MARCH 18, 2020 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
Heart and harmony Newport’s Sacred Heart Primary School celebrated Harmony Day on Monday, ahead of Cultural Diversity Week from March 21 to 29. LOTE teacher Rosaria La Motta said the school had children from more than 30 cultural backgrounds. he children wore national dress or orange-coloured clothes – the colour for Harmony – to show their support for cultural diversity and an inclusive Australia. “It was to teach the importance of everybody belonging and showing respect for everyone and embracing the richness of all cultural diversity,” Ms La Motta said. Hobsons Bay mayor Colleen Gates said the municipality was home to people from more than 140 diferent countries with residents speaking more than 100 languages. “Our Hobsons Bay community is rich in diversity, and Cultural Diversity Week presents a great opportunity to celebrate this, connect and learn more about others and their backgrounds,” she said. People are being advised to check if events are going ahead before attending due to the coronavirus causing many community events to be cancelled. Details: www.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/ culturaldiversityweek Goya Dmytryshchak
Sadie, Michael, Lenny, Angelina, Edan, Khue, Emily and Nia. (Joe Mastroianni) 206348_02
United in virus ight By Benjamin Millar and Goya Dmytryshchak Inner-west residents are banding together in response to the growing coronavirus threat amid mass closures, event cancellations and unprecedented new laws coming into immediate efect. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declared a state of emergency on Monday as the number of conirmed COVID-19 cases in Victoria surged past 70 and approached 400 nationwide. A shortage of testing kits has forced Western Health to limit testing to those strongly suspected of having contracted the coronavirus. “We will only test those who have a fever or acute respiratory infection and have recently travelled overseas, or you have been notiied
by the Department of Health and Human Services that you have been in close contact with a conirmed case of COVID-19,” it said. Maribyrnong council has shut all public libraries, community centres, recreation centres and its customer service centre until at least April 14, while Hobsons Bay’s libraries and other community facilities will be closed for at least 30 days from Wednesday. Maribyrnong mayor Sarah Carter said the “unprecedented” decision followed advice from the federal and state governments. “Most council services will continue to operate as normal, including waste, recycling, parking services and park management. However, we ask community members to contact us by phone or email.” Many residents have stepped up to help the
elderly and others in need amid service closures and supermarket shortages. New Facebook group Westside Melbourne Coronavirus Outreach was set up to link people hoping to help those impacted in any way by the coronavirus or shortages of essential products. Altona’s Roni Burger is putting notes in neighbours’ letterboxes and using a Facebook group she founded, Melbourne Friendships, to establish networks of helpers. Neighbourhood Watch Altona Meadows Inc has put a call out for donations to ensure elderly and sick neighbours don’t miss out on essentials. Australia’s irst supermarket to announce an exclusive shopping hour for the elderly and disabled described Tuesday’s irst run as excellent and calm. Altona’s IGA supermarket on Sunday became the irst store to announce
the move, opening at 6am on Tuesday, one hour before its usual time. Meanwhile a blanket ban has been placed on non-essential mass gatherings of more than 500 people and a swathe of local events have been postponed or cancelled. Basketball Victoria has cancelled all activities, programs and leagues while VFL and VFLW matches are postponed until at least May 31. he Sons of the West program has also been postponed. Museums Victoria has closed all of its public sites including Scienceworks, while Footscray Community Arts Centre is postponing the Wominjeka festival and a host of other planned events and exhibitions. he Substation arts venue said most events in the next two months were already cancelled or highly unlikely to go ahead.
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