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Wednesday 17 August 2022
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Countdown to learning EACH school day this year, foundation students at Eastbourne Primary School, Rosebud have been counting the days and last Tuesday saw them celebrate their first 100 days of school. To mark the occasion students brought in collections of 100 things, including buttons, pieces of Lego, shells and gumnuts. The day was also filled with students learning and playing games from 100 years ago along with making 100-bead necklaces. “The students have been counting down to this day all year and, although the day was spent mostly celebrating, there was also time for them to reflect on their achievements and growth over the past 100 days,” foundation teacher Shae Haney said “The children took pride in looking through their workbooks and seeing how much progress they have made. Many commented on the fact that they never used to be able to write a sentence and now they can read, write and spell words. “Seeing the children grin from ear to ear when they realised how much they have grown in their learning was priceless.”
Dressed for the part: Hannah, Tadgh, Banjo, Malia, Ella in costume to celebrate their first 100 days at Eastbourne Primary School, above; Mia, top right; and Frankie.
‘Assurance’ sought over in-home care Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au LESS than two months after seeing its in-home care responsibilities for more than 3500 people taken over by two private companies, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council wants the federal government to “give assurances” that the new system is working The move to outsource the services was made by the previous Liberal National Party government, but the changeover was made six weeks after the election of the Labor federal government.
Since the shire handed over its responsibilities, the two companies signed up for the peninsula have admitted staff shortages have left some clients without help. Last week councillors voted to seek “assurances” from the federal government that “residents transitioned to the new providers are not left without vital services and associated care during the changeover period and into the future”. The move followed widespread complaints about promised in-home care being delayed or not eventuating. Public health researcher Dr Sarah Russell believes there could be
grounds for a class action against the shire because “it should have continued to provide care until it was assured older residents' needs were met. Instead, some older people have been left without services for six weeks”. "In the interests of transparency and accountability, the council staff's recent report on aged care services must be made public,” Russell said. When unanimously adopting the move to seek assurances from the federal government at their meeting on Tuesday 9 August, councillors effusively praised shire staff for their work leading up to the transition.
Cr Steve Holland was “really disappointed” by the public response to the changeover. “A lot of it is drummed up by activists that clearly have an axe to grind. Why they direct their anger towards the shire, I really don’t know.” Holland said the shire had “done as best we could” to manage the transfer “which was always going to happen”. The council now needed to ensure residents received “the level of care that meets community expectations”. “It’s about ensuring there is a review into why the federal government has utterly bungled this transfer,” Holland said. He said the new providers had
been chosen by the federal government “we didn’t get a say in that”. “We sought and were given assurances by the providers and government that all essential services would continue to be delivered by 1 July. Obviously, that hasn’t happened for a myriad reasons; probably because the federal government and bureaucracy at federal level was not prepared to handle the transition.” Holland said an offer by council to retain some staff “was rejected”. About 100 shire employees were made redundant as as a result of the change. Continued Page 8
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