By Donna Kelly

Had some interesting chats with Hepburn Shire Council CEO Bradley Thomas and Mayor Brian Hood last week.
The council put out a media release which says aggressive behaviour towards Hepburn Shire Council staff is on the increase and reaching unprecedented levels.
Mr Thomas said in the release that recent incidents had highlighted the lack of respect shown by some people towards council staff.
“Staff are regularly feeling intimidated after being approached in the street or in other public places, like the supermarket, and verbally abused, sometimes shouted or sworn at. We acknowledge that we don’t always get things right and sometimes mistakes are made, but that does not excuse poor behaviour towards staff.”
Later Mr Thomas said over the phone that it was a phenomenon that was happening in many council areas – mostly country. He thinks that with the end (sort of) of Covid, and the sky-rocketing cost of living, that people have had enough and feel they have the right to have their say.
Cr Hood said council staff, and councillors, were entitled to have a safe workplace. “Verbal abuse and threatening behaviour is simply not acceptable, and that includes cowardly online abuse. Council will do everything within its powers to protect its staff and councillors. We will not tolerate aggressive, abusive or threatening behaviour.”
Cr Hood said he was not a psychologist but, in his latest mayoral report to council, also called out the irresponsible behaviour of some media which “emboldens some elements of the community and fans the flames of dissent”.
Now, when I read that I was a bit annoyed. But after talking to Cr Hood I think it is more about mainstream media and not local media.
Also, The Local is very much a professional outfit, accredited as a newspaper through the Victorian Country Press Association and the federal Country Press Association. We employ qualified, professional journalists to write our stories and they are done with the utmost consideration. Yes, now and again, we might have a bit of a rant about council, but I think it is pretty much merited. The Rex, handing over aged care, the drooping Bleakley Street units, terrible satisfaction survey results.
But, that is no reason for anyone to harass or intimidate council staff or councillors, who are only doing their job, and probably for a pretty limited salary. Complain sure, but always remain respectful. And do it in the right way.
Sadly, keyboard warriors abound, saying things online they would never say to anyone’s face, and many people don’t realise just how small our rate base is. We are lucky to get roads, rates and rubbish done. And I know we still pay rates while the roads remain rubbish but most of them belong to the state government and not the council.

When we started The Local, Kyle asked if we should open an office in Daylesford. No, I said, no way. When I worked at The Advocate, in the Coles carpark office, people would line up to pop in and rage away for 30 minutes. One woman spent her time telling me I was a piece of shit – and then left saying “I feel better now”. I did feel like shit after that. I have been emailed: “Do you want to die?”. True story.
So next time you need to vent your spleen about a council issue, make a reasoned call, send an email or maybe decide if it’s just you having a bad day.
People might think I am mellowing in my old age but I just think we all should be treated respectfully. Who knows what’s going on in the background? Just sayin’…

WORDS in Winter is coming up soon – end of August – so I thought I would take a trip down memory lane and my own love of words.
I learnt to read and write when I was pretty young. Not my doing as much as my parents. As a little kid, Dad used to read to me before I went to sleep but he generally fell asleep before he got more than about a page done, and I realised if I ever wanted to get to the end of the book, I had to learn to read myself. So I did.
Mum had been a teacher after leaving school and, while she had to give up work once she married, taught me how to write, and even how to write my name in cursive. I tried doing that at school in prep but was told that would have to wait another couple of years. Mum was ahead of her/my time.
At primary school I had some great teachers but the librarian was the best. She encouraged me to read so many books and to write to the authors. I got quite a few letters back which was really encouraging to a young girl.
In high school I joined the editorial team of the annual school magazine, subbing work sent in by other students. I continued writing to authors, snail mail, and getting return correspondence. I also took on work experience at the then Frankston Standard when I was in form 3 (year 9 now) and realised I wanted to be a journalist. I tried to get into RMIT’s journalism course but failed, instead heading to Monash Uni for a Bachelor of Arts. Actually, it was the Chisholm Institute of Technology with campuses at Frankston and Caulfield. I had not done either maths or a language in my final year of secondary schooling so could not gain entry into a “real” university.
I was pretty happy when Monash took over the institute many years later and I could claim my new degree status. Other students who went to the “real” Monash were not so pleased. But I digress.
After uni I went for cadetships at the Herald Sun and The Age. Not a chance. Both their written tests asked which relative you had working at the paper. Nepotism at its finest. Part of the journalism world.
But never fear. The work experience, which I had continued ad hoc, was going to pay off with a cadetship coming up at the Frankston Standard. Hmmm. Nope. The daughter of a woman working there got the position. But I did find myself at the Southern Peninsula Gazette. Finally.
The rest is history. Gigs at papers including The Cairns Post, The News in Karratha, The Centralian Advocate in Alice Springs, The Courier Mail in Brisbane, Quest Newspapers in Logan, and even TNT magazine in London, before moving to Glenlyon. Then it was The Advertiser in Bendigo, The Courier in Ballarat, The Advocate in Daylesford and finally, The Local.
And I still love words. Hearing them from people I am interviewing, crafting them into a story, dreaming up a headline or an intro, seeing them printed on the page. It’s a lot of fun and also a privilege – sharing lives and stories and events. Sometimes helping people. Sometimes just knowing it’s a great read.
Hopefully you can get along to an event at Words in Winter. Like-minded people sharing words with each other and their audiences. I know there is a trend to use acronyms and abbreviations, short texts to communicate with friends, but there is nothing like hitting the last full stop on a really great story. Or even an average column. Just sayin’…

By Donna Kelly

IT’S funny. Not ha-ha, the other one.
I have run a couple of briefs, back on page 11 (of the latest hard copy edition of The Local) if you want a look, about a positive ageing expo and another program called Living and Ageing Well in Hepburn. As in Hepburn Shire.
They are all about living well as we age, having fun, making connections, staying healthy etc. Positive stuff. Mind you, between us, I don’t find getting older that great. I know the alternative is not much fun but even at my age I am waking up with a few creaks and groans, and what the hell are those age spots doing on my hands already?
(You do know the photo above was taken about 15 years ago and I refuse to update it…oh, and my driver’s licence photo is also about 20 years old. They had a time when you could keep the same photo for another 10 years and then Covid hit and they didn’t want anyone turning up at VicRoads offices – winning.)
But back to positive ageing. Just as these media releases came in I also got calls and emails from older people, and in some cases their children, who are meant to be receiving assistance from home care organisation Benetas – but they are not. Some have waited six weeks for help with cleaning their house. Some are so frustrated they just want to stop the service altogether – even though they need some help. And in some cases, they are still being billed even when no-one turns up to their home.
But who do you go to? Who listens to the complaint? All of these people have talked to someone at Benetas but pretty much with no result. I wrote to state health minister Mary-Anne Thomas, who is also our Macedon MP, and received an email that said: “Thanks for getting in touch. This falls info (sic) Federal Government jurisdiction, I have now forwarded to the office of Catherine King and someone will be in touch. Kindness.” That’s helpful, not.
Of course, I had already written to Catherine King, the federal Ballarat MP, and she did reply with some information and contacts. Back to page 11 again if you want a read.
I also went onto this website – www.health.gov.au/topics/aged-care – which does have a lot of stuff about aged care, rights of older people and how to complain. But if you don’t know how to find your way around a website you are stuffed. I clicked onto a fact sheet about the complaints process and it led me to an Adobe page which needed me to enter a password. I don’t have a password. It also had a pretty dodgy looking domain name and I don’t like clicking on things that look dodgy.
Anyway, who will help these people? One woman rang on behalf of her mother saying she was a middle-aged daughter doing her best to keep her mum happy and healthy at home – all that positive stuff. But the reality is that if services are not being provided then no amount of wonderful positive ageing expos are going to really do anything. Lots of good words I am sure, and “engaging guest speakers” but what is the point if our most vulnerable people are being neglected.
Hepburn Shire Council, who passed the service to Benetas a year ago after deciding to get out of the aged care field, say it is a federal service and not their thing. But surely when they handed that responsibility over it was done with due diligence and some assurances that all would be well. They did eventually email and say people can talk to the council’s Positive Ageing Officer. Hmmm.
I really feel the frustration of these people. I don’t imagine they like even asking for help. I wonder if there is room for a volunteer/person link up. Someone who checks in on vulnerable people. Maybe do a few dishes. Have a chat? I know there are liability issues but we as a community might be able to do better. Just sayin’…