Is Council work and family friendly?
I am writing to you as I sit at the Australian Local Government Association’s National General Assembly in Canberra. So, as a mother of two young children, I am curious about the debate that has again erupted over whether children should be tolerated in our Parliaments. Subjecting children to rather ‘boring’ meetings is not an ideal scenario, but where there are obstacles that prevent carers from taking on the role of elected decision makers, we have a problem.
In Victoria, the percentage of female Councillors dropped to 29% at the 2008 elections suggesting that aspects of Council work are not attractive to women. VLGA’s August Leading Edge Forum will focus on women in local government and we welcome continued debate about how we can achieve equity in local government and decision making.
Liveable and Just Discussion Paper
As you would know, we’ve been conducting a number of workshops around the State. To inform these workshops, our contractors the McCaughey Centre completed a Discussion Paper. This is a significant piece of work and provides valuable background about the likely social equity implications of climate change.
I highly recommend the Discussion Paper to you. It can be downloaded from our website, by clicking on the item NEW! Liveable & Just link on the right hand side of our main page.
New Council Members
The Board would like to welcome our 2 newest councils members – Maroondah City Council and the Borough of Queenscliffe. This brings to 54 the number of member councils, an all-time high.
We look forward to working with these 54 and others to ensure that our services and advocacy continue to be responsive and relevant. I have included some more information below on both new council members.
Maroondah City Council
The City of Maroondah was created in December 1994, when the former Cities of Ringwood and Croydon joined together with small parts of North Ringwood, Lillydale and Kilsyth South. Its area is 61.4 square kilometres.
Maroondah is named after an aboriginal word meaning "leaf", which symbolises Maroondah's green environment. There are 21 shopping precincts and 6,000 businesses in Maroondah.
Maroondah is a great recycler - 12,000 tonnes of garden organics are collected and mulched each year, alongside 12,500 tonnes of recyclables.
Maroondah has its own local community radio station, Eastern FM - 98.1 FM, while Eastern Regional Access is the Maroondah based TV station on Channel 31.
For more information on Maroondah, visit www.maroondah.vic.gov.au
Borough of Queenscliffe
Home to a permanent resident population of around 3,437, the Borough is located at the eastern tip of the Bellarine Peninsula and forms one side of Port Phillip Heads - opposite Point Nepean in the Mornington Peninsula. It is surrounded by Bass Strait, Port Phillip Bay and Swan Bay on three sides. On its fourth side, it has a land boundary with the City of Greater Geelong. The Borough is approximately 105 kilometres south-west of Melbourne and 35 kilometres east of the regional city of Geelong.
Although the township of Queenscliff is located on the Peninsula, it gives the impression of being on an island. It is connected to Point Lonsdale by a slender sand dune isthmus called The Narrows, which separates Port Phillip Bay from Swan Bay. This feature creates a natural break of open space and foreshore reserve between the urban areas of Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale.
As well as being of high ecological value, the foreshore and marine environments contribute towards urban and landscape character which attracts many people to the Borough. Important local industries (including eco-tourism, recreational and commercial fishing) also rely on the 'health' of the environment.
For more information on Queenscliffe, visit www.queenscliffe.vic.gov.au
Filming of Council Meetings
The VLGA has received a lot of media interest in the issue of whether Council meetings should be web-cast for access on the internet by people at home. The feedback we received from Councils to date indicated in-principle support for webcasting council meetings with some concerns raised around publication liability and residents’ privacy.
Any Councils wanting further information about how some Councils have managed filming and taping can contact us.
Lastly, congratulations to Rae Perry and Damien Kingsbury who were married on June 13th in Northcote. We wish them safe travelling as they celebrate their future together.
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