Loddon Shire Mayoral Column 8 July 2019

Published on 08 July 2019

Young people urged to have their say

Council is urging young people in the community to have their say on what they need in our Shire in terms of services and support.

The feedback will help in the development of Council’s Youth Strategy. The strategy aims to ensure young people feel supported and have access to employment, recreation, social, health and education opportunities.

Young people are extremely important to the future of smaller shires such as Loddon. Retaining, growing and diversifying Loddon Shire’s population is a key strategic objective for Council, which includes retaining youth.

We already know that a lack of availability of services, education providers and employment have been identified as reasons young people move elsewhere. We need to hear from young people regarding how we can address these issues to make staying in our Shire an appealing prospect.

Council will continue to work closely with young people, community groups and other government agencies to maximise opportunities for young people who live and work in the Shire.

Young people can find out how they can have their say by visiting www.loddon.vic.gov.au/Live/Services-for-our-younger-residents/Youth-programs/Youth-Strategy

Keep an eye out for the Conversation Caravan team, which will be out in the community during July to further gather feedback about young people’s needs.

For further details contact Allan Stobaus at Council on (03) 5494 1200.

Funding boost for regional shared services

Loddon Shire, together with Buloke, Hindmarsh, Horsham, West Wimmera and Yarriambiack councils, will share in $5 million to work collaboratively to improve the quality, effectiveness and affordability of services to our communities.

The funding, which was announced by Minister for Local Government Adem Somyurek, will provide regionally-shared finance and payroll services between the councils. This will result in more than $8 million in productivity benefits and reduced costs over five years.

The collaborative project is part of the Rural Councils Transformation Program, which backs large-scale, transformative projects at a regional level. This enables investment by councils to work together on projects that previously couldn’t be achieved financially. It also helps councils to provide services to dispersed populations over large geographic areas over the long term.

Pet Exchange Register to improve sale transparency

Victorians can now find out where their pet comes from with the introduction of a new online database called the Pet Exchange Register (PER).

Dogs and cats advertised for sale or give away now need a source number from the PER, which identifies an individual, breeder, business or shelter.

Victorians getting a new pet will be encouraged to check the validity of a seller on the register before they bring their new dog, cat, puppy or kitten home.

It will be an offence for an advertisement not to have a valid microchip number and a PER source number – this applies to advertisers selling or giving away dogs, cats, puppies and kittens, as well as publishers of the advertisements.

For more information visit animalwelfare.vic.gov.au

Better recycling – part two

In this second part of handy hints around better recycling (thanks to the Loddon Mallee Waste and Resource Recovery Group), I’d like to mention other items that may cause confusion when it comes to recycling.

Aluminium foil can be easily recycled. Just make sure it’s clean (giving it a wipe down is fine), then ball it up and save it, such as in a coffee cup. Continue to add more foil to the ball, making it grow. When the aluminium foil is the size of a tennis ball it can go in your recycling bin.

Rigid plastic tubs that meat comes in are also mostly recyclable – just check the container for a number in the triangle. If it has a number 1 to 6 it can be recycled. Peel the soft film from the top (it’s okay if a little bit is stuck to the rim) and put any absorbent pads in the waste bin. It’s a good idea to rinse the meat trays to prevent odours and remove residual fluid.

Polystyrene is not recyclable through your kerbside bin, even if it has the triangle number symbol on it. As long as your polystyrene is clean, there are a small number of locations in the Loddon Mallee area where you can take it to be recycled. These can be found by downloading the Loddon Mallee Waste App via your app store and searching “Loddon Mallee”.

Broken drinking glasses don’t go in your recycling bin. This is because glasses melt at a different temperature to glass bottles and jars, contaminating the recycling stream. Wrap broken glasses up in paper and place in the waste bin. Window glass should also be treated this way.

Did you know?

There are currently 931 young people (aged between 12 and 24) living in the area, compared to 863 in 2011. Despite the growth in this age group, retaining young people in the Shire remains a long term issue.