June 24th, 2022Just briefly
The Doxa Youth Foundation in Malmsbury and PGL Adventure Camps in Tylden will be delivering free camps during 2022 targeting students who wouldn’t normally have the chance to attend a camp.
Positive Start in 2022 will help get students back out and about around the state, and support their physical and emotional health and wellbeing.
The $84.3 million program will focus on students from government and low-fee non-government schools who have been most affected by Covid-19 school closures – as well as students and schools that might otherwise be unable to participate in an outdoor education or camp program.
Central Highlands Water has announced the appointment of new managing director Jeff Haydon, who starts on July 11.
Mr Haydon has been a member of the local community over the past 15 years and is presently CHW’s Infrastructure Planning & Operations general manager.
Prior to moving to Ballarat with his family, Mr Haydon, a qualified civil engineer who also holds a Master of Business Administration, worked for an international engineering consulting firm, as well as a Melbourne retail water business.
Bee Friendly Farming’s popular tree grants are now open with farmers being supported to join the pledge to plant 100,000 trees for bees.
Grants of up to $10,000 are available to farmers and land managers to plant pollinator-friendly trees that are indigenous to their farms, with Bee Friendly Farming providing farmers and land managers with $1 for every tree planted, thanks to grant partners One Tree Planted and Flow Hive.
The program is administered by Wheen Bee Foundation, and CEO Fiona Chambers said the tree grants supported pollinators while also benefitting farmers.
To receive a tree grant, farms must be certified with Bee Friendly Farming. The tree grants, which start at $1,000, more than cover certification costs, making it both good for the environment and a sound business investment.
State Minister for Local Government Shaun Leane has introduced legislation to support property owners by ensuring councils implement fairer financial hardship policies.
Councils will no longer be able to use debt collectors or pursue legal action – which can result in homes being sold to pay back debts to council – unless ratepayers refuse to engage and all other options have been exhausted.
An Ombudsman’s report found that people who were struggling to pay their rates were often met with debt collectors, high penalty interest and in some cases costly litigation, creating stress and fear.
Macedon Ranges Shire has been crowned a ‘Champion Community’ for its work and commitment to improving mental health.
Mental Health First Aid has recognised the shire for its commitment to improving the mental health of young people and the adults who support them.
The status is an acknowledgment of their sustained effort to successfully embed Mental Health First Aid training, via the Live4Life model, into local education providers, secondary schools, and the wider Macedon Ranges Shire community.
New weather stations are being rolled out across Victoria to help fire agencies better respond to bushfires and support safer, more effective planned burns.
The CFA has received 10 new portable and remote automated weather stations to improve Victoria’s weather observations to allow firefighters to generate more accurate predictions of where a fire might spread, and use more precise local data for community warnings.
There are seven portable automated weather stations and three static remote automated weather stations permanently situated at Ballan, East Trentham and Glenburn.
