Mail - Ferntree Gully Star Mail - 21st May 2024

Safe, stable roads - please

A group of Kallista’s residents have put forward a proposal with hopes of getting a commitment for road sealing.

Three roads have been called “antiquated” by the Kallista Flood Watch Group, who are requesting they be put on the program for sealing by Yarra Ranges Council.

Looking for “safe and stable” roads for the future, lead advocate Karen Kestigian said it doesn’t feel like an “unreasonable” request and the group is “not asking for the world”.

To read more about the submission turn to page 9

407700 Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS

Donvale women players tripped, looks ‘rated’ by Knox men’s team in... Male abuse shame

By Tanya Steele

Knox Football Netball Club’s development team has been stood down indefinitely following reports of unacceptable behaviour from male players towards an opposing women’s team.

Female football players from Donvale were allegedly subjected to both verbal abuse and physical contact from male players on an opposing team on the weekend of Saturday 11 May.

This behaviour comes after recent news of Yarra Valley Grammar male students ranking

female students in a list based on their appearance, with two boys expelled.

3AW’s reporter Jacqui Felgate stated on air on Monday 13 May that male Knox players were involved in the incident as women’s Donvale players ran out for their second half.

“As the women ran out at half time, male players from Knox lined up on either side of the race, and yelled at ratings for each player,” she said.

“They held out their legs to trip the women over and used the phrases yes, no, mediocre, rating each female player.”

“The players were rightly upset but they

played out the rest of the game.”

Knox Football Netball Club released a statement to Facebook on Thursday 16 May confirming that the KFNC is standing down the Development Team indefinitely pending the outcome of the investigation.

“Upon learning of the incident, KFNC initiated an immediate investigation to understand what transpired and to take appropriate action.

KFNC recognises that such behaviour is completely unacceptable and does not reflect the values of the club,” the statement said.

Prior to this the KFNC released a statement

on to it’s community on Facebook that ‘behaviour of this kind is completely unacceptable at our club, and we are deeply concerned by the incident.’

“We have extended our deepest apologies to the Donvale Football club, and will continue to work closely with them and the EFNL to keep them informed on the outcome and actions we will take as a result of our investigation. The safety of all players is paramount and we do not tolerate antisocial behaviour or behaviour that is disrespectful to women.” the statement read.

Continued page 3

NEWS Ram-raid charges

By Tanya Steele

Three teenagers, with one as young as 13, have been charged with multiple alleged ram raids targeting the Dandenong Ranges.

Eastern Region Crime Squad detectives charged the three males following a series of alleged ram-raids and aggravated burglaries in the eastern suburbs on Saturday 18 May.

The alleged crimes were fast-paced with several service stations and stores being hit overnight - with two underage males allegedly part of the spree.

It is alleged two males used a hammer and attempted to force entry into a service station on Princes Way in Drouin about 2.45am, they were unsuccessful and fled the scene in a white utility.

Later, it is alleged a white utility rammed the front window of a store on Belgrave-Hallam Road in Belgrave South about 3.50am.

The Belgrave South IGA now has a completely boarded-up window and staff were left shaken by the alleged incident.

Across the road at the Ampol, the service station staff said these kinds of incidents can happen frequently and someone attempted to gain access to their store only a few weeks earlier.

A short time later, a white utility allegedly drove into the front doors of a BP service station on Burwood Highway in Tecoma.

The damages had been repaired by Monday 20 May and staff said the alleged offenders did not gain access to the building.

The Upwey 7-Eleven was closed for business due to the damages at the station on Saturday and had limited operations on Sunday

Picture: TANYA STEELE

after a white utility allegedly rammed the front doors at about 4am.

“It’s a really close community here and I am very sad about it,” said a staff member at the store.

It is alleged the male occupants of the util-

ity, as well as an occupant of another light-coloured sedan, forced entry into the store using a hammer and stole cigarettes.

The staff member inside the store at the time was not physically injured.

A 7-Eleven staff member said the worker on duty was quite shaken but alleged that he saw the alleged thieves coming and got into the locked room of the store before the youths began forcing entry into the story

“We work really hard and when you come across things like this, it is pretty upsetting,” the worker said.

Arrests were made as a result of the alleged crimes and a 19-year-old Ashwood man was arrested in Mulgrave Street, Ashwood and he has been charged with dangerous driving whilst pursued by police and attempted burglary.

He will appear at the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on 18 June.

Two boys were arrested in Hight Street Road, Wantirna.

A 15-year-old Wantirna boy was charged with multiple counts of aggravated burglary, burglary, robbery, theft and criminal damage and a 13-year-old Hampton Park boy was charged with multiple counts of aggravated burglary, burglary, theft, criminal damage and dangerous driving offences.

They will both appear at a children’s court at a later date.

In Upper Ferntree Gully at the Apollo Fuel Service station also had an alleged robbery over the weekend, with access gained to the store and cigarettes stolen - however police media have stated this was not linked to the other alleged crimes.

Huge response for trapped Gembrook man

By Tanya Steele

A complex multi-personnel rescue has seen a man airlifted to hospital from Gembrook after being trapped for over two hours.

The afternoon of Tuesday 14 May saw a massive multi-personnel response to a man trapped by farming machinery in Gembrook. With eleven vehicles on the scene, the huge emergency response has further sparked a WorkSafe investigation.

Victoria Police confirmed that emergency services were called to reports that a man was injured on Orchard Road in Gembrook at about 1.45pm.

Gembrook and Nar Nar Goon CFA alongside FRV responded to the accident alongside police, SES and paramedic services.

SES Unit Controller Ben Owen said that SES was informed the Gembrook incident was out in the a middle of a paddock.

“It was where harvesting machinery was, the person trapped had some colleagues trying to get him out,” he said

“It soon became apparent that it was going to become a complex rescue, and we many other agencies on scene - we had police, am-

bulance, Fire Rescue Victoria and CFA all working together to free the person.”

Mr Owen said it took some time to free the man.

“It was roughly two hours later that he was airlifted to The Alfred,” he said.

Ambulance Victoria said Advanced Life Support and Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance paramedics, as well as an air ambulance attended the scene to treat and ferry the man

to hospital.

“A man in his 60s was transported via air ambulance to the Alfred Hospital with a lowerbody injury, in a serious condition,” they said.

The Alfred Hospital confirmed on Friday 17 May that the man is now in a stable condition.

Police said that WorkSafe will investigate the incident and there are ‘no further details at this stage’.

Abuse shame

From page 1

The President of Donvale Football Club John Giles said on Tuesday 14 May that their club had been made aware by their women’s team that they were subjected to offensive remarks by an opposing club on Saturday.

“This is a matter of serious concern and we are investigating further,” he said.

Mr Giles said that Donvale have been informed that both the opposing club and the league are investigating the matter.”

“We feel that no further comment should be made by us until these investigations are completed,” he said.

KFNC’s statement said that the KFNC committee understand the gravity of the situation and the importance of taking swift and decisive action.

“We are committed to learning from this incident and ensuring that such behaviour is not repeated in the future,” the statement said.

After no initial response online or to Star Mail, the Eastern Football Netball League (EFNL) also released a statement on Thursday 16 May that said that the EFNL had been made aware of the incident between the Donvale and Knox Footbal Clubs on 11 May. EFNL Chief Executive Jy Bond further stated in the statement that the EFNL has worked closely with both clubs since that time and is committed to overseeing a thorough independent investigation process.

“The Knox Development team has been stood down until the investigation has concluded,” she said.

“As a league, the EFNL do not condone or tolerate any disrespectful and intimidating behaviour towards our participants.”

Apart from the complete stop to gameplay while the investigation continues, the KFNC included several other immediate measures in response to the half time incident. They included an independent investigation by the EFNL, a mandatory educational program across the entire club and the establishment of an ongoing partnership with a local family violence shelter.

“Our Club stands for inclusivity, respect, and safety for all members, and we will continue to uphold these values in everything we do” the KFNC Committee said.

Belgrave South IGA has its front window boarded up after the weekend.

Female footy players from Donvale were tripped over and ranked as they ran on to the grounds for their second half on the weekend. Picture: FILE

A picture taken by SES Emerald at the incident debrief with all rescue agencies. Picture: SUPPLIED

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

Budget has ‘missed mark’

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 2023-34, 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 longterm 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, well-paid jobs into the future.”

This year’s budget marks the first back-toback 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, in-

creased 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.”

Positive for renewables

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 NewVehicle 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.

Thegovernmentalsorecentlyannounced 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.

‘Tokenistic’ funding slammed

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), FamilyViolence 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’.”

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”.

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

Picture: SUPPLIED

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher delivered their third budget on Tuesday 14 May.

Picture: MICK TSIKAS/AAP

Budget wipes $3b from student debts in HECS reform

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 theHECSandHELPloanprogramsmeanthat $1,200 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.

Healthcare queries raised

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.

Mr Violi 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.

2024 HECS reform and student aid announced.

Picture: UNSEEN STUDIO

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

NEWS Housing crisis prioritised

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 smallscale 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 LilydaleYouth 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.”

Besidesthat,theGovernmentincluded$88.8 million in the budget to deliver 20,000 new feefree 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:ONFILE

NEWS Visa help is on the menu

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 in Victoria 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 dif-

ferent 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; Spe-

cialist (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 IncomeThreshold (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 estimated 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.”

Co-owners of Babaji’s Kerala Kitchen and partners Max Kamil Hassan and Billy Crombie. 370889 Picture: ON FILE

Road-seal pleas go up

By Emma Xerri

In a fight for what many locals are rightfully calling the “bare minimum,” the Kallista Flood Watch Group are advocating for much needed funds and consideration from the Yarra Ranges Council to update the town’s “antiquated” and dangerous roads.

Turning their attention to Gleghorn Road, Emberson Street and Rivington Avenue, the group hope to achieve a commitment from the council that will go towards sealing a portion of the town’s 5.7 kilometres of unsealed road.

“All of the roads that we have here were cut by loggers in the 1860s, and over 90 per cent of our roads remain unsealed,” lead advocate Karen Kestigian said.

“So we came together and formed the Kallista Flood Watch Group because everybody was tired of the amount of water that we were getting, and the fact that we had to maintain and service the culvert drains ourselves.”

With the Yarra Ranges Council Budget decision fast approaching, residents are hoping the budget will go towards remedying the town’s “third world” roads, instilling residents with a renewed sense of optimism after the “Roads for Community” funding - which promised $150 million each to theYarra Ranges and Cardinia Councils to drain and seal the unsealed roads - was withdrawn in May 2023.

“Last year we produced a 100-page report on Kallista, which explored the Yarra Ranges Council’s 10 year capital expenditure plan,” Ms Kestigian added. “We were very interested to see where the money was being spent because we’re constantly being told the money has to be equitably distributed across the ranges and yet, we weren’t getting any.

“We found that 91 per cent of the money was being spent in Lilydale, Chirnside, Mount Evelyn, and all across that side of the Yarra Ranges, while Lyster Ward and Streeton Ward were only getting nine per cent. All we got was $119,000 for a footpath over the next 10 years.”

This advocacy has been backed by petitions that are to be presented to the council, providing an “absolutely incredible” show of support from “over 95 per cent of people [who] want the roads sealed.”

Among those locals who are passionately in favour of these upgrades is Rosemary, who has lived in the area for more than three decades, and who has experienced the danger of these roads first hand, after the gravel caused her to slip and break her ankle, and claiming she is “certainly not the only one.”

“I’ve been here 37 years, so I’ve seen a lot of things come and go, but one thing that is consistent is the state of the roads,” she said.

Originally built for horse and dray, Kallista’s unsealed roads are not only no longer fit-forpurpose, but increasingly dangerous given issues with access and flooding.

“I dread every fire season,” Rosemary added. Because we lose use of the road, and it’s very difficult to get out at any angle.

“If you put a fire truck or an ambulance on that road, there is no getting past it.

While Ms Kestigian noted that work has been done in recent weeks to put in “substantial drainage,” she maintains that more work is needed to “cut down the flow rate and try to manage the water, because we’ve got no water

management.”

“Our floods are not on a floodplain, they are manmade. So, when you know that there’s a storm coming, it’s very hard to sleep, it’s very hard to relax, and people get really anxious.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re young or old, all residents are simply waiting for the impending tides, and asking themselves, ‘how bad is it going to be this time?’

“We’re only 45 minutes from Melbourne, and yet we’ve had many federal members and state members out here, as well as a number of independent engineers, and they all told us our roads are in third world condition.

“Our unsealed roads also lack any footpaths, which makes living in Kallista really hard for the 33 per cent of our population who are that bit older, making our town’s livability a very big question mark.

“So we’re certainly not asking for the world, we’re just asking, humbly, for what is apparent in every other suburb.

“And I can’t see that that’s an unreasonable ask.”

Advocates are hoping that this year’s budget will see their “reasonable” requests heard by the council, and commitments made to provide the community with a positive path forward.

“We just want the council to at least make a commitment to a schedule; for them to say that over so many years they are going to undertake the work needed to address these things.”

“I’d like to thank the shire for the road work that has already been done,” Rosemary added.

“But it is the same road work I have seen being done for 20 years, and the roads are only getting worse, not better.

“We don’t need anything elaborate. We don’t need any new street signs or poles.

“We just need to seal the roads and make them safe and stable for the future.

“Because it’s difficult to think that another 20 years might go by without any improvement.”

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

Kallista residents Karen, Rosemary and Ethan have experienced the dangers of the unsealed roads. 407700 Pictures: STEWART CHAMBERS

Rivington Avenue is just one of three roads Kallista resident are calling for to be sealed. 407700

NEWS Getting a real buzz

Nearly two-thirds of Australia’s agricultural production benefits from bee pollination. Beyond using bees in food production, a growing number of locals are sharing their love and knowledge in beekeeping. For World Bee Day on Monday 20 May, MATTHEW SIMS spoke to Emerald Regional Beekeeping Club member Kerry Graham about the growing popularity for the hobby in the region and the value of bees.

On a property along a tributary of Menzies Creek in Emerald, one of Australia’s key elements of its food production can be found buzzing around.

Hobby beekeeper and Emerald Regional Beekeeping Club member Kerry Graham hosts seven hives on her property and produces a small amount of honey.

The bees use both the pollen and the nectar at one of the many protea flowers found on the property, before returning to the hive and depositing it in a honeycomb cell, which is then capped with wax.

With each hive containing about 30,000 bees working at making honey and a hive’s queen laying about 2000 eggs a day, Ms Graham said managing a hive and then producing honey was a time-consuming task.

Another part of her process was freezing the honeycomb to protect and then extracting the honey.

However, instead of stripping the honeycomb completely, Ms Graham said she often returned the hollowed-out honeycomb and any leftover honey back to the hive.

“I give them their own honey back sometimes,“ she said.

“It saves them starting from scratch to build.

“It just gives them a little bit of fast-tracking.“

Ms Graham said out of a hive of 30,000 bees, the majority of the ’workers’ were female.

“The hive is run by a queen,“ she said.

“The boys are called drones and are only useful to breed and mate.“

Ms Graham said her beekeeping was only a hobby which began with one hive in an Officer housing block six years ago and had only become seven hives in the past 12 months.

“We’ve started with one hive and expanded,“ she said.

“We’re just interested in maintaining the hives so they can give us some honey which I give to family and friends.

Ms Graham said her and her partner Steve had no interest in becoming a commercial enterprise.

“My dad used to have bees in Shady Creek,“ she said.

“I’ve always had a fascination for bees.“

One memory which sprang to mind was stepping into the family home covered in a swarm of bees at only four years of age.

“I knew no better,“ Ms Graham said.

Once owning a pet shop in Warragul, Ms Graham said she has always had a love for nature and the hidden world of animals and insects.

“We’ve always had lots of animals around,“ she said.

Ms Graham said the importance of bees and other insects in pollination and broader food and plant production was often unseen and unknown by most people.

“We just step over them,“ she said.

“Every little bee or insect has an ability to pollinate a different type of flower.

“We’d lose a lot of our nature without bees and insects.“

A number of beekeepers continue to face increasing pressures from rising costs in managing pest and disease, severe weather events including bushfires, floods and droughts, and decreasing prices received for their honey, driven in part by competition from cheaper imported honeys.

Ms Graham added that the Victorian beekeeping community were preparing for incursions by varroa mite.

“It’s just about maintaining it,“ she said.

“We must learn to live with it.“

A number of Asia, Europe, the USA, South America and New Zealand have already dealt with populations of Varroa mite, with Varroa leading to a 30 per cent fatality rate across a hive.

Nangana Landcare Group looks to future

By Emma Xerri

The Nangana Landcare Group celebrated their launch on 4 May, after a turbulent three years of finding their footing amid Covid complications.

Joined by Daniela De Martino MP, the Network members came together for a lovely morning tea, bustling with speeches and quiet excitement as the Network looked forward to “bold plans,” they hope to bring to life in the near future.

“Nangana Landcare Group will be making an expression of interest to the Landcare Victoria New Futures pilot program, which is a 20 year vision for a strategic plan to be financed by green finance,” Network Secretary Jenny Lyndon said.

“It’s much bigger than anything we’ve ever done, for sure. And it involves business, social and cultural aspects, so we will have to step right out of our little environmental bubble and work together.

“We recently had a vision workshop at the Puffing Billy Lakeside Visitor Center, and that was incredibly successful. So that indicated to us that we can work together and we can develop a 20 year vision and strategy.”

The Network’s formation will see the combined efforts of local landcare groups who have worked tirelessly for decades to advocate for environmental conservation - groups including the Johns Hill Landcare Group, which Jenny has been the proud president of for 10 years.

“Johns Hill has undertaken lots of different projects in planting, weeds and research. We

have also been involved in the Woori Yallock Creek Park Alliance, which started in 2007 and resulted in the creation of Victoria’s first Landscape Conservation Area in 2021,” she added.

“Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater have quadrupled the number of birds surviving at Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve in the 35 years that they’ve been operating.

“The Monbulk Landcare Group also spent 11 years with CSIRO developing a fungal biological control wandering trad, the scourge of the Dandenong Ranges.

“And Friends of the Leadbeater’s Possum spent 19 years trying to preserve the habitat of the possum, and they actually achieved that, as I’m sure you’re aware.

“So our network is a culmination of lots of people who provide their skills for free to develop ideas and plans for the future.”

But Jenny and the other members of the network are advocating for much needed funds to support their conservation efforts.

“We need a lot of money.

“Even from the recent state budget, you would think that none of the politicians actually understand the ground they walk on, the air they breathe, and the water they drink.

“It’s quite amazing to us in the environmental sector, that people simply don’t understand that Australia’s future depends on the environment.

“It’s really important, because we have to pass on a viable landscape restoration process to the next generation.

“And in future, this sort of work cannot be done just by volunteers, it’s just not possible. The scale of the task that we have to face needs

By Emma Xerri

Cockatoo residents have expressed concern over the current state ofWright Forest, after walkers have identified “hundreds of trees” down and damaged.

This damage comes as a result of the February 13 storm, which saw trees wind-thrown and left in a hazardous state.

While claims have been made by a local man that the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) has taken advantage of the storm damage to “extensively log the area,” DEECA maintains that under Victorian state guidelines for timber harvesting, all such logging has ceased.

The department asserts that no trees are being felled in Wright Forest unless they present a safety hazard, with DEECA only conducting work in accordance with FFMVic’s emergency management responsibilities under the Emergency Management Act 2013.

“When storms hitWright Forest on 13 February, FFMVic staff and contractors were deployed under emergency management arrangements to remove storm debris to reduce bushfire risk to the local community and enable the reserve to safely re-open,” Port Phillip Deputy Chief Fire Officer Shannon Devenish said.

younger people with professional careers in natural resource management, and landscape restoration. And there are hundreds of environmental science students pouring out of universities who can’t get jobs. And that’s just crazy.

“So that’s our plan. We’re not sure of the shape of it, or the dimensions of it. But after our vision workshop, we’ve selected an area that is quite large - 100,000 hectares - and we’re working very hard on developing that structure, and the capacity to market this project to private sector investors, so that we will then be able to employ contractors, community developers and placemakers.

“The principles of Landcare Victoria are that everything should be community led, and we are very much in favor of that model.

“We just want to make it so that, whatever the land use, it is not inconsistent with conservation. You can have farming and conservation, you can have a cemetery and conservation, you can have a railway line and conservation.

“Everybody is moving towards that same idea that you have to completely look after the land that you are using while you’re using it, not just exploit it and walk away.

“We are working towards an intergenerational project, not simply passing on the responsibility for the environment to the next generation, but the resources to actually do something.

“We want to give the next generation the hope, the inspiration, the opportunity and the money to do it.

“That’s the goal.”

“Only hazardous trees damaged by the storm were removed for public safety and to mitigate bushfire risk.”

Of this debris that was removed, DEECA states some was donated to the Victorian Axeman Association for community woodchopping events, however most was transported to a state forest firewood collection site and made available for community use.

“We also carried out planned burn after the initial cleanup to remove remaining debris that presented a safety hazard,” Deputy Chief Fire Officer Devenish added.

All further cleanup from the storms will be done by Parks Victoria in line with their land management responsibilities, hopefully honouring with the local man’s beliefs that “community assets like Wright Forest need to be preserved and cared for.”

KerryGrahamwithaframereadyforextraction. 406502

Picture:STEWARTCHAMBERS

Not enough, says VNPA

By Emma Xerri

The Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) is calling out Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) for critical shortcomings in wildlife protection in the Dandenong Ranges National Park, revealed by documents obtained through a freedom of information request from the association.

In their document titled ‘Protection principles for trees of significance within storm debris treatment areas autumn 2023,’ FFMV revealed plans for trees of significance to be georeferenced with a 5 metre machinery minimisation buffer.

However, these protection zones have been criticised by VNPA and experts as insufficient for the survival of such important trees, with VNPA instead recommending FFMV follow the guidelines given by the Protection of Trees on Development Sites (AS 4970-2009), which states that the size of a tree’s protection zone is determined by multiplying their diameter at breast height by 12.

“This 5 metre protection zone is really just for show rather than science or tree care,” VNPA Parks & Nature Campaigner Jordan Crook said.

Documents from the FFMV have also exposed what the VNPA is calling “critical under-surveying,” with these protection measures only to be applied to 25 trees identified through surveys conducted across two areas within the park.

Meanwhile local landcare groups have documented a significantly higher number of important habitat trees totalling 599, the findings of which were subsequently GPS recorded, photographed and given to the Department.

“We think that just the 25 trees will be protected,” Mr Crook added.

“Images we have received from inside the work area indicate that machines are definitely going within 5 metres of other, unidentified trees. So it’s going to compromise those other hollow-bearing and significant trees that were identified by the citizen scientists.”

While FFMV, in a letter to theVNPA claimed that comprehensive mitigations had been designed to protect threatened and protected species - mitigations which included “protections for all hollow bearing, den, sap feed trees and tree ferns, as well as exclusion zones around nesting trees during breeding season” - VNPA maintains that the 5 metres of protection, as well as FFMV’s other extraction measures, will only result in habitat loss.

“It’s been very disappointing. We’ve put in hundreds of hours of work surveying and

Not Your Kitchen Lino – Burrinja Gallery

11/05/2024 – 21/07/2024

Burrinja is delighted to present a show case of contemporary print-making with a special focus on lino print applications.

Despite linocut being a relatively new art form, it is applied in innovative and contemporary ways in the 21st century as this exhibition demonstrates. Not Your Kitchen Lino features recent works by a dozen artists based in Victoria, stretching from the Mornington Peninsula across the Dandenong Ranges to the Goldfields and the Goulburn region in the north of the state.

Works on display range from typical two-dimensional framed prints, in traditional black and coloured inks, to three-dimensional free-standing figurative and other imaginative applications, and of course - books. These superbly express the multiple possibilities lino printing offers, with artists expressing personal themes and depicting beloved locations near them.

Featured are limited edition prints, artists books, scrolls and sculptures.

Exhibiting Artists are:

- Chris Lawry – David Frazer – Elizabeth Banfield – Gwen Scott – Jan Liesfield

- Karen Neal – Kat Parker – Kylie Watson – Bronwyn Rees – Carolyn Vickers

working to make operations better, but it hasn’t been matched by FFMV. It seems the driver of the operation is more to retrieve timber than to look after the park and the threatened species in it.

“FFMV have said they were only going to go 40 metres off track in some areas, and 10 metres in others, but it looks like they are going a long way off track, which is not only going to compromise standing trees, but also push them to remove trees that they perceive as being a hazard to their operation. It’s a driver of getting timber out rather than looking for solutions that don’t involve extraction.

“A lot of the logs they have extracted could have been left as they are. They are already providing habitat, and they are breaking down.

“Or they should have at least been put in other parts of the park, in areas that don’t have enough logs on the ground for habitat, rather than just removing them from the park altogether, and burning them and selling them.”

However, FFMV have denied VNPA’s accusations of “commercial logging,” maintaining that their works are not commercial timber harvesting operations.

Moreover, FFMV states that they are complying with their legislative and regulatory obligations under both Victorian and Commonwealth law, while working to always consult Traditional Owners where the storms have impacted Country to understand any concerns or cultural considerations for the proposed debris management works.

“All standing trees are being retained unless they are deemed unsafe and pose a danger. This work is crucial for reducing bushfire risk and ensuring community safety,” Deputy Chief Fire Officer FFMVic Shannon Devenish said. “And careful consideration is being given to identifying and protecting environmental values through an appropriate balance of fire management measures and ecological preservation.”

However, VNPA maintains that these actions are not sufficient, calling for a “comprehensive review and immediate action so these vital habitats are not just maintained, but flourish for future generations.”

“The current protection measures are simply not enough to preserve the ecological integrity of our national park. These trees are the backbone of our ecosystem in the Dandenong Ranges. And if we allow it in the Dandenong ranges, one of the most loved parks inVictoria, then it sets a really dangerous precedent for the rest of our parks.”

- Peter Ward – Rona Green burrinja.org.au

Artist, Rona Green. Photo by Cathy Ronalds

Trees that fell in the 2021 storm which have been cut to smaller sizes for community firewood collection areas.

Sliding to slay the ‘Beast’

By Emma Xerri

Receiving his Motor Neurone Disease (MND) diagnosis nine years ago, Matt Stickland and his family have been heavily active in the fight against MND for the better part of a decade.

Now, after years of eagerly contributing to the hills community through Auskick, Little Athletics, Pony Club and others, Matt and his family are calling on the members of the community to help them in their fight against the “beast”, by attending and supporting their Hills MND Big Freeze on Sunday 2 June.

“This is our first year running the slide event,” wife and organiser Sarah said, jokingly admitting that she may have stolen the event from the Garfield Pub.

“The support has been absolutely overwhelming.

“It’s amazing how many people want to help out and want to do things.

“And we’ve spent quite a lot of time working out how to manage the day.

“We’ve got a giant inflatable slide coming that we will fill with ice, and we’ve been doing a lot of advertising and promoting for donations towards our goal, and other donations that we can include in our silent auctions and raffles on the day.

“We’ve also pulled together a few friends to brainstorm the best people in the community to do the slide, and nobody has said no.

“Everyone has jumped at the opportunity, which has been great!”

Among those sliding on the day is longtime Emerald SES volunteer Ben Owen, who is keeping his costume a “surprise” for now, but is excited to be taking part in the slide for the first time after years of cheering on the participants from the sidelines.

“My plan is to get in and out as quickly as

possible, so there’s been no preparation,” he laughed.

“The only preparation is working out what costume I’ll be using, and whether it’s going to have any thermal qualities. But I’m still working through a few things with my wife and two daughters, so hopefully we land on a good fit.”

Having also experienced the challenges of MND with someone close to him, Ben is not only partaking in support of Matt and his family, but in tribute to Emerald SES volunteer John, who lost his battle to MND around 11 years ago.

“It has amazed me the number of people I’ve spoken to about the event who are touched by it, because they know somebody who was recently diagnosed or who has passed away,” Sarah added.

“It’s a lot bigger than you’d think.

“And Matt’s very lucky. He’s nine years diagnosed, and for seven years he’s been on one of the trial drugs that gained momentum from Fight MND and the donations they received.

“It has definitely slowed his symptoms down, so the more trials we can get going, and the more collaboration we can achieve on ex-

periments they are running, the closer we will get to doing something about MND.”

Hoping their Hills MND Big Freeze event can contribute towards these ever-needed funds, Sarah is also optimistic that, with some community spirit, and perhaps some sunny weather, the event can also be a fun day out for members of the community.

“It’s about raising awareness and raising as much money as we can,” she said; a feat the event has already well and truly achieved, having raised more than $11,000 towards their new goal of $50,000.

“But I also think the day will be full of lots of fun and community spirit.”

And, much like the highly anticipated slides from organisations like the AFL - with two AFL players also set to be taking part in the hills event - Sarah is also hoping the day will be one made only more enjoyable by creative costumes from the 12 sliders.

“We’ve asked them all to come up with a fancy dress, but this will be a surprise on the day.

“We just want everyone to get involved.

“To see everybody wearing their beanies on the day would be awesome.

“And if the community gets around it, then we’ll definitely continue to do it.”

The Hills MND Big Freeze will take place on Saturday 2 June at Paradise Valley Hotel, and will be a free, non-ticketed event.

Sliding will start at 2pm, and attendees are encouraged to be there by 1 to find a spot, purchase some raffle tickets, take part in the silent auction, purchase a beanie and, of course, donate.

For more information, and to donate ahead of time, visit https://www.facebook.com/hillsmndbigfreeze.

Scouting for goods? Give the scout market a try

By Emma Xerri

Hoping to raise funds for the Australia-wide scout jamboree in January, the scouts of the 1st Belgrave South Scout Group will be holding their very first market.

Running from 10am to 2pm on Sunday 26 May, the market will see 30 exciting stalls from a mix of up and coming scout entrepreneurs and regular local market stall holders, delivering an exciting array of goods from jewellery, to cupcakes and pottery.

“When you’re a scout you only have one opportunity to go to the jamboree, because you’re a scout for about four years,” parent helper Rachael Joy said.

“But it costs $2,700 per scout, so this is an opportunity for the scouts to raise funds.

“We’ve offered all of the scouts a table that they can hire, and then they will keep all the money they earn from their table space.

“A lot of the scouts have never done anything like this before. Some of them couldn’t

think of what to do, and needed some guidance, but a lot of them have joined forces to run stalls together.

“We’ve got some doing face painting, terrariums, second hand books, baked goods, crocheted items, pottery, acrylic earrings… a

huge range. Some of the scouts are even doing coffee, which I think was quite entrepreneurial of them, and I’m sure they’ll do really well.”

With her own daughter a market regular, Rachael has had the help of her 13-year-old daughter and origami expert, April, in putting together the event.

“My daughter runs her own little business making and selling origami, which she has done since she was seven, and usually attends lots of markets, so this event came from us bouncing ideas off one another,” she added.

And Rachael and April have been hard at work preparing - measuring out the scout hall to see how many tables would fit, working on publicity by making flyers and getting a board erected, and applying for an accessible toilet that will go towards making their event more inclusive.

As for what will set their market apart from others in the area, Rachael believes the

magic of their market comes down to the youth.

“We based this idea on the homeschool market, and it’s a beautiful one because it’s giving an opportunity to young people, who have never had this business experience, to earn their own money, especially towards a goal like the jamboree trip.

“We will have lots of different activities running as well, like the scout rope bridge, VR, marshmallow activities, and a few other things to make the day extra fun.

“And for those just wanting to pop by for lunch, we will also be running a BBQ.

“So come down to support the scouts, find some amazing items and have a fun day, because we really believe it will be a lovely community event.”

The 1st Belgrave South Scout Group Market will take place on Sunday 26 May at 28 Station St, Belgrave. Cash is recommended, as many stalls will be cash only.

Felt treasures made by Frankie and Olive.

Matt Stickland, with wife Sarah, and their children.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Author’s queer legal saga

By Tanya Steele

Melbourne-based author Sam Elkin presented a thought-provoking group chat in honour of IDAHOBIT Day to celebrate the recent release of his book.

Knox Libary hosted the author on Thursday 16 May Sam said the talk was a great experience and really heart warming.

“It was wonderful to go to the new Ngarrgoo library – we had about 25 people come along and many people were part of the LGBTQIA+ community,” he said.

“It was a really involved audience who had a lot of interesting questions to ask and we had great conversation about my experience as a trans lawyer and about how society has changed in the last 25 years.”

‘Detachable Penis: a Queer Legal Saga’ has been described as ‘part love letter and part cautionary tale’ and delivers the author’s journey from lesbian to transgender lawyer in the aftermath of the 2017 marriage equality vote.

Sam said he thinks some readers will be interested in the community lawyer experiences and others will be interested in his experiences as a trans person.

“People might also just be interested in a local Melbourne story,” he said.

The book is set in St Kilda andYarraville and Sam was the first lawyer in Victoria’s queer law service and found himself at the pointy end of debates about trans inclusion in sports, children’s access to puberty blockers, birth certificate law reform and the Christian right’s demand for enhanced religious freedoms.

The group attending Sam’s talk also discussed the recent national news about the

book ban by the Cumberland Council in the Western suburbs of Sydney.

Sam said that the group discussed how important it was that the decision was reversed.

Sam said that getting the book together happened quickly and it came out of personal reflection on how LGBTQIA+ inclusivity training doesn’t always reflect the positive parts of being queer.

“The training is often delivered using a deficit model with negative statistics instead of focusing on the positive - that can actually undermine our collective mental health,” he said.

Sam’s book “Detachable Penis: a Queer Legal Saga was released on 3 May and Sam hopes to keep on writing.

“I’m really happy to have the book out and the book launch meant a lot to me,” he said.

“I had such a positive experience at Knox and I hope to keep writing and publishing.”

Wear Orange with pride

By Tanya Steele

Wear Orange Wednesday approaches and the SES volunteers across the Yarra Ranges have been busier than ever this year.

Each year the Victoria State Emergency Service celebrates Wear Orange Wednesday in May.

The day is a national day of thanks to the thousands of VICSES volunteers who serve the Victorian community 24 hours a day, seven days a week through storm, flood, road crash rescue, and much more.

Ben Owen of Emerald SES said that people showing support any way they can means a lot to the volunteers putting their time in.

“If you can wear orange and show support that would be great,” he said.

As a volunteer, Mr Owen said it’s great to see when the public and organisations get on board for the day.

“Businesses and other places sometimes make orange things and that’s really nice and noticeable.” Mr Owen said.

Emerald supports its SES proudly, last year in May a giant orange artwork appeared in the town to honour the local SES.

Volunteers spent two days painting Elephant Rock, near Dewhurst, with the help of Emerald Arts Society member Wendy Lindrea, creating an artwork displaying the SES logo.

The giant feature was dubbed “Elephant

Rock” and was enjoyed by all.

This year the Emerald unit of volunteers hasn’t had a chance to prepare for WOW 2024, but Mr Owen said it is nice to have a day dedicated to the work the SES do.

“We’ve just been so busy,” Mr Owen said.

“We’ve had over 600 calls for help just in February for the storm.”

The Emerald SES are also a container deposit collection point, doing anything they can to raise funds for the unit.

People can show support for the SES by wearing orange on Wednesday 22th of May!

Other ways to celebrate the SES include Donating to your local volunteers now - visit ses. vic.gov.au/donate

Posting a photo or video to social media to say thank you using the hashtag #ThankYouSES.

Host an orange themed morning tea or encourage your local school or child-care centre to do so.

Put up posters in your workplace to celebrate our volunteers or Download an SES colouring sheet for the classroom at your local school or kinder.

Lastly – the SES ask the public to get prepared for the risk of storm and flood so you’re less likely to need them.

“If people can recognise the work we’ve already done, in terms of voluntary time, that is positive,” Mr Owen said.

Beautiful mural on show

By Tanya Steele

A beautiful artistic addition to the winding paths of Belgrave had its official launch on Sunday 19 May.

The Belgrave Food Garden launched a stunning new mural and gave locals the opportunity to meet the artist who painted it.

The event saw attendees tend to a few gardening tasks before stopping for morning tea and launching the mural, which included a fun spotto activity for the kids.

Vice President of the Belgrave Food Garden Committee Kate Monypenny said the official launch of the mural is exciting and the group was glad to launch it.

“We’ve had a beautiful mural painted on the Belgrave Food Garden wall, behind the Hub,” she said.

A community development grant from Yarra Ranges Council has allowed for the commission and painting of the mural which is themed around the natural environment.

Melbourne-based stencil artist Jo Travis, who has been painting under the pseudonym of N2O since 2016, was chosen to

paint the mural.

Her distinctive, hand-cut, multi-layer stencils are often site-specific and interact with the built environment - her work is dotted around Belgrave and the artist loves coming to the hills to paint.

“She’s done some flowering gums and some leaves in the background with lots and lots of different bugs,” Ms Monypenny said.

“My son came down with me on one of the days she was painting and had found a millipede on the ground and Jo included a stencil of a millipede which she added,” she said.

The Belgrave Food Garden Facebook page thanked everyone who braved the beautiful Autumn drizzle on the day.

“We planted some winter veg, admired our green manure crop (growing so well!) and dug up some surprise potatoes. Shame the leeks aren’t ready yet, it’s definitely soup weather!” the post read.

The next Belgrave Food Garden working bee will be on 9 June, but Ms Monypenny said the public is welcome to wander past and check out the mural.

Emerald SES crews painted Elephant Rock near Dewhurst in celebration of Wear Orange Wednesday (WOW) Day 2023, with help from local Emerald Arts Society member Wendy Lindrea. Picture: SUPPLIED

The Belgrave Food Garden hosted a lovely mural unveiling and a spot of gardening on 19 May. Picture: SUPPLIED

Sam Elkin with his new book.

Pictures: SUPPLIED

Sam (middle) did his first library author talk at Knox Library and had a great time.

NEWS

Falling again for autumn

By Maria Millers

Be like a tree, let the dead leaves drop- Rumi (13th century mystic and poet)

Americans when away from home are often heard to say how they want to be home for the Fall, their way of describing the season we call Autumn.

When compared to countries with climates more suited to growing deciduous trees, only in certain areas in Australia does the climate allow the planting s off exotic European trees to flourish and put on the seasonal show stopper that draws so many Americans home.

Spectacular displays are confined to cooler areas such as the Blue Mountains in NSW and in Bright and the Dandenong Ranges inVictoria to name a few.

There is an absence of deciduous plants in our flora. Australia has just one true temperate deciduous native tree — the deciduous beech or Fagus (Nothofagus gunnii) in Tasmania, which puts on a stunning autumn display before dropping all its leaves in anticipation of cold winter weather.

Here in The Dandenongs, Autumn, that “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”, as Romantic English poet Keats described, it, has finally arrived. Days that start out with misty mornings, then unfold into gently sunny days.

But as the sun sets earlier and earlier a definite chill descends in the afternoons, a sharp reminder to us that winter is just around the corner.

Autumn brings out a variety of emotions in different people, depending on personal experience, cultural background and individual temperament. It can inspire feelings both positive and negative. The season has always been associated with the ripening of harvests, a season of plenty.

Many Still Art paintings like Cezanne’s are full of sensuous scenes of ripe fruits and flowers: pumpkins, apples, pears, chestnuts, quinces and the last lingering crops of summer

WOORILLA WORDS

vegetables. It’s a season beloved in writing for all ages: “It’s the first day of autumn! A time of hot chocolatey mornings, and toasty marshmallow evenings, and best of all, leaping into leaves!”, declared Winnie the Pooh in Pooh’s Grand Adventure. Novelists use autumn as an atmospheric backdrop, enhancing the narrative with the season’s rich symbolism of change, decay, and transition. In JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s story is framed by the autumn season which mirrors his own feelings of loss, change and the struggle to hold on to childhood. Autumn’s beauty often inspires romantic feelings of love and longing and this is reflected in many poems and songs. Impermanence is captured in Robert Frost’s poem, Gathering Leaves

If you have a garden with deciduous trees and face the mundane and frustrating task of raking the leaves and disposing of them you will sympathize with the speaker in this poem.

Spades take up leaves, No better than spoons, And bags full of leaves, Are light as balloons Such repetitive and seemingly insignificant tasks that face us daily all contribute to the larger tapestry of our lives.

The act of gathering leaves becomes a metaphor for life’s pursuits.

The speaker’s efforts to collect leaves mirror our own endeavours, often resulting in seemingly insignificant outcomes.

Ferntree Gully Hotel Car Park

Despite the laborious task, the leaves remain elusive, much like our many dreams.

I make a great noise Of rustling all day Like rabbit and deer Running away.

But the mountains I raise Elude my embrace, Flowing over my arms And into my face.

Songs can always spark feelings, positive or otherwise. Nat King Cole’s rendition of ‘Autumn Leaves’, is full on nostalgia and sadness as the singer remembers happier times of a past love affair...

The changing season reminds him of the happy times shared and the pain of lingering memories.

The coming of the cold only intensifies feelings of nostalgia and the falling leaves capture these feelings of loss, loneliness and inevitability of change;

The falling leaves drift by the window,

The autumn leaves of red and gold.

And then:

Since you went away

The days grow long

And soon I’ll hear old winter’s song

But I miss you most of all, my darling, When autumn leaves start to fall

And like with Frost there is an underlying tone of acceptance.

Hard as it is to accept the end of a relationship life moves on just as the seasons change.

Simon and Garfunkel’s 1966 song Leaves that are Green begins with the line which spell out an awareness of the transience of youth In lyrics of poetic depth and introspection it explores passage of time, brevity of life and inevitability of change.

I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song, I’m twenty-two now but I won’t be for long It is the leaves, their changing colours and falling from trees that captures these concerns.

Nothing remains the same forever.Youth slips away too quickly and old age is inevitable.

Time hurries on

And the leaves that are green turn to brown

And they wither with the wind

And they crumble in your hand

But even if Autumn does not bring out the same positive emotions as spring it can be a time to reflect and to accept as the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, ‘The only constant is change.’

All around you plants may be withering and dying back, but remember that come spring they will come back with vigour and new growth, surely a sign of resilience, renewal and hope.

And with that in mind now is the time to plant some spring flowering bulbs like hyacinths, daffodils and tulips.

Leaves that are Green

I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song

I’m twenty-two now, but I won’t be for long

Time hurries on

And the leaves that are green turn to brown

And they wither with the wind

And they crumble in your hand

Once my heart was filled with the love of a girl I held her close, but she faded in the night

Like a poem I meant to write

And the leaves that are green turn to brown

And they wither with the wind

And they crumble in your hand

I threw a pebble in a brook

And watched the ripples run away

And they never made a sound

And the leaves that are green turn to brown

And they wither with the wind

And they crumble in your hand

Hello, hello, hello, hello

Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye, good-bye

That’s all there is

And the leaves that are green turn to brown

Poignant poem hits mark

By Tanya Steele

A poem reflecting on the process of ageing gave a poignant highlight to a recent expo held by Cardinia Shire.

The Cardinia Shire’s AgeingWell Expo was recently held at the Cardinia Cultural Centre in Pakenham on 8 May and was received well by attendees.

Pat Buoncristiani from Emerald U3A addressed the audience on the day, sharing a poem entitled ‘I felt it deeply: a reflection on ageing’ (Author unknown).

Ms Buoncristiani said reading the poem was quite powerful and got some visible reactions in the crowd.

“A few people came up afterwards and said it was very moving,” she said. “A lot of the audience was older and as a generation, I think we are getting a bit tired of being called ‘boomers’ and seen as irrelevant.”

Ms Buoncrsitini said that to her the poem was about saying to another look at this generation you’ve dismissed.

“Maybe start thinking about the elderly as having a bit of wisdom, they’re a demographic that has a lot to offer,” she said.

Celebrating healthy ageing and building community connections, the free event brought together residents aged 55+ years from the Cardinia Shire community to empower them in improving and maintaining their well-being.

Cardinia Shire Deputy Mayor Councillor Graeme Moore delivered a welcome speech and said it was a wonderful turnout.

“It had a great line-up of activities and speakers that inspired while delivering information about local services and programs available to support our senior community members,” Mr Moore said. “I enjoyed connecting with everyone there, and finding out more about what services and programs are available within our community as we approach and enjoy our golden years,” he said.

Mayor Cr Jack Kowarzik who also attended the event said the the event explored why it’s beneficial for our health to have strong social connections.

“How we can nurture our emotional and physical wellbeing by getting involved in activities that interest us, and different ways to take care of our mind and body as we age,” he said.

Event highlights included two special guest speakers, a panel Q&A discussion, a range of stallholders exhibiting their local services and programs, a light lunch, and a digital artist who captured the day’s moments, creating art in real-time. During the panel discussion, five residents shared their lived experiences of ageing with moving, relatable, and humorous anecdotes. Their stories resonated with the audience, fostering a sense of connection and understanding.

Exhibits from numerous service providers and ageing well programs highlighted opportunities for connectivity, active living, and informed decision-making; empowering seniors to make educated choices about their well-being.

Ms Buoncrsitini said the seminar was well worthwhile and that the room was filled with active volunteers.

“They were all people who were involved in doing something for the ageing population,” she said. “It’s reassuring to see the people there and to know that this generation is worth something and worth respect.”

Ms Buoncrsitini said the forum gave some good information and she hopes the seminar is held annually.

“A doctor spoke with us about the risks of falling - I found that pretty useful,” she said.

“Being careful with these things can ensure you remain independent as long as possible.”

Senior community members can stay up-to-date on all things Ageing Well in Cardinia by checking out Cardinia Shire’s quarterly Ageing Well Newsletter, accessing the resources available on the Council’s website at www.cardinia.vic.gov.au/ageingwell, and visiting the ‘Cardinia Support’ website; a valuable resource accessible on mobile devices and available in several languages, connecting community members to over 250 local support services.

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 opens Thursday 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.

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

’COLLIS HOUSE’GARDENS AND CONTEMPORARY LIVING

‘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. ●

EMBRACE THE OUTDOORS

NESTLED in the vibrant and picturesque township of Upwey, this delightful 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home is the perfect blend of comfort, convenience, and rustic charm. Located close to great restaurants, public transport, and highly regarded schools, this property offers a dream lifestyle for families and individuals alike.

Step inside to find a warm and inviting living space, designed with modern comforts in mind. The gas ducted heating system ensures cozy winters, while the split system air-conditioning provides cool relief during the summer months. The spacious open plan living area is ideal for both relaxation and entertaining, and leads onto a generous front deck with glass balustrade, offering a lovely treed aspect.

The modern kitchen has ample bench space and dishwasher, the three bedrooms all have built-in robes, and the master suite has an en-suite bathroom. Outside is an under-deck lockup workshop/storage area, a fabulous tiered backyard, great area for kids or pets alike to play, a chook house plus ample off-street parking. This location offers a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Whether you’re enjoying a morning coffee on the patio, hosting a barbecue with friends, or simply relaxing with a good book, the garden provides a versatile space for all your outdoor activities.

Being just moments from the heart of Upwey, this home provides easy access to a variety of local amenities and cafes, indulge in diverse culinary delights at local restaurants, and take advantage of the excellent public transport options that make commuting a breeze. Upwey’s friendly community and welcoming atmosphere are the perfect backdrop for your new home.

Schedule a viewing today and take the first step towards making this dream home your reality. Welcome home! ●

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

FAMILY HOME ON OVER AN ACRE IN

THIS beautiful country home is immaculately presented and offers a rural vibe with all the conveniences of thriving Emerald township.

The expansive verandah welcomes you into this gorgeous home with large entrance. The slate flooring flows through from the entrance to the kitchen, that is well equipped with stainless steel appliances, including dishwasher, oven, and a gas stovetop. The kitchen overlooks the dining area which features a woodfire heater,

ceiling fan and split system air-conditioner, and has access to the fully covered entertaining area. The loungeroom is newly carpeted and cosy with bay windows, an open fireplace and formal dining room. There are high ceilings and under floor heating throughout the entire house.

Continue along the hallway to discover four bedrooms, a modern family bathroom with a bath, laundry with its own yard access. The master bedroom has a spacious walk in wardrobe and an beautiful ensuite

with timber bench top and double vanity.

Externally the property features a gravel circular driveway with loads of parking, a lockable garden shed and a double carport. There’s an array of neat shedding, including a high roofed shelter ideal for a boat/ caravan/horse float with separate access from Rawhiti Road, a shipping container with lean-to, and a rustic looking shed full of charm. The back yard is fully fenced and there is a large dog fenced area also. Further features of this property is walk to

Emerald’s township, manicured landscaped gardens and plenty of room for the family and the four legged friends. This property has it all so don’t miss outcall to arrange a private inspection today. Please note: All property details shown are correct at time of publishing. Some properties may have been sold in the preceding 24 hours and we recommend that you confirm open for inspection times with the listing agent direct or the listing office. ●

ExpansiveFamilyHomeintheHeartofMonbulk!

PerfectlylocatedintheheartofMonbulkthisfamilyhomefeatures 4robedbedrooms, &2 bathroomsincluding afamilybathroomcompletewith abathtub,thishomehas afunctionalfloor plan.Themasterbedroomhasanensuite &WIR &islocatednear alargeformallivingroom,whilst2 oftheremainingbedroomsarelocatednearthespacious,openplankitchen &familyroom.Thereis aseparatediningroomwhichcouldbeutilisedas ahomeoffice/study.Addtothefeatures atoasty woodfireinthefamilyroom,gasductedheatingthroughout,floorboards, awell-appointedkitchen &securityshuttersonnearlyallwindows &doors.Outsideisthehuge,private,undercoverdeck, perfectforentertainingallyearround,a DLUG,2 furthergarden/woodsheds&alovelysideyard.

4bedroom,2 bathroomhome.Thehomehasductedheating &ispositioned tothefrontofthisflatparklikefullyfencedblockwithclearedlawnsamongstestablishedtrees. Featuring:leadlightfeaturefrontdoor,splitlevelliving, 2bedroomswithBIR,Mastersuitewithensuite, WIR& ceilingfan,familybathroomwith adualvanity,shower &bath, &a 4thbedroom/studywith ceilingfan.Thereis agranddiningroomthatisopenplanwiththekitchen &hasviewsouttothe expansivedeck.Thereis asecondlargeloungeroomwith acosywoodfire &splitsystemAC.The deckisgorgeous&floodedwithsunlight.TotherearoftheblockisaninsulatedAmericanbarn, with 1bayrollerdoor,a pedestriandoor,concretefloor,power,lights&amezzanine.Thereisalsoa handytapnexttothebarn,assortedfruittrees,a shedwithpower, &6 solarpanelswiththehome.

BeautifulHomeinEmeraldonapprox.23acreswithViews! Thisoutstanding3 bedroom,3 bathroomhomesituatedonapprox.23Acresoffersgorgeousviews acrossclearedpaddockstoCardiniaReservoir.Thisstoneconstructedhomehas awoodfireheater, acousticstrawboardvaultedceiling,giantwindowssoakingintheview &plentyofnaturallight.The kitchenisvast,with agasstovetop &electricoven, &plentyofbenchspace.Unwindinthesecond loungeroomwithanopenfireplace&astunningstudyarea.Thereisa masterbedroomfeaturinga walkthroughwardrobetotheensuite.Thefurther 2bedroomshaveBIRs& areservicedbya family bathroom.Externallythereisa clearedpaddockwith acentraltreedgully.Thegroundscontaina pizzaoven,a highdoublecarportattachedtothehome, &inthebackyardareais adoublegarage withpower,lights &concretedfloor.Thispropertyhasmainspower,gas& water.

AaronDay M 0407365994

BrennanMileto M 0422996451

ImpeccablyPresentedTurnKeyAcreagehome!

Thehomehas amastersuitewithwalkthroughwardrobe& anensuite.Loungeroomwithwood heater,& diningroomwithgardenviews.Thekitchenhasstonebenchtops,2 pyrolyticovens, integrateddishwasher,inductioncooktop&aductedrangehood.Thereis afamilyroomthat adjoinsa coveredentertainingarea.Thelaundrydoublesasa butlerspantry.Thezonedliving providesfor3 furtherbedroomswithBIRs& electricblinds,servicedbya renovatedfamilybathroom withwalkinrainshower,spabath,& automaticflushingtoilet.Furtherfeaturesincludegasducted heating,evaporativeductedcooling,solarpanels,watertanks,landscapedgarden,orchard, vegetablegarden,storageshed&a50sqmshedwith awoodheater,approx.1/2acrebush paddock,electricgateentry,asphaltdriveway,doublecarport,&asolarheatedswimmingpool.

48aBeaconsfield-EmeraldRoad,Emerald$1,600,000

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. ●

Expect a log of claims

By Gabriella Vukman

Finished seven years ago and built to meet the standards of the ‘Passivhaus’ criteria, the iconic Kallista ‘log house’ is a leading example for sustainability in the Ranges, and is now on the market.

Made predominantly from farmed timber and carefully designed to resist seasonal fluctuations in temperature, the Kallista log house employs conservative use of water and electricity.

Log House owner and builder Allen Murray said the Kallista Log House was based on the remnants of a charred, fallen log at the site of the house.

Allen said: “The architect was a young Irishman and he came up and there was a fallen tree on the vacant block when we got there. The whole site is a forest and noticing this, the architect said ‘a fallen log is typical of a forest. let’s make the house fit in.’”

The Passivehaus model from which the Kallista Log House is designed, is a prestigious European model that takes each room into account in order to achieve maximum sustainability.

Allen said, “I accepted that the task was going to be challenging because very few people had had anything to do with the Passivhouse.”

“Luckily I had a lot of experience introducing new technology in my past jobs so teaching tradesmen how to do things is something I was quite familiar with.”

“The other thing is the shape is circular and I adopted the skeleton of a snake as the foundations for the home,” Allen said.

“If you took all of the skin and everything off you would see the skeleton of a snake there.”

Allen remarked that if he could have done anything differently with the house he would

have added solar panels.

“We had a set of large trees here that we had to keep because of council requirements. Unfortunately, they died and we had to have them cut down but as a result of that we have more sun on the garage,” Allen said.

“We didn’t have the opportunity to put solar panels on before due to how shaded the house is. Now I would put solar panels and a battery on the garage.”

After seven years of residing in what Allen and his wife thought would be their forever home, the Kallista Log House is up for sale.

“Our son has been in Queensland for 25 years and our daughter is shifting there in November. We have two children, they are both in Queensland and we’re here.

“Selling was not the plan when we started all of this but things have changed and we have decided to be with our children,” Allen said.

“It’s a bit sad really because we put a lot of money, man hours, mental and emotional energy into this house but being with the family and being supported by them or supporting them is more important.”.

From pulling out weeds and removing bits and pieces, Allen and his wife have turned the house into a native bushland reserve.

Allen said, “We’ve turned an old bit of agriculture into a lovely piece of bushland again with an interesting house on top.”

“The house is only a small part of the site so we have cleared weeds and all sorts of things out of it so the native bushland has come back, we’ve planted a lot of native ferns here.”

“It is really lovely now. We have echidnas, wallabies and birds that we never had before,” Allen said.

Ensuring that the log House was as sustainably built as possible was one of Allen’s

criteria.

Allen Murray said, “For the last 30 years of my life I’ve been working in what I call, ‘environmentally friendly’ businesses that are trying to improve the environment.”

“One of my passions is also bushland regeneration so encompassing longevity into this build was important. It was important to us that our forever home was sustainable.”

“We’ve got to try and protect our environment as best we can,” Allen said.

According to the Green Building Council Australia, currently ‘53 per cent of Australia’s total built environment emissions come from our homes.’

Log House designer Sven Maxa said, “Sustainable housing is important because of our finite resources and growing population. Our planet is being degraded everyday and being filled up with waste.”

“We need to address sustainability as a whole so that we can minimize what we are sending to landfill and improve the quality of what we are living in and the longevity of it.”

“We need to address the resources we use in construction to reduce our carbon emissions as a society and make better moves towards net zero targets,” Mr Maxa said.

The Kallista Log House is the last house Allen intends to build, however he insists that he will buy a sustainable house in the mountains inland from the sunshine coast and make modifications.

Allen said, “It will never be as good as this but at least it will be energy efficient and nice to live in.”

As for the next owners of the house, Allen hopes that they share a passion for sustainability and Australian bushland.

“It would be great to have somebody who cares about energy efficiency and who loves Australian bushland,” Allen said.

The Kallista Loghouse shines the way for the sustainable building in the Ranges. Picture: SUPPLIED BY JASON FREEMAN

Netballers hit milestones

By Tanya Steele

The Belgrave FNC celebrated a massive milestone with netball sensation Donna Gray - describing her as a ‘household name’ since 2011.

Donna is the first woman to play 300 games for the league, making her the first woman eligible for a League Life Membership, which is an amazing accomplishment.

The longtime Belgrave player celebrated over the weekend and also had her good friend Alex Gawley celebrate her 200th game.

Both players are lifelong members of the club and the Facebook page for Belgrave FNC said that on behalf everyone at the club, we congratulate Donna on this massive achievement.

“Her commitment to the club is unwavering, she’s here most Saturday mornings with

the family cleaning up the netball courts, or putting her hand up to help out with things around the club, amongst many other things over the years,” the post read.

Donna enjoyed the milestone, running through the banner with Alex and celebrating after the game.

“I celebrated with my friend and the team gave us a gift as well, it was lovely,” she said.

“I’ve played 100 games with the Upwey team and 200 with Begrave and I started playing for the league in 2005.”

Donna began playing netball in UpweyTecoma in 2005 and recalls the clubs beginning their teams from scratch.

“It was the first season that the league had netball, and all the clubs had the chance to build their own teams, we had to decide on

uniforms, find a venue and umpires, all of that,” she said.

“Fortunately Upwey-Tecoma were able to get a team up and running and we were quite successful and won the premiership that year,” she said.

Donna played with Upwey-Tecoma FNC for six seasons and then moved across to Belgrave FNC to play with a friend Kara Salmon

“We went across and began coaching for Belgrave that season in 2012,” she said

It was a big choice to switch clubs with Donna having long standing family connections supporting her brothers playing football in Upwey-Tecoma

“I’d been at Upwey since I was much younger but there was a bit of motivation, my husband played football at Belgrave,” she said.

Donna said she remains quite friendly with both clubs and knows many players across the teams, she continues to play in the centre position along with wing attack and wing defence.

The move to Belgrave FNC brought friendships, connections and two premierships in 2014 and 2017.

“I’ve made a lot of lifelong friends,” Donna said. Donna’s kids come down to the courts every week, having also made friends in the community.

“I like the committed time every week we spend doing something we love,” she said.

Donna has no plans to stop playing anytime soon and will be on the court through the season rain, hail or shine from April onwards.

“Find something you enjoy and it won’t feel like a chore,” she said.

Ranges Council moves to improve sports access

By Callum Ludwig

Yarra Ranges councillors have endorsed a new Fair Access Policy at the Tuesday 14 May council meeting.

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 Council 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, transgender 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.

Ryrie Ward 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.”

DonnaGray(right)andAlexSalmon(left)celebrategamemilestones.

SPORT Hawks push Narre hard

By Armin Ritcher

FOOTBALL

Seniors

The Monbulk v Narre Warren match looked to be a one-sided forgone conclusion prior to the fixture taking place. The Hawks were winless while the Magpies were undefeated with an average winning margin of over 70 points, a 38 point win over Wandin having been their closest encounter. But nobody told the Monbulk players that they had no chance and a spirited and tight game eventuated at the Monbulk Recreation Reserve.

The Hawks shut down Narre Warren’s avenues to goal in a low scoring first half where Monbulk held a narrow 1 point lead at the long break. A red card handed to a Monbulk player early in the third term turned the game as the 17 man Hawks conceded 4 quick goals after that. Both sides were off target in the last quarter as the Magpies eventually took out their smallest win for the year to date by 32 points. Unforced errors by Monbulk, in missing targets and dropping marks proved costly, as their desperation and effort was exemplary for the whole of the match and a win does not look far away.

Monbulk 4.11.35 def by Narre Warren 9.13.67

· Best: Will Henderson, Lochlan Beecroft, Joshua Spencer, Jack Downard-Pengilly, Declan Browne, Riley Finlay

· Goals: Lochlan Beecroft 1, Hayden Finlay 1, Ziggy Hatherley 1, Max Thornton 1 Reserves

The Narre Warren Reserves are the reigning premiers and are again near the head of the ladder.When the Magpies skipped out to a four goal lead by early in the second term it seemed a win for them was inevitable. The Hawks were displaying some of their best play for the year and then got back to within a goal. The entertaining contest came to a sudden conclusion partway through the third term when an injured Narre player was unable to be moved for precautionary reasons and required an ambulance, which halted the game. Monbulk lost by 12 points despite 3 extra scoring shots.

Monbulk 6.8.44 def by Narre Warren 9.2.56

· Best: Campbell Evans, Mitchell Veit, Josh Wentworth, Hamish Emmett, Charlie Barge, Michael Davies

· Goals: Josh Wentworth 2, Matthew James 1, Harry Fleming 1, Hamish Emmett 1, Michael Davies 1 Women’s

The Senior Women’s team were back with

the rest of the club, playing at home against Thornton-Eildon on Saturday. Monbulk were missing a few players, like captain Madeleine Caarels, Indy Bakker, Emma Horne, Kathryn Gow, Claire Scully and Jen Pauw, which meant that the undefeated top placed Hawks were no certainty against a winless Kangaroos outfit. The first quarter proved to be tight before the Hawks exploded in the second quarter to snare 5 goals. Monbulk eventually took away their highest score for the season to remain at the head of the ladder with an even spread of goalkickers.

Monbulk 10.5.65 def Thornton-Eildon 2.6.18

· Best: Maddison Dodd, Shania Turner, Laura Gillard, Ayla Short, Josie Ford, Jewel McDer-

Outer East Football

By Armin Ritcher

FOOTBALL

PREMIER DIVISION

· Seniors: Narre Warren 9.13.67 def Monbulk 4.11.35; Wandin 20.18.138 def Berwick Springs 5.4.34; Woori Yallock 17.18.120 def Mt. Evelyn 5.6.36; Olinda-Ferny Creek 13.20.98 def Pakenham 11.12.78; Officer 9.7.61 def Gembrook-Cockatoo 7.8.50; Emerald 11.5.71 def Upwey-Tecoma 10.8.68

· Reserves: Narre Warren 9.2.56 def Monbulk 6.8.44; Wandin 12.11.83 def Berwick Springs 3.9.27; Mt. Evelyn 10.5.65 def Woori Yallock 7.6.48; Pakenham 18.6.114 def Olinda-Ferny Creek 7.4.46; GembrookCockatoo 10.11.71 def Officer 7.5.47; Upwey-Tecoma 14.16.100 def Emerald 2.1.13

DIVISION ONE

· Seniors: Healesville 22.21.153 def Yarra Glen 10.6.66; Seville 22.7.139 def Yarra Junction 6.3.39; Alexandra 19.13.127 def Belgrave 4.7.31; Warburton-Millgrove 16.21.117 def Yea 9.8.62; Powelltown bye

· Reserves: Healesville 27.16.178 def Yarra Glen 2.0.12; Seville 24.16.160 def Yarra Junction 1.4.10; Belgrave 26.18.174 def Alexandra 3.2.20; Warburton-Millgrove 16.7.103 def Yea 2.6.18; Powelltown bye UNDER 19s

· Narre Warren 7.4.46 def Upwey-Tecoma 6.4.40; Officer 14.2.86 def Gembrook-Cockatoo 4.2.26; Pakenham + Wandin bye

sively and provided stiff opposition to eventually go down by 18. This match marked the return of Peri Reid from having her child, and she would play with her sister Elly Stewart at Monbulk for the first time.

Monbulk 38 def by Narre Warren 56

· Best: Paige Whitworth, Sophie Stubbs, Georgia Himmelreich

· Goals: Stephanie Ferguson 15, Elly Stewart 14, Peri Reid 9

B Grade

Monbulk played a determined game against an opponent who were just a bit more composed in their play. The Magpies’ class would result in a few more opportunities being capitalised on each quarter as they ground out a 19 goal win

Monbulk 44 def by Narre Warren 63

· Best: Georgia Wilson, Alice McCormick, Siobhan Munday

· Goals: Jorja Wragg 27, Dayna Walsham 9, Chloe Schmidtke 8

C Grade

The Hawks showed good form in patches but were unable to seriously threaten their Narre Warren opponents.

· Goals: Jewell McDermott 2, Grace Emmett 2, Jade McCormick 2, Laura Gillard 2, Maddison Dodd, Matilda McDermott NETBALL

A Grade

Narre Warren are a juggernaut in netball, winning the premierships in all four grades last year. They burst out of the blocks and were leading 11-1 by halfway through the first term through tight defence and quick rebounds. Meanwhile the Hawks made some uncharacteristic turnovers and missed passes. Narre Warren continued to control the match after that but the Hawks began playing more cohe-

Monbulk 25 def by Narre Warren 46

· Best: Jamie Sands, Grace Sands, Sammi Kelly

· Goals: Jamie Sands 14, Grace Sands 9, Chloe Carmichael 2

D Grade

NarreWarren’s D Grade team wouldn’t look out of place playing in C Grade, such is the depth that they have. The game was a mismatch and, as hard as they tried, Monbulk were unable to make any impression against their more skillful opponents.

Monbulk 6 def by Narre Warren 68

· Best: Maddy Buckland, Brooke O’Loughlin, Ella Flynn

· Goals: Maddy Buckland 4, Ella Flynn 2 Under 15s

The Under 15s had beaten NarreWarren on the same home courts by 11 goals three weeks ago and looked on course to repeat the dose. Early in the opening quarter they grabbed a five goal lead before going in level pegging at the first break. Monbulk again established leads in the second and third terms and again Narre Warren fought back. Eventually the two sides could not be split and shared the points.

Monbulk 28 drew Narre Warren 28

· Best: Isabelle Cross, Isla Stubbs, Stella Dunstan

· Goals: Lara Stenhouse 14, Stella Dunstan 14

Netball League scoreboard round 6

UNDER 18s · Upwey-Tecoma 16.13.109 def Seville 2.4.16; Mt. Evelyn 5.9.39 drew Woori Yallock 5.9.39; Healesville + Olinda-Ferny Creek bye SENIOR WOMEN

· Division 1: Healesville def Upwey-Tecoma (forfeit); Pakenham 5.5.35 def Olinda-Ferny Creek 4.5.29; Belgrave + Berwick Springs bye

· Division 2: Woori Yallock 5.3.33 def Seville 1.1.7; Warburton-Wesburn 7.6.48 def Emerald 5.1.31; Monbulk 10.5.65 def Thornton-Eildon 2.6.18; Wandin 7.6.48 def Officer 0.4.4

· A Grade: ROC 54 def Gembrook-Cockatoo 31; Narre Warren 56 def Monbulk 38; Wandin 85 def Berwick Springs 12; Pakenham 56 def Olinda-Ferny Creek 40; Emerald 54 def Upwey-Tecoma 51; Mt. Evelyn 50 def Woori Yallock 42

· B Grade: Mt. Evelyn 65 def Woori Yallock 58; ROC 76 def Gembrook-Cockatoo 44; Narre Warren 63 def Monbulk 44; Wandin 72 def Berwick Springs 27; Pakenham 64 def Olinda-Ferny Creek 36; Upwey-Tecoma 48 def Emerald 44

· C Grade: Mt. Evelyn 45 def Woori Yallock 14;

ROC 51 def Gembrook-Cockatoo 20; Narre Warren 46 def Monbulk 25; Wandin 53 def Berwick Springs 14; Pakenham 49 def Olinda-Ferny Creek 20; Upwey-Tecoma 35 def Emerald 22

· D Grade: Woori Yallock 28 def Mt. Evelyn 27; ROC 29 def Gembrook-Cockatoo 4; Narre Warren 68 def Monbulk 6; Wandin 43 def Berwick Springs 7, Pakenham 36 def Olinda-Ferny Creek 10; Emerald 22 def UpweyTecoma 20

DIVISION ONE

· A Grade: Seville 66 def Yarra Junction 32; Belgrave 56 def Alexandra 40; WarburtonMillgrove 69 def Yea 15; Yarra Glen 66 def Healesville 49

· B Grade: Seville 68 def Yarra Junction 12; Belgrave 84 def Alexandra 27; WarburtonMillgrove 53 def Yea 24; Yarra Glen 50 def Healesville 34; Powelltown bye

· C Grade: Seville 39 def Yarra Junction 10; Belgrave 66 def Alexandra 12; WarburtonMillgrove 47 def Yea 12; Yarra Glen 46 def Healesville 11; Powelltown bye

· D Grade: Seville 53 def Yarra Junction

NETBALL PREMIER DIVISION

Final scoreboard in Monbulk Women’s football match.

Picture: SUPPLIED

mott

Jen Dewhurst of Monbulk takes the ball in A Grade.

Pictures: SUPPLIED

Monbulk’s Ben Hughson against Narre Warren. Picture: ANTHEA HEAGNEY

Monbulk’s Lochie Beecroft takes a mark.

Picture: ANTHEA HEAGNEY

They