. The runnerup, on a tight countback, and taking home

the runner-up prize, was Trevor Porter. Trev posted a 34-point score. Balls only extended to 33. The NTP winners on this day were Ron Wilson, who snared both the 3rd and the 15th. Good shooting, Ron. Paul Kennedy picked up an NTP on the 5th. Your Loyal Scribe on the 9th, and finally, The Skipper, Ray Gilmore on

the ever-challenging 12th. Saturday 18 May, Person Ambrose: This was another ‘Back-to-Warburton’ day, but disappointingly, results were not available when this report was being prepared. Hopefully, results will be included in next week’s edition.

Warburton Golf Club results.

Picture: ON FILE

Healesville moving up

By Sarah Bailey

Healesville U9 Redbacks 8:0 Mooroolbark Teal

At Don Rd the Redbacks continued their winning streak at home against Mooroolbark.

The game started evenly, with both sides moving the ball around and getting good opportunities to score.

The Redbacks attacked hard, and some great individual runs from Max,Teddy and Ben helped set up plenty of chances for strikers Will and Louie.

Birthday boy Jamie stood tall in defence and did well in controlling the ball and weighing his options before sending the Redbacks back into attack.

At half time the score was 3-0 in Healesville’s favour.

The second half was a bit more one sided as the Redbacks took control of the game.

The twins, Karl and Kai, did a fantastic job in both defence and attack and helped set up plenty of goals.

It was pleasing to see the boys take some time, assess their options and look to pass to a teammate in a good position.

Five team members contributed goals to the winning scoreline.

Once again, the whole team contributed to the victory and deservedly enjoyed the celebrations.

Healesville U15 Mixed 3:0 Knox Strikers

The U15s took to the pitch in only their second home game of the season looking to turn their fortunes around.

Again with players out, they started strong, earning a penalty that saw the team call in defender Connor, who was appearing for the first time this season after injury had kept him out.

With no nerves showing, he converted, putting Healesville 1-0 up in the second minute of the game.

The first half was an arm wrestle, with both sides taking control and going forward for short periods, Nick R doing an amazing job as Healesville keeper.

Sam K slotted a nice goal that helped the home team to a 2-0 lead at half time.

The wrestle continued in the second half, but about 15 minutes in, Healesville gained the upper hand and started peppering the goals.

After several corners and narrowly missed chances, Hamish M knocked in Healesville’s third.

Healesville stayed on the attack to the final whistle.

Healesville U13 Girls Hearts 2:1 Berwick United

Playing away against Berwick, the Hearts turned in a solid first-half display with all the possession and a lot of chances, but they couldn’t find the back of the net.

Counter-attacking, Berwick took their only shot on target late in the half.

Undaunted, Healesville battled hard in the second half as Berwick found their rhythm.

Ava H and TillyW set up a tense finish, superbly slotting home two quick goals midway through the half.

Desperate defending by all the girls saw the game end with a well-deserved Healesville win and a move up to fourth on the ladder for the Hearts.

Ava H, Isla L and Henrietta IM were standouts on the pitch.

Healesville U10 Ninjas 5:4 Berwick Spirit

The Ninjas encountered a very evenly matched opposition in their away game against Berwick.

Back in the line-up, JacobV was instrumental to the team, bringing strong play down the wing and scoring some crucial goals.

Jaxson and Hayden T were again active at both ends of the park.

It was great to see the team hold good structure and support each other to nab the win.

Healesville U11 White Wolves 0:2

Mooroolbark Burras

A chilly morning bloomed into a glorious day at Healesville Soccer Club as the undermanned Wolves faced a very skilful and disciplined Mooroolbark team.

The visitors gained the ascendancy early in the match, surging through the Wolves’ defensive line to take the lead. In response, the Wolves got busy and displayed great determination and teamwork to not only fend off their opponents but create multiple chances of their own.

The on-field wrestle was a sight to see as the Wolves faced an uphill battle against the Burras’ defence, which thwarted many advances.

A shining light in the forward line, Austin A drifted past the defenders a little early according to the officials – his goal was disallowed for being offside.

The keeping quality from both teams was top notch. As the intensity around the contest escalated, great (fearless) keeping was needed more than ever, and the onlookers weren’t dis-

appointed. Special mention to Austin A and Harley T, whose stunning saves gained applause from all in attendance.

In an attempt to grab a late goal, a change was made structurally to help our forwards, and this left a hole in our defence that was soon exploited.

A late goal from the Burras sealed their win in the final moments of the match as the Wolves conceded their first defeat of the season.

Healesville U10 Goats 2:5 Berwick Blues

With Griff captaining the side away at Berwick, the U10 Goats played their most balanced game yet against a bigger, more physical team.

With some sensational defensive pressure from William, and goals from Arlo and Ryder, topped off with a magnificent save from Patrick, both teams were evenly matched. Berwick’s super-striker was too much to contain in the second half, which resulted in the game going Berwick’s way.

Healesville U8s 0:4 Berwick Blues

An amazing game was played by Healesville’s U8s, with a huge effort by Jude and Olivia in goals.

Strikers Zach and Reese did us proud, staying forward and nearly hitting the back of the net several times.

The rest of the game was up to the defenders, and they had a battle on their hands.

Perfection conditions for riders across the week

By Anita Prowse

Wednesday saw Shirley Heights Midweek Dressage Day and winners were: · Inter 1 – Kerry Goldthorpe on Ml Aber Je Suis Charlie · Advanced – Sami Bell on Mayfield Zander · Medium – Allysse Smith on Redgum James 007 · Elem – Alison McHenry on Benchmark Roxanne

Novice – BridgetteVan Sprang on Abby BW

Prelim – Melissa Wheeler on Hollands Bend Formidable · Prep – Julie Mills on Frodo

Para Test A &; B – ZoeVorenas on Salmour

done everyone.

up May 25 and 26 is Melba Equestrian Club’s Dressage Weekend at Wesburn Park. All FEI Level competitors most welcome with Children, Pony, Junior, Young Rider,

All smiles for riders in the Valley.

Pictures: SUPPLIEDPerfect conditions for riding.

Archie B and Willis K were excellent in defence, cutting off many forward plays by the Berwick team.

Here comes the sun: Healesville’s U13 mixed team faces off against Knox Force.

Picture: SUPPLIED

Woori remain undefeated

By Brendan Donovan

With the weather gods smiling again,WooriYallock travelled to Mt Evelyn on Saturday 18 May.

The week started well with the Senior Women’s football team continuing their impressive start to the year on Friday night with another strong performance against Seville to remain undefeated on third of the way through the season.

Final score Seville 1.1 7 to Woori Yallock 5.3, 33. Top Tigers were Sky Wilson, Emily Spicer, Emelia Robin, Piper Crymble, Jessica Lee and Isla Schroder.

The Under 18s started slowly against strong opposition but slowly turned the game and ended with a nerve-wracking draw. Coach Scotty was spot on after the game telling his fellas that we will learn heaps from that game.

Final score Mt Evelyn 5.9 39 toWooriYallock 5.9, 39. Top Tigers were Tyler Ormsby, Gabriel Conboy, Lewis Player, Mason O’Neill and Jake Dare.

The Ressies took a small step forward again with a solid performance, the boys are certainly keeping themselves in games now and keeping the scoreboard ticking.Whilst Mt Evelyn kicked away in the last five minutes, it was another good performance.

Final score Mt Evelyn 10.5, 65 to Woori Yallock 7.6, 48.TopTigers were Pierce Jenkin, Ryley Dare, Thomas Rogers, Caleb Lee, Matthew Cliff and Tom Kear.

With the netballers up against a strong netball program, the teams had mixed results with the under-17s getting their first win for the year, whilst the D Grade side got the win too. It was a tough start to the day for the U15s, while the B and A grade teams put up strong performances.

Scores:

· A Grade: Mt Evelyn 50 defeated Woori Yallock 42. Top Tigers were Olivia Caneva, Gaby Clarke and Chelsea Smith.

· B Grade: Mt Evelyn 65 defeatedWooriYallock 58. Top Tigers were Louise Chapple, Jaymee Tough and Monique Brown.

· CGrade: Mt Evelyn 45 defeatedWooriYallock 14. Top Tigers were Tahlia Thornton, Grace Sibley and Maddison Sands.

· D Grade: Mt Evelyn 27 defeated by Woori Yallock 28. Top Tigers were Narelle Collette, Rebecca Jackson and Megan Britton.

· 17 and Under: Mt Evelyn 16 defeated by WooriYallock 27. Top Tigers were Oliver Stenhouse, Georgia Sands and Monique Brown.

· U15s: Woori Yallock 3 defeated by Officer 41. No best players selected.

In the Senior Men’s football, Woori Yallock came up against an undermanned Mt Evelyn.

While the first quarter was a bit of an arm wrestle,Woori had the upper hand at the break. A stunning start to the second from the midfield got the team moving and got the separation on the scoreboard. A pleasing four-quarter performance with no injuries leaves the senior team in the top spot at the one-third mark of the season.

Final scores Mt Evelyn 5.6, 36 to Woori Yallock 17. 18, 120. Top Tigers were Kynan French, Jacob Aitchison, Bradd Arnold, JordanWilliams, Jason Lindgren and Zach Monkhorst.

This week, Woori Yallock travels to Monbulk who have had a couple of strong weeks in the footy and a consistent netball program and supporters are encouraged to make the effort to get over and support the teams.

Undermanned Dogs get the job done

Wandin welcomed Berwick Springs to the Kennel for their Round Six clash on Saturday 18 May.

It was a powerful opening half by an undermanned Wandin that proved the difference on the day, producing the side’s best football for the year on their way to back-toback wins.

The Dogs kept the Titans to a measly point in the first quarter while scoring 5.5 to set themselves up, before piling on another 7 goals in the second quarter to establish a 59-point lead heading into the main break.

In arguablyWandin’s first full four-quarter effort of the season, the Dogs kept the pace up in the second half, only allowing their opponents to score another goal in each quarter for the rest of the game while kicking another

8.10 in a dominant display.

Top Dogs on the day were Patty Bruzzese, Chayce Black, Clinton Johnson, Jordan Jaworski, Brodie Atkins, Thomas Hinds and Charlie Wood.

Goalkickers were Johnson 6, Jaworksi 4, Atkins, Bruzzese and Wood 2 and one apiece from Harrison Van Duuren, Macauley Beckwith, Daniel Hirst and Harrison Byrne.

Other results:

· Reserves: Wandin 12.11, 83 defeated Berwick Springs 3.9, 27. Top Dogs were Aaron Mandl, Blake Chrisfield, Nicholas Pike, Josh James, Matthew Drysdale and Rory Colling.

· Under 19s: Bye

· A Grade Netball: Wandin 85 defeated Berwick Springs 12. Top Dogs were Kyah

Kimpton, Kailah Meager and Kate Campbell.

· B Grade: Wandin 72 defeated Berwick Springs 27. Top Dogs were Ella Tweedale, Madeline Seeley and Marlee Smart.

· C Grade: Wandin 53 defeated Berwick Springs 14. Top Dogs were Corinne Bogle, Aimee Mackenzie and Cassidy Iedema.

· D Grade: Wandin 43 defeated Berwick Springs 7. Top Dogs were Kealey Earney, Stephanie Braniska and Ella Rumian.

· 17 and Under: Wandin 31 defeated Pakenham 24. Top Dogs were Chloe Schmitt, Abby Akers and Summer Tuppenney.

ClintonJohnsonwasamongWandin’sbest afterahaulofsixagainstBerwickSprings.

Picture:ONFILE

Another clean sweep for the Burras in thriller round

By Alex Woods

This weekend was Round 6 and the season is already flying by. Warburton-Millgrove hosted Yea for Men’s Footy and Netball and Emerald for Women’s Footy. Chilly day with a slight breeze, but the sun was out and was lovely.

D Grade started off the morning againstYea. They had a strong start, keeping Yea to 3 goals in the first half, while shooting 13 for themselves. They continued on right to the end and had a final score of 26-8. Holly Cole put up 14 goals, Sienna Muir with 6 and Brooke de Pedro with 6. Tamin Crunden, Emily Kay and Sienna Muir were the best players in the game.

Women’s Footy started off the matches on the field, taking on Emerald. They started strong, kicking 4.3 to Emerald 0. The second quarter was a bit more quiet, with only Emerald only scoring a goal.

Half time came for a much-needed reset. Burras scored 1.2 in the third and Emerald added another 2 goals to their total. The last quarter was a lot more to Emerald’s wishes they slowly approached the Burras score, but they managed to grab a much-needed goal to have a secure win.The final score was 7.6-48 to 5.1-31. The goal kickers were MadiWard, Maddi Andueza, Jade Mewburn, Hollie Eckhardt,

C Grade took the court next. Another strong start by the Burra girls, having a 24-6 half time lead. They continued on strongly and had a final score of 47 to 12. Mel Hancock shot 26 goals, Ashlyn Hermansen with 13 and Cam Partel with 8. Casey Hare, Mel Hancock and Nicole Winzer were the top performers of the game.

A grade was on next, again, their first half was strong shooting 31 goals to 9. They carried on throughout the game and took home a win of 69 to 15. Bianca Daniels had another big one shooting 37 goals, Ashlyn Elliott with 12 and Karly Wappett with 19. Top performers were Ashlyn Elliott, Indiana Pinnock and Taylah Moschetti.

Reserves were next on the field, they kept Yea scoreless in the first quarter and kicking 2.4 for themselves. They secured another 4 goals in the second and allowed Yea to grab 2.1. The second half was stronger for the Burras. They managed to keep Yea to 5 points in the second half and grabbed another 10 goals and 3 behinds for themselves. The final score was 16.7-103 to 2.6-18. David Lever had another big day kicking 5 goals, Brett Winzer, Chad Currey and Ashley Taylor all had 2 each Caelan Flynn, Tyler Bert, Matt Sidari, Brayden Ferguson and Jai Leermakers all secured 1. Top per-

formers were David Lever, Brayden Ferguson, Mitch Gordon, Jason De Graaf, Chad Currey and Ricky Andueza.

B Grade finished off the netball for the day. They had a nice halftime score of 30-13 and continued their momentum right until the end. 53-42 was the final score and they secured another win. AlexWoods put up 22 goals, Tayla Ferguson with 19 and Jordy Butcher with 12. Alex Woods, Ruby Kelly and Monique Lee were the top performers of the game.

Senior Footy finished off the round, it started out being a close game, with a quarter-time score of 25 to 24. In the second term, the Burras managed to secure some extra goals to get a nice lead heading into the halftime break. The second half was much more to the Burras way with them securing 9 goals and 9 behinds to Yea 3 goals 7 behinds. The final score was 16.21-117 to Yea 9- 8.62. Trent Elliott kicked 4 goals, Jack Farrugia with 3, Tom Barr, Bailey Humphrey both had 2 each and Hudson Semple, Nelson Aldridge, Lachlan Hewitt, Tarkyn Nicolandos and Jack Lee all kicked 1 each. Star players for the match were Ben Pretty, Dylan Walker, Jack Lee, Jake Byrush, Tom Barr and Jack Farrugia.

Another clean sweep for the Burras. Well done all.

Nicole Ruehmer, Charleen Gray and Emerson Woods. Top Performers were Nicole Ruehmer, Kylie Ockwell, Sally McIntosh, EmersonWoods and Lilian Pagels.

OliviaCanevajumpstoblockforWooriYallock.

Picture:ADAMSYKES

Big decade of Pride Cup

By Callum Ludwig

A decade of making a difference for LGBTIQA+ people in community sport was celebrated as the Yarra Glen Football Netball Club locked horns with cross-town rivals Healesville on Saturday 18 May.

It marked the 10th anniversary of the Pride Cup, a now annual match held by the River Pigs with the aim of supporting and welcoming members of the LGBTIQA+ community.

Yarra Glen Football Netball Club Treasurer David Ball said the club remains very proud of the event.

“It’s one of those things, 10 years ago we thought it was just a one-off event that we’d run and it’s grown legs over the years,” he said.

“We’ve inspired the AFL to have the SydneySt Kilda Pride Game and now there’s a Pride Cup organisation that organises pride cups all around Australia in all different sports.”

David is the father of former Yarra Glen player Jason Ball, who came out as gay to his teammates in 2012.

The Pride Cup was later devised as a showing of support for Jason and first held in 2014 to great success, with 50m arcs painted in rainbow colours and rainbow designs later being incorporated into the jumpers from the following year onwards.

David said he thinks the message of the Pride Cup remains very important today.

“Unfortunately, we’ve had a couple of incidents in the AFL where players have let go with some homophobic slurs so we’ve still got to do a bit more because a large part of it is about education,” he said.

“We have an education session before each

Pride Cup that all the players that are playing take part in so they understand that often the gay community just don’t participate in sport because they just find it too hard, the homophobic language is too hurtful and uncomfortable for them.”

According to the Pride Cup organisation, there will be 10 Pride-related sporting events taking place over the weekend of Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 May alone.

David said he thinks the whole Yarra Glen community has been very supportive of the Pride Cup message.

“It’s wonderful to have something that does bring the community together a bit more, football clubs are often seen as blokey environments, but when you can do things like run Pride Cups, you can illustrate to everybody that we’re very welcoming people,” he said.

“We play a different club every year so that we can spread the message across the league

and it’s fantastic, but to finally be able to get Healesville on the park after being in different divisions for a couple of years is great and they’ve been very supportive as well.”

Healesville FNC held its own education session at their Tuesday night training session in the lead-up to the game.

Healesville Football Netball Club President Toby Millman said it’s an event they are glad to be a part of.

“We are an inclusive club where we welcome people from all walks of life and we’re just really excited to be part of what’s a fantastic day for the community,” he said.

“I think it was, especially for an old boy, it was just an eye-opener because sometimes you don’t realise that the small things you say can have a really big effect on people, it was a really great education piece not only for the players but everyone at the club.”

From a sporting standpoint, the eighthplaced River Pigs looked to maintain their near-flawless record in Pride Cup games, having only ever lost one Senior Football game on the special occasion prior, coming last year against eventual premier Powelltown.

They faced a tough challenge in the highflying Bloods, who topped the Division One ladder prior to the start of the round.

Pride Cup CEO Hayley Conway said they are proud to mark a decade of LGBTIQ+ inclusion and iconic celebration in sport, with this milestone 10th anniversary of the Yarra Valley Pride Cup.

“Communities like Yarra Glen are leading the way. Every sports club can learn something from them”, she said.

Jason Ball said he came out in the hope that it would drive cultural change within the AFL so that more players and athletes and officials can feel comfortable to be themselves in that environment.

“When I was a kid growing up, the football club felt like the one place I would never be able to be myself. It’s hard to describe the feeling of liberation all those years ago, standing side by side with my teammates in our rainbow jumpers for the first time, standing against homophobia and sending a powerful message that sport should be everyone’s game,” he said.

“I’m so incredibly proud of the Yarra Glen community for keeping this tradition alive for 10 years. Yarra Glen planted a seed that has grown into a nationwide movement for change, and the impact has been felt far beyond the sporting field.” For the results, see the match report below.

Yarra Glen and Healesville lock horns in tight tussles

By Anne-Marie Ebbels and David Ball

This week Healesville and Yarra Glen played against each other to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Pride Round under sunny skies at Yarra Glen.

The netball game were all physicals affairs with C grade kicking off the day.

The Yarra Glen’s C grade girls were off to a great start showing some real dominance after keeping Healesville to only two goals in the first quarter.

The Yarra Glen girls lifted each quarter and continued their dominant display on court keeping Healesville to 11 goals for the game.

Tammie Milbourne’s continuous defensive efforts and hands over pressure created absolute havoc and was instrumental in Yarra Glen’s win.

Alex Bray was best player on court among Yarra Glen girls who was a shooting superstar, so efficient with ball in hand and shot 24 goals for the game.

Final scores, Yarra Glen 46 : 11 Healesville In B Grade, it was a battle for fourth spot.

Yarra Glen started well to hold an 11 to 6 lead at quarter time.

They extended the lead by eight in the second quarter as Yarra Glen’s defensive pressure forced the Bloods to turnover the ball.

The Yarra Glen shooters converted well in the second half as the River Pig girls stretched the lead to see them victorious 50 to 34.

In the big A grade Pride Cup game, Yarra Glen were keen to win back the Pride Cup after going down in their previous two encounters.

The game started with high intensity as Healesville threw everything at Yarra Glen.

The Yarra Glen girls withstood the pressure and rebounded to lead 19 to 12 at quarter time.

By half time the lead had stretched to 12 and to 17 goals at the last break.

To Healesville credit they never gave up and matched it withYarra Glen as both teams scored 13 goals each in the last quarter.

Final scores, Yarra Glen 66 : 49 Healesville. It was great to see the netball Pride Cup return to Yarra Glen

The first quarter of the seniors football was very contested, and this showed on the scoreboard with limited scoring opportunities.

Healesville went into the first break with an eight-point lead.

Healesville took control in the second quarter and continue to repel the ball from half-back limiting Yarra Glen’s scoring opportunities going into the big break with 55-point lead.

The second continued much the same as the second quarter with Healesville running out winner by 87 points.

Healesville was clearly too good and with Aaron Edwards kicking seven goals they took out The Pride Cup to win 22.21 toYarra Glen’s 10.6.

The Reserve was all one-way traffic with Healesville keeping Yarra Glen scoreless in the first half and going into the half-time break with a 115 point lead.

Tyler Tweedie led the goal kicking with 11 goals followed by Shane Mansfield with seven goals to post a final winning margin by 166 points.

The Healesville women won their game on a forfeit by Upwey-Tecoma, but have another opportunity to play this coming week on Friday night under lights at Belgrave.

Yarra Glen took on Healesville in the latest edition of the Pride Cup. Picture: ON FILE

Brandon Murphy from Healesville out rucking his Yarra Glen opponent.

Picture: KYLIE ROWE

Yarra Glen’s Josh Hawkins made a marking. Picture: SUPPLIED

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