The overwhelming, complicated & misrepresented world of state politics

Armed with three seasons of ABC’s “Utopia”, social media posts, snippets of news stories and the uninformed opinions of friends and family… it was safe to say that I went into Our Democracy at Work program day, as an expert on all things State Government… how thoroughly and embarrassingly naïve I was.

What struck home for me was our discussion with the Hon Colin Brooks MP, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, and Steph Ryan MP, Deputy Leader of the Nationals. Colin and Steph broke my preconceptions of what a political member was and represented. Colin was a down to earth “sparky” with a passion for his local community. He discussed his journey into politics, the relevance of his job as Speaker and even shared a fun fact about a tradition of when speakers are elected…granted, less forcefully than it was in early times from which this tradition came from. Steph Ryan was grounded,  compassionate, passionate and determined stepping up as a leader to be a voice for regional Victoria. Surprisingly, she never had plans to pursue a career in politics…this was not what I had thought our politicians were. These were regular people! They are like me, my work mates, my friend sand my family. There was a theme emerging!

By the end of the day, I realised that my view of the Victorian state political system had been thoroughly skewed by my environment. These members had shown instances of passion, vulnerability, strength, frustration, sadness and empathy. Most importantly, they were standing up as leaders to be the voice of their community. Maybe it’s easy for us to blame our members when times are tough or when our community isn’t as great as we had hoped it to be… or maybe, it’s time for us to get involved, to use our voice, and if we feel unheard, to do what our local members have done, and take a courageous step forward and represent our community as a state member – a Leader.

I would like to thank Andres Lomp, Community Engagement Manager, and the tour guides at the Parliament of Victoria, Amy Mackintosh, Philip Stoits and Patrick Boribon for their Virtual Tour of both the Legislative Assembly and Council Chambers (Lower and Upper House), Robert McDonald, Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, and Keir Delaney, Assistant Clerk Procedure of the Legislative Council, for the informative session on the workings of the Victorian Parliament, the Honourable Colin Brooks MP, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, MP Steph Ryan, Deputy leader of the Nationals, and Roma Britnell MP, Member for South West Coast, for sharing their journeys and experience in politics. You have all given us an inciteful and engaging representation of the history, traditions, procedures and people that make up our State Government.

Aaron Leddin, 2021 Program Participant

The Education Pathway, but which path?

“Me fail English, that umpossible”. These are the words of the animated character Ralph Wiggum from the TV series The Simpsons. I would often joke, and quote this in high school as I was not, in any way, a good English student. Humor was a way that I was able to redirected people from laughing at me to laughing with me, or so I thought. It’s clear that the “main” path of education is by completing year 12 VCE and going onto university. As soon as your step off that path you’re lost. “I stepped off the path”.

As Michael Absalom from the Jobs and Skills Centre pointed out, why is it if you don’t finish year 12 VCE and want to go to university you’re on an “alternative” path? Why is VCAL, TAFE or a fantastic and supportive school like WAVE school the “alternative”? Am I a lesser person because I did not take the main path? This is what kids like me hear and feel when these types of pathways are talked about as the alternative or lesser option.

We are told time and time again to get a good job we need to finish Year 12 VCE and go to University. We know from both Andrew Hardiman, Jobs, Skills & Pathways Manager – Department of Education and Training and previous speaker Simon Kuestenmacher, a Top 50 Demographer in the world, that those who do complete Year 12 VCE and go on to complete a university degree will have a higher income, but does this necessarily coincide to happiness or work life balance?

The Senior Secondary Schooling Pathway Reform is well underway and working towards ensuring all students have equal access and every opportunity to reach their potential taking the best path for them.

The complexity of the education system and how to navigate it is a difficult conversation, but a conversation we all should be having.

We would like to thank our passionate and informative speakers at the Skilling our Region for the Future program day, Kate Roache – Executive Officer Beyond the Bell, Damien Farley – Principal WAVE school, with former WAVE students Kree Square and Monique English, Michael Absalom – Careers Practitioner – Skills & Job Centre and Andrew Hardiman – Jobs, Skills & Pathways Manager – Department of Education and Training.

Lynden Brown, 2021 Program Participants

New leader for Food Share

LGSC Media Release 24 August 2021

After nine years at the helm of Leadership Great South Coast (LGSC), Amanda Hennessy has this week announced she is taking up a new challenge as Warrnambool and District Food Share’s new Executive Officer.

Ms Hennessy will remain in the LGSC Executive Officer role part-time until the end of 2021, splitting her time between the two organisations.

In 2022, she plans to step up her volunteer involvement with start-up Loved & Shared – a not-for-profit organisation based on the highly successful St Kilda Mums model.

LGSC Board Chair Karen Foster said Amanda had been instrumental in shaping the regional leadership program since its inception nine years ago.

“In her time as our Executive Officer, Amanda has built and shaped the program into a truly life-changing experience for the more than 150 leaders who have thus far graduated from Leadership Great South Coast,” Ms Foster said.

“We are in the strong position we are today in no small part due to her professionalism, her drive and her complete dedication to her work.

“Amanda will be greatly missed, but our Board also appreciates that this is an exciting opportunity for her to continue with her influential community work.”

Ms Hennessy said she was excited to take up the challenge of spearheading the increasingly important work of Food Share across the region.

“I am passionate about supporting our region into the Covid-19 recovery phase and I’m looking forward to doing this in my new role at Food Share.”

Ms Hennessy officially steps into the role on September 1. LGSC is set to embark upon a search for her replacement this month.

What Does the Data say about our future?

Data, Data, Data. How do we see our future? Data is not an opinion it is “fact” and when you start to compile the data it starts to tell a story…Simon Kuestenmacher (Top 50 Demographer in the world) explained.  That was until COVID-19 reared its ugly head and then data changed course.

The data tells us people are now moving away from metropolitan Melbourne since it has become easier to work from home. We have higher earning professionals moving to regional towns bringing their skills and higher incomes with them and increasing the local economy.

The data tells us that our immigration rates dropped from 250,000 a year to -70,000 a year as less immigrants are unable to come to Australia for education or employment, and more are returning to their homelands.

These are just two statistics that are very insightful for regional areas, given their significance impact on both housing and employment.

The data shows renting houses becomes less affordable as the regional population grows. The shift of the professional workforce from metropolitan Melbourne also increases house prices. If you are a lower to middle income worker, buying that house, that “Australian dream” is getting further away. It made me think of my children and grandchildren going into the future. What does it hold if we don’t make significant change now? Simon suggests as a region we need to invest in infrastructure, and we need to do it now. This will go a long way to ensure there are no housing shortages in the future.

Immigration! The agriculture sector relies heavily on immigrants in rural areas for milking, farm hands, and fruit and vegetable picking jobs. In some circumstances we have our natural resources going to waste because we haven’t got the manpower in our country to maintain these areas of work. As a region we need to look at how we train our workforce to fill these labour shortages.

Another positive is with the spread of the country’s population the pandemics become less transmissible because we are creating low density living around our country. This should help Governments start to consider infrastructure more seriously, not only in capital cities but around rural and regional areas as well.

This made me think the Leadership Great Southcoast Program is going to be even more valuable going into the future, to be able to help and support the vulnerable in our region is going to be very significant process heading into the future.

A huge thanks you to the all the presenters on another mind opening program day; Simon Kuestenmacher from The Demographics Group, Brendan Rae from Solaris Farms and Charles McElhone from Dairy Australia. These speakers really gave us an insightful look at the economy and the dairy industry from both sides of the fence.

Craig McLeod LGSC Participant 2021