Loddon Shire Mayoral Column 20 June 2023

Published on 20 June 2023

Mayor-Dan Straub

Upcoming Council Meeting

Council’s June meeting will be held Tuesday 27 June at 3pm in the Loddon Shire Council Chambers, located behind the Wedderburn Council Office, off Peters Street.

You can also watch the Council meeting live via Council’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LoddonShire

Some of the items on the agenda include Adoption of the 2023/24 Budget and Fees and Charges Schedule, Delegation Review and the Annual Infrastructure Program 2023/24.

To view the June Council Meeting agenda visit

https://www.loddon.vic.gov.au/Our-Council/Agendas-and-minutes/Agendas-and-minutes-2023

National General Assembly

Last week (Wednesday 16 to Friday 18 June), saw local government leaders from around Australia gather in Canberra for the National General Assembly (NGA) and Australian Council of Local Government (ACLG).

NGA is the largest national gathering of democratically elected representatives in the nation and ACLG is the national voice of local government.

I was fortunate enough to attend this year’s assembly along with Cr Holt, Cr Jungwirth and Cr Murphy (Virtually), as well as Council’s CEO Lincoln Fitzgerald.

There were around 1,000 delegates and federal members of parliament in attendance. Among them was Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King, ALGA President Cr Linda Scott, and Coordinator – General, National Emergency Management Agency Brendan Moon.  

The Assembly heard from a number of speakers, including Ambassador of Ukraine, His Excellency Vasyl Myroshnychenko and discussed the global challenges to democracy and the critical importance of local government. Other critical issues addressed included migration between cities and regions, housing affordability and the role councils can play in social housing, critical workforce challenges, cyclones, fire and floods and cyber security.

The NGA also includes a number of motions put up by councils and voted on by attending council delegates. Motions that are passed then help inform the advocacy of ACLG during the coming year. Cr Holt, who is Council’s Municipal Association of Victoria representative, was the voting delegate for Loddon Shire.

Do you want to reduce energy costs on farm and improve your energy efficiency?

Learn from seven Victorian farmers who have made smart on-farm energy decisions and the benefits they found by investing in new efficient technology.

Agriculture Victoria Farm Business Economist, Julie Harman said the case studies are now available online as part of the Agriculture Energy Investment Plan.

‘The economic case studies consider benefits such as energy savings and co-benefits such as labour productivity, on farms across a range of agriculture industries,’ she said.

The seven case studies look at:

  • solar panels and battery storage
  • improving greenhouse insulation
  • energy efficiency for croppers with chaser bins and belt shifter improvements
  • gains for grape growers to improve yield and quality
  • rapid chiller in a dairy farm lowering costs
  • rooftop solar panels and solar water pumps.

Ms Harman said if people prefer to listen rather than read they can tune into a podcast with Tony McCarthy, who is one of the farmers from the case studies.

‘Tony arrived in Australia with just a backpack and has since been focusing on building up his business from scratch of which energy management has and is an important part.

‘An energy audit undertaken through the Agriculture Energy Investment Plan was a big leg up for Tony in identifying energy savings,’ she said.

Listen to the podcast here: https://extensionaus.com.au/energysmartfarming/economics-of-implementing-energy-tech/

Ms Harman said the case studies, podcasts and other materials are part of the Energy Smart Farming community which brings together farm energy experts including farmers, service providers, advisors, researchers and community advocates to share energy knowledge, research and solutions to help make Australian farming more profitable.

Find the case studies and more about efficient and renewable energy technologies that improve farm productivity and resilience at https://extensionaus.com.au/energysmartfarming/on-farm-energy-efficiency-and-cost-savings/

Monthly Biosecurity E-Newsletter

Agriculture Victoria has launched a new monthly biosecurity e-newsletter that will serve as the key hub for all biosecurity updates, featuring a diverse range of biosecurity-related content including new developments in the emergency animal disease (EAD) space.

Victorian Biosecurity Matters will pool together all Agriculture Victoria biosecurity content into one monthly e-newsletter and become a source that farmers, small landholders, animal owners, and veterinarians can rely on in the event of an emergency animal disease outbreak.

Profiles and success stories from within the industry will be featured to provide readers with valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities that exist within the world of agriculture, while also giving them an opportunity to learn from the experiences of others.

Whether you’re a seasoned professional, or just starting out, Victorian Biosecurity Matters has something for everyone.

For more information or to subscribe to the free newsletter, visit: https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/support-and-resources/newsletters/victorian-biosecurity-matters

 

 

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