Vol. 35. No. 35.
March Theme: Literacy Month.
Lookout Reserve Maintenance Roster:
26/3/2017 - 8/4/2017 Geoff Chandler.
9/4/2017 – 22/4/2017 Tony Haines.
Report of Meeting: 28/3/2017
- Visitors: Meredith O’Neil and Carolyn Danaher. “Geelong Citizens Jury”.
******There will be no meeting on ANZAC Day. ******
- The next Bunnings’ BBQ will be on Sunday 21st May.
- There will be a combined Board Meeting on May 2nd for outgoing and incoming directors.
- John Fox has received his Honorary Membership Certificate and was very pleased. His thanks have been sent.
- There will be a Disaster Aid Conference on 5 – 7 May. See Judy or Fred if interested.
- Nominations for District Governor are called for 2019 – 2010. ?
- The Child Safety book is needed - please return ASAP to Judy.
- Noel reported that the Council has done some of the vegetation needed at the Lookout Reserve. Approval has been given for further planting in winter.
- Noel mentioned that a survey of litter on the beach might be a part of the recognition of Earth Day.
Publicity: DISTRICT CONFERENCE “BE BOLD” 31March – 1/2April will be held at the Barrabool Hills Centre and Saturday night dinner at the South Barwon Civic Centre with the theme of James Bond. – BE BOLD. Please check the District Website for all info relating to this important event. Registration forms are also available from the Website. Please register ASAP. There are 10 people attending.
Fundraising: - ‘Ride the Bellarine’ for Polio Plus is being planned. See John Paton if you can help as more Marshalls are needed.
. This year the event is on 9/4/2017. Hello World has donated tickets for the Rotary Club who sells the most tickets.
Market: Please return raffle stubs to Adrian.
- There are still some vacancies for jobs on Sunday. See Coogs if you can help.
Health: - Gerry Spencer moved to The McKellar Center and would welcome a chat or a visit. He has been in hospital for many weeks and would like contact with the outside world.
- It was good to see Peter Hawthorne at the meeting after his absence of nearly eight weeks. Welcome back Peter.
- Vic has had his procedure at St John of God Hospital and is progressing slowly.
Youth: Tiffany will move to the care of the Rotary Club of Drysdale for the remainder of her time in Australia. She expressed her thanks for the months of fun and entertainment she has had whilst with us. She has enjoyed all the activities members have involved her in and is looking forward to the Safari after the Conference.
Membership: Janet and Allan joined us as prospective members.
Footy Tipping: It’s on again. Please pay Alex as soon as you can.
Guest Speakers: Meredith O’Neill and Caroline Danaher. “Geelong Citizens Jury”.
A citizens’ jury is a randomly selected but representative group of citizens brought together to deliberate on complex issues by carefully considering expert information, a range of community views and different perspectives. The jury then presents their recommendations to Government about how to address those issues.
The project was undertaken to provide for the election of a new Council for the City of Greater Geelong in October 2017 after its dismissal in April 2016.
The Minister for Local Government chose the format of a citizen’s jury because it provided an innovative way to involve everyday people in decision making. Citizens’ juries bring together representative, random samples of citizens who are briefed in detail on the background and current thinking relating to a particular issue, asked to discuss possible approaches and/or solutions, and to finally craft an agreed set of recommendations to address the issues at hand.
Greater Geelong has broken new ground as no other Victorian community has had the opportunity to influence its Council’s structure in this way and to this extent. This was an incredible opportunity for members of the Geelong community to participate in a decision that will have an impact on the shape and method of how a new council would be elected.
The jury met over four Saturdays to consider the form of democratic representation provided by a future council. In response to this task the jury made two types of recommendations to the Minister.
1. Practical recommendations that reflect an electoral structure compliant with the Victorian local government legislative framework. These were intended as a minimum requirement and were to provide an electoral structure in time for the October 2017 election.
2.Aspirational recommendations that might not be compliant with legislation but might define ideas about how local democracy might be improved.
The Minister committed to:
- Table the unedited report in Parliament;
- Submit to Cabinet the outcomes of the jury’s recommendations;
- Consider the aspirational recommendations;
- Respond to the jury by providing the Government’s response.
Thirteen recommendations were made. The Government supported six (including the practical recommendations), six in principle recommendations were supported and one recommendation was not supported.
The recommendations and Government response is as follows:
1. Mayor elected by the Council from among the councilors. They should serve a two year term.
2. Total of 11 councillors, elected from four wards.
3. Broadcasting Council Meetings through multiple media.
4. Facilitating Citizen Engagement.
5. Citizens of Geelong Online Portal.
6. Compulsory knowledge acquisition and training for candidates and elected councillors.
7. Education of the community to promote the democratic processes.
8. Maximum size of Victorian municipalities.
9. Candidate and Councillor public information.
10. Election process.
11. To prevent developer financial and in-kind contributions to Council staff, consistent with other states’ legislation.
12. Development of a Junior Council and appointment of a Junior Mayor.
13. Greater administrative and advisory collaboration and support to Mayo, Deputy and Councillors.
Numbers 1,2,3,5,12&13 were supported. Numbers 4,6,7,8,9&10 were supported in principle and Number 11 was not supported.
Much of this information was taken from the “Victorian Government Response to the Geelong Citizens Jury.” The publication is available at www.geelongcitizensjury.vic.gov.au
Thank you.
AG.
