Australia’s push to back local jobs and rebuild domestic industry risks being undermined by a deepening shortage of skilled tradespeople, Earlypay CEO James Beeson has warned.

The warning follows the NSW Government’s late May introduction of Local Jobs First Commission legislation, which aims to prioritise local workers, local suppliers and local small and medium-sized businesses in government procurement, while also helping to rebuild the state’s skills base through training requirements on major government projects.

Mr Beeson, who is a strong advocate and supporter of the SME sector in Australia, said the bill had clear potential to support SMEs and strengthen local supply chains, but warned governments could not expect businesses to deliver more local jobs without a much stronger vocational training pipeline.

“This is a good reform in principle because it backs local business and recognises the importance of building capability at home,” Mr Beeson said.

“But the hard truth is Australia does not currently have enough skilled tradespeople coming through the system to support the scale of local industry ambition being talked about.”

While there has been a slight uptick in trade commencements in the last year according to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), the most recent figures indicate a broader decline in trade apprenticeship commencements underway now for several years.

According to the NCVER, trade apprenticeship commencements were down almost 10% in the 12 months to September 2025.

Mr Beeson said the figures exposed a serious mismatch between government policy and workforce reality.

Recent labour market analysis from Indeed Hiring Lab shows apprenticeship course completions are now around 64% below their 2012–13 peak, while around 9,800 temporary skilled visas were granted in 2024–25 for workers in the top 25 apprenticeship occupations. That is around five times higher than three years earlier.

Mr Beeson said the two figures together pointed to a deeper structural problem.

“We regularly hear about supporting young people, aspiration and productivity, but the data shows Australia is becoming more reliant on importing skilled workers while our own training pipeline continues to weaken,” Mr Beeson said.

“Skilled migration has an important role to play, but it cannot be a substitute for investing in the next generation of Australian tradespeople.”

He said Australia was already dealing with weak productivity growth, housing shortages, skills shortages and capacity constraints across major industries, while becoming increasingly dependent on overseas supply chains for critical goods.

“If governments want more local jobs and stronger domestic manufacturing, they have to make it easier for businesses to train apprentices, not harder,” Mr Beeson said.

“You cannot rebuild industry without the people who actually know how to build things.”

Mr Beeson said the decision to abolish and reduce some incentives for businesses to take on apprentices, saving an estimated $300 million over five years, risked worsening the skills shortage at the worst possible time.

He said the rapid rise of artificial intelligence made stronger investment in trades and vocational education even more important.

“AI is transforming many white-collar occupations, which means Australia should be doubling down on skilled trades, advanced manufacturing and vocational training,” Mr Beeson said.

“If we don’t reverse this trend, Australia will fall behind countries investing in both technology and the skilled workforce needed to turn that technology into economic growth.”

The state and federal governments are making it easier for parents in Melbourne’s outer east to get the emergency care their kids need.

A joint $20 million investment will deliver a new dedicated children’s emergency department at Maroondah Hospital.

It will help the hardworking doctors and nurses deliver more specialised paediatric emergency care to the area’s growing population.

Hospitals can often be a daunting place for children, and the new ED will be specifically designed to provide a dedicated, calming space for families.

A specialist team is developing the design to create a space on the hospital’s ground floor where children can be triaged separately.

Design details can include walls painted with muted colours, enclosed rooms that create a low stimulus environment which minimises noise and play equipment.

Early works are already underway to relocate the current emergency department administration area.

Construction on the project is expected to start in 2027.

This forms part of a broader $102.4 million program to build new children’s emergency departments across Victoria.

How safe do you feel after dark? Your experiences will shape our lighting plan.

Central Goldfields Shire Council is developing a new Public Lighting Strategy and wants to hear from residents about the places where lighting makes a difference — the streets you use, the areas that feel welcoming, and the spots that feel unsafe.

Your feedback will help guide a fair and sustainable approach to lighting across all towns.

The Draft Public Lighting Strategy is open for feedback until 5pm, Friday 19 June 2026.

Complete the survey at: www.engage.cgoldshire.vic.gov.au/lights

A total of $30,000 in funding will be available as part Central Goldfields Shire’s 2026-2027 Community Grants Program when it opens on 1 July to 29 July.

Grants of $500 to $3,000 are available for community‑based organisations seeking financial support to deliver activities, programs, small events, equipment or infrastructure.

All potential applicants must attend a Community Grants Program Information Session and discuss their project with a Council officer prior to applying. The following sessions will be held at the Maryborough Community Hub Rooms 1 & 2:

• Friday 19 June, 10 to 11.30am
• Monday 22 June, 5 to 6.30pm
• Tuesday 23 June, 1.30 to 3pm

To register for an Information Session, please email Council’s Coordinator Community Development at Terence.jaensch@cgoldshire.vic.gov.au, specifying your preferred session and the number of attendees.

For more information visit www.centralgoldfields.vic.gov.au/communitygrants

Black field crickets remain active in the south west, as a dry and warm autumn provided favourable conditions. Identifying and controlling this native species now can help prevent future damage to pastures and crops.

Black field crickets are common in the region, hatching from late spring to early summer and progressing their lifecycle over summer. Females will lay more than 1,000 eggs into moist soil following autumn rain.

Crickets eat existing and germinating pasture and crops, lowering potential crop yields and reducing available feed for livestock.

Controlling crickets will help to protect crops and pastures, prevents egg laying and ensures losses are minimised.

They favour cracked or stony ground, which provides shelter for them during the heat of the day, and are often most active at night or as daytime temperatures start to drop.

Adult black field crickets are winged and measure up to 30 mm in length. They are black or dark brown, with long antenna and large jumping hindlegs similar to grasshoppers.

Young crickets, or nymphs, are slightly lighter in colour, around 4 mm long at hatching and feature white stripes across their backs.

To monitor crickets, lay out hessian or cloth bags over cracks in the soil around 20 m apart.

Count the numbers of crickets beneath the bags several times a day and take steps to control them if there are more than 5 to 7 per bag or more than 20 under one bag.

Cricket control is most effective when baiting, which should be completed once half the population are at least 20 mm long and have begun to develop wings.

Crickets often die underground, meaning the success of the program is not always visible in the paddock.

Weedy paddocks prior to sowing can encourage crickets, so controlling weeds can help to reduce cricket numbers.

When planning a cricket control strategy, it is a good idea to speak to your local agronomist or chemical reseller to develop the most effective control method.

Dr Jeff Cave, Senior Veterinary Officer

One of my most vivid childhood memories was of a dog attack on the sheep on our neighbour’s property.

For our neighbour’s sheep, it was carnage with dead and injured sheep across the paddock.

The dog involved was caught and euthanised, which also left me sad and angry since it was somebody’s pet, and it seemed like a nice, friendly dog.

Fast forward to 2026, and I consistently hear from property owners that the biggest hazard of keeping sheep on a property located near a town is dog attacks by town dogs.

Usually, these are caused by somebody’s pet dog, which hasn’t been correctly confined and has been allowed to stray onto the sheep owner’s property.

In such cases, the owner of the dog is liable for the damage that the dog causes.

Furthermore, under the Domestic Animals Act 1994, the owner of the livestock has the right to destroy a dog that is found in the area in which their livestock are located.

It’s worth remembering that dogs have an instinct to roam and hunt.

The simple way to prevent this from happening is to keep your dog confined or restrained. If allowed to wander, a dog can cause considerable damage in a short space of time.

For further information or to report a stray dog or a dog attack, please contact your local council.

Victoria’s firefighting helicopters had improved access to secure water supplies in remote forest areas this summer, reducing turnaround times and assisting efforts to slow the spread of fires.

Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) used four of its new heli‑dip tank sites to support firefighting at Wonnangatta, Mt Selwyn and Woods Point.

The sites allow fire-bombing helicopters to refill faster during bushfire response, saving critical turnaround times.

FFMVic Chief Fire Officer, Chris Hardman, said every minute counts when responding to remote bushfires.

“Having these remote water storages in high elevations of the landscape enables aircraft to access water faster and provides time for our rappel and on-ground firefighters to respond.”

Mr Hardman said 15 more heli‑dip tank sites are being built across remote forest areas as part of a new three‑year project.

“Victoria is one of the most fire‑prone places in the world,” he said.

“By strategically locating secure water supplies where aircraft need them, we can hit fires faster, harder and improve our chances of limiting their spread before they impact communities,” Mr Hardman said.

“Reliable water supplies strengthen the efforts of our on-ground firefighters, machine operators and skilled contractors who respond rapidly to fires on public land.”

The sites can reduce flight turnaround times by up to 15 minutes, making air operations significantly more efficient. Each location includes a 25,000 or 50,000‑litre tank built specifically for helicopter refilling.

Planned sites include Straight Running Creek, Mt Wills and Selwyn Five Way in north‑east Victoria, and Dargo High Plains and Mt Hope in Gippsland.

The project is jointly funded by the Australian and Victorian governments through the Disaster Ready Fund.

The Victorian Government must urgently explain its failure to deliver 2,500 supported housing places promised from the Mental Health Royal Commission, after its own report showed only a fifth had been built five years after the inquiry, and no new housing support services delivered.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Reform Progress Report 2026 reveals only 505 supported housing homes have been delivered after recommendations were handed down in 2021.

The Royal Commission called for 2,000 supported housing dwellings under the Big Housing Build, plus a further 500 dedicated medium-term places for young people aged 18 to 25 living with mental illness and experiencing homelessness.

The report makes no mention of the remaining 1,495 adult supported housing places and is completely silent on the missing 500 youth places.

The government accepted all recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System without qualification.

Council to Homeless Persons Chief Executive Deborah Di Natale said the government needed to be transparent on whether this recommendation has been scrapped.

“The government made a critical promise to some of Victoria’s most vulnerable people. These Victorians have already been failed by a broken system. The government cannot fail them again now by breaking their promise.

“Every week Victorians are discharged from acute mental health care back into homelessness because there is nowhere safe for them to go. The homes the Royal Commission recommended were meant to end that and the government’s silence on them is not acceptable.”

Ms Di Natale expressed particular concern about the Mental Health and Wellbeing Reform Progress Report’s failure to make any mention of the promised supported housing for young people.

“Mainstream supported housing models were never designed with young people in mind. Young people with mental illness and unstable housing have complex, intersecting needs that require a dedicated response, and the Royal Commission understood that,” she said.

“These 500 places were a recognition that without something built specifically for young people, they would continue to fall through the gaps.”

Community Housing Industry Association Victoria Chief Executive Sarah Toohey said the sector was not asking for anything beyond what had already been promised.

“We know that with stable housing and the right support, people experiencing mental illness can recover.  This was recognised by the Royal Commission and the Government, it’s now time to deliver.

“Without these support packages, hundreds of Victorians living with mental ill health are sadly being let down, and put through a revolving door of homelessness, and hospitalisation”.

Mental Health Victoria Chief Executive Officer Phillipa Thomas said the undelivered supported housing is central to whether the state’s mental health reforms could succeed.

“At the core of almost every access and demand and policy problem is housing – there is no doubt about its criticality, no gap in evidence, and no absence of solutions.

“Support for people to maintain their housing to improve their mental health needs to be specialised, and it needs to be resourced as a priority as both a treatment and care standard and a system performance lever.”

It’s easier and faster for Victorians to get the care they need with paramedics now embedded in the Virtual Hospital Pilot. 

Minister Shing today announced Ambulance Victoria has joined the state gpvernment’s pilot.

Paramedics working in the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Digital Coordination Centre will use real-time emergency department and ambulance data to make faster, better decisions about where to take patients.

It means patients get to the right hospital, faster – and paramedics get back on the road sooner.

It will also improve patient flow across the broader health system.

Led by Austin Health and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Virtual Hospital is ensuring Victorians can receive care and recover at home.

This then frees up beds in hospital for patients who need them most.

More than 500 Victorians have received care through the pilot since it launched in December.

A major opinion poll last week forecasted One Nation would win dozens of seats if a federal election had been held then.

Pauline Hanson’s party would have pretty much wiped out the Coalition, but also taken seats from Labor.
It’s scary stuff. I know it is just a poll, and I mean, who would vote for One Nation? But then who in their right mind would vote for Trump? And there he is, playing golf day after day, telling himself the US is the most amazing country in the world.
And so do his followers. I wander through a few Facebook pages and the stupidity of his followers defies belief. But there they are, holding signs, hoping for Trump 2028. FFS.
We met a Trump supporter once on a cruise. Lots of crazy Americans but this woman seemed quite sane until she started mouthing off about the homeless – at a lavish cruise lunch. “The homeless,” she said, “they just don’t know what they want.”
As I started mouthing back small things like “a home”, “security perhaps”, “somewhere to sleep”, “a decent feed”, I saw Kyle giving me the “hush now” look.
I honestly just think it would be a complete disaster if One Nation had a say in our country’s future. I know Labor’s not great at the moment, and I am not caught up with the Libs or the Nationals, but that doesn’t mean you go down the rabbit hole of sheer craziness.
I was just reading that Hanson was first married to Walter Zagorski when she was 17 in 1971. Walter was a Polish refugee who migrated to Australia with his mother in the early 1950s.
Her first two children are to him but Wikipedia says he had a few affairs and then left her while she was pregnant with the second child. Maybe it’s all just sour grapes? I popped onto One Nation’s website and read about their immigration stand. It’s pretty awful.
Send home visa overstayers, illegal workers,and unlawful non-residents who undermine national security, drive down wages and take advantage of public services meant for Australians. Hello ICE.
Deport any visa holder who breaks the law. Weak law enforcement policies have put Australians in danger for too long. If you commit a crime, you lose your visa and the right to stay. Sorry if you happen to be married, have a child, were starving so stole some food. Hello reverse convicts.
Introduce an eight-year waiting period for citizenship and welfare, ensuring new arrivals contribute before they take. Goodbye safety net.
Refuse entry to migrants from nations known to foster extremist ideologies that are incompatible with Australian values and way of life. Goodbye better life.
Finally, withdraw from the UN Refugee Convention because Australia will not be dictated to by foreign organisations when deciding who we accept into our nation on humanitarian grounds. Yeah, how dare they try to enforce a document which asserts that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. And yeah, we are not agreeing to a document that outlines the basic minimum standards for the treatment of refugees, including the right to housing, work and education while displaced so they can lead a dignified and independent life. It also defines a refugee’s obligations to host countries and specifies certain categories of people, such as war criminals, who do not qualify for refugee status.
As Pauline says: “It’s time to take back control of our borders, protect Australian jobs, and ensure a future where Australians come first.”
It was during her maiden speech to Parliament in 1996 that she uttered her now infamous words: “I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians.”
“They have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate. Of course, I will be called racist but, if I can invite whom I want into my home, then I should have the right to have a say in who comes into my country.”
She finished with the bewildering: “A truly multicultural country can never be strong or united.”
Along with the belief that a truly multicultural country will always be strong or united I also worry that she doesn’t say who Australians are. Hmmm. Am I an Australian? I have only been here a few generations. Is Kyle an Aussie? He only came over about 30 years ago from New Zealand. Is our friend Phil an Aussie? He only came over about two years ago from the US. Hates America.
I might have to start sorting out my friendship group. Asking the question first about how many generations they have been in Australia, have they ever done anything illegal and do they agree refugees are just a headache we could do without.
I don’t hold any sway but please think about who you are offering power to. We already have enough nuts running the world – we don’t need one here. Just sayin’…

Hi there, I am Cash, a one-year-old border collie, with a big personality and an even bigger love for life.

I am always ready for fun, whether it’s a game of fetch, a run around the yard, or learning something new.
I am very eager to please and thrive on attention, activity, and positive interaction. I am also smart and excitable, so I will need an owner who can continue my training and provide plenty of mental and physical stimulation. I would really suit an active home.
Microchip number: 956000018848790
Come and meet me at MAAWS.
Call 5472 5277 | shelter@maaw.org.au

etryetc.

hot day in lyon
with his picasso t-shirt
a man wipes off sweat

a plane tree leaf
rising in the breeze
her striped shirt

heat wave
lyon’s pastel buildings
blanch a little more

– Bill Wootton

Bill likes to travel in France. France does not care much for air conditioning.

Local Lines features poetry by locals about local and any other matters.
Please submit poems to Bill Wootton at cottlesbreedge@gmail.com

The latest firebombings in Melbourne are a scary and real thing and threaten once again to push residents out of the CBD.

A quick look back at history in America reveals the same tactics – firebombings to businesses with a balance in damage so they can still trade but know they are being threatened. And for those who pay attention, there are serious modern gang tactics at play here which are quite brazen.
Back in the old days in places like Chicago in the 1950s, where the gangs took over the unions and standover tactics were brutal (not that I was around), you at least knew your enemy. They would get about with names like Hammer, Lefty or Tommy Two Fingers. These days it’s most likely the modern gig economy which is basically digital platforms whose business model relies on matching independent contractors with temporary, on-demand jobs or tasks via apps. You can be a boss of a large gang of hoodlums as long as you have the money.
The trouble is, for guys like Lefty threatening people was an art, these days you don’t know what sort of imbecile you’re getting. Case in point is the luxury car dealership in Melbourne that three ratbags set on fire. In case you missed it, to be a good standover merchant you need to strike the balance between a threat and keeping the place open for business. And these bandits caused over half a million dollars of damage to a couple of Aston Martins.
And that’s the problem, you just can’t get reliable criminals on an encrypted messaging app, or can you? Is there a rating service where the villains have to say how good they are, maybe they have categories similar to Air Tasker. Communication: Did they keep you updated? Did they reply to your messages promptly and clearly? Punctuality: Did the tasker show up on time and complete the task within the agreed-upon timeframe? Eye for detail: Did they pay attention to your specific instructions and follow the task description accurately? Efficiency: Did they work quickly and effectively without compromising the quality of the work? Or in the case of Crime Tasker questions like: Was the unlawful lad on time? Did they clean up after themselves? Maybe if accelerant was used, did the bad guys accidentally set themselves on fire?
And what about the gangster doing the hiring, would they get rated as in when you are hiring someone on Air Tasker. Were they clear with their instructions? Were they honest about how long the job would take? Was the location of the job accurate?
All jokes aside, there are too many young people who are looking to earn a few bob and taking on these jobs firebombing businesses and homes in order to send a message from their bosses of “pay up or shut up shop”.
I have had a few instances with accelerant fires that didn’t end well. One of the latest was with a handful of sparklers on NYE a couple of years ago at TL HQ, where the liquid magnesium dripped under the deck and caught leaf debris on fire. A quick-thinking mate doused the flames with beer. Meanwhile I saved my burning heel, which had also come into contact with the magnesium, by submerging it into the s-bend of the toilet.
The next was an outside fire that didn’t take off. I loaded it with petrol and then made a petrol creek as a fuse. Don’t do this at home, kids. After quite a few attempts I finally got it going with a sound akin to a sonic wave reverberating through my body.
Low flashpoint accelerants are difficult to work with and it is apparent with the video footage of these young people. One day soon some bright spark will stitch all this footage together of trainee villains catching alight, throw a Benny Hill soundtrack in the background and make bank on YouTube. Boyband gang rant over…

The first time I met Smeaton’s Joan Pickering she was encouraging a craft group at Daylesford Library to weave vintage lace, wool and fabric into future projects.

Joan, now 86, was clearly in her element after being taken by a community carer to see for herself where surplus materials, sent to the group on earlier occasions, had landed.
Her eyes lit up when a piece of stretch fabric was pulled out of a box by someone determined to turn it into a pyjama top, putting the material to good use.
Wasting time and things simply isn’t in Joan’s nature; a quality developed growing up in a block of houses built for returning WWI veterans.
“My parents got it just as the second world war was starting…my father was a signalman, at a time when they sent messages out with carrier pigeons,” Joan said.
However, being born in 1940, it’s her father’s post-war charity work and time at the PMG (Postmaster-General’s Department), she recalls.
“We all called the PMG ‘private monkey’s garden’, it was like Telecom, took in public phone boxes and all that sort of thing,” she said.
“I remember my father saving little globes and torches from the PMG. He painted them all different colours and then he wired them up so we had lights on our Christmas tree which was a piece of pussy willow – there was no money for anything as frivolous as Christmas lights.”
Joan credits her father, who belonged to a band of charity entertainers, for her own creativity and community spirit.
“My father would dress up as a girl, white stockings, white dress, red wig, and they’d go around entertaining on the back of a truck to raise money for dogs for the blind.”
But it was Joan’s mother and brothers she was with the first time she set foot in a dance school.
“Mum lost a baby and we were out walking; in those days there was a dancing school in nearly every empty hall (and) Mum took us in one, I was only a tot then, hadn’t even started school, and I just loved it.”
Joan said her community-minded father organised debutante balls at Preston Town Hall and as a result when she was six or seven she led a deb set as part of their presentation.
“I had to do the whole length of the hall on my toes, today there’s no way you’d have ballet shoes on at that age, but in those days if the ballet shoes fit you’d do it.”
When Joan was 19 one of the mothers in a dance class she was enrolled in asked if she would like to teach, pointing towards an empty hall.
She then went on to teach tap, ballet and character dancing in Lalor and Preston venues between 1959 and 1976 through her own school.

“It started as JD Dancing School because my brother was with me, it became the Miss Joan Scott School of Dancing. My mother took over playing the piano.”
Joan said early craft skills learnt at school, from her mother and a young Scottish woman in her neighbourhood, allowed her to become a costume creation seamstress.
“Most of the mothers were working, so the first year there wasn’t much in the way of costumes, you’d ask for them and they’d turn up with flowers attached with safety pins and what have you, so I started doing costumes for one or two of the girls and by the next year I was doing the whole lot, about 200 pieces, two or three pieces to a costume.
“I loved the dancing, putting concerts together, the colour, everything about it, but I love helping people, that’s been my life since I was a little kid.”
Joan said when she was six or seven one of the returned soldiers who lived a few doors up from her family home was in a wheelchair following his war service and after school she would “sit on the grass and talk to him because he was on his own and had no-one to talk to”.
“You were involved with everyone. You didn’t have meals on wheels, if someone was sick up the corner of your street everyone went up and took a meal up or did something. There was one phone in the whole block so everyone would come and use it and paid sixpence for the use of the phone.
“If you were growing rhubarb and people knew you had it they’d come up and get a bunch of rhubarb from you for sixpence and that sixpence would buy your sausages for tea from the butcher.”
Today Joan, who moved to Smeaton when she married her second husband Louis Pickering 20 years ago, is herself thankful to have lovely neighbours nearby and fellowship within St John’s Creswick Church community, particularly since Louis passed.
She said it was too late for her to have children of her own when she married her first husband at 36 years of age, but she doted on her dance students, occasionally taking those with busy parents for outings to Como House and other interesting places during school holidays.
“I like doing the quilts, hand embroidering, knitting, crochet, cooking, gardening – anything I can make – it keeps you going.”
Joan said she would like to think sharing her crafting remnants encourages others to make good use of their hands through a hobby you can enjoy at home or with others. “That’s been my life’s work – doing for others.”

Above, Joan in her self-embroidered apron; inset, a School of Dancing advertisement (contributed)

Below, debutantes and partners at the Fairytale Ball in Northcote 1969-70 hosted by Cr Larkin and Mrs Larkin

Words: Kate Foulds | Images: Kate Foulds & Darebin City Council

Macedon Ranges Shire Council has recognised the exceptional individuals and groups helping shape a strong, inclusive and vibrant community through the 2026 Macedon Ranges Celebrating Community event.

Held during National Volunteer Week, the event included special recognition for community volunteers and leaders, and the Community Awards program.
This year saw strong interest across all 8 award categories, with a total of 35 nominations recognising contributions across youth leadership, inclusion, the environment, arts, sport, and community events.
2026 Community Award recipients are:
• Youth Leadership: Molly Clare for compassionate leadership as a mentor with Full Spectrum Theatre.
• Young Citizen of the Year: Tate Kemp and Matilda Matthew. Tate for powerful advocacy for disability inclusion through All Abilities Public Speaking; Matilda for outstanding youth leadership, community volunteering and advocacy for social justice and youth voices.
• Contribution to Environment: Macedon Ranges Wildlife Network for their dedicated volunteer work rescuing and caring for injured wildlife while educating the community on wildlife protection.
• Contribution to Community Arts: Natalie Davis for contribution to community arts, creating inclusive projects that uplift and connect communities.
• Contribution to Sports and Wellbeing: Woodend Cricket Club for using sport to visibly advocate respectful relationships.
• Inclusive Communities: Social Foundry for work supporting vulnerable community members through inclusive training, leadership and volunteering opportunities.
• Community Event of the Year: Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group Veg Action for Edgy Veg Awards for inspiring healthier and more sustainable food choices while supporting local businesses and producers.
• Citizen of the Year: Kathleen Wyatt for outstanding service to the community, fostering connection and contributing to community safety.
Image: Kathleen Wyatt and Mayor Kate Kendall | Contributed