On the 19th and 25th of May I had the pleasure of presenting certificates to the students who participated in Council’s drawing competition for the Community Wellbeing Plan. The competition provided school students with the opportunity to discuss what they liked about Maroondah and to gain input from these students for the Community Welleing Plan.

Maroondah’s Community Wellbeing Plan is a comprehensive document that will identify strategies to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of our municipality. It is great to provide creative ways of encouraging all members of our community, including schoolchildren to comment on the plan.

On the 27th of May I had the privilege of launching Maroondah’s Indigenous Policy and officiating the Maroondah Reconciliation Week festivities. The event was attended by students from a number of Maroondah based schools, as well as members of our community. The event included a series of workshops, as well as an Indigenous Elder retelling Dreamtime Stories and the One Fire Aboriginal Dance Troupe who recreated traditional Indigenous dances. It is great to see the continued strong interest that our community has towards Reconciliation.

On the 12th of June I attended a business planning workshop for North Ringwood Community House. The house is in the process of updating its three year business plan to ensure that it has a sustainable economic, social and environmental future. The House is delighted by the success of its application for feasibility study funding, with both the State Government and Maroondah Council announcing a financial contribution towards the study.

The discussion during the workshop understandably included the need for a new premises and location and this successful application, with $25,000 from the State Government and $5000 from Maroondah, means that this this vision is one step closer to reality.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the many council officers who assisted the House in preparing the application and also for their ongoing assistance, as the study scope is defined and the work commences.

On the 13th of June I attended a Soccer and Volleyball Tournament organised by the Migrant Information Centre for the Burmese and Sudanese Communities. Maroondah has one of the highest Burmese populations within Metropolitan Melbourne and it was great to see events being held to support our migrant communities.

The Rotary Club of Ringwood assisted the Migrant Information Centre through holding a barbecue and serving food and refreshments and the participants certainly appreciated the hospitality. When my grandparents migrated to Australia from Poland in 1958 there was little support in learning about Australia and the English language. It is wonderful to see that there are now community organisations that can assist migrants in settling into their new lives in Australia.