Tuesday, 20 August, 2024
Pedestrian tragically killed in Lilydale
First aid confidence low
Vietnam Veterans out in droves for memorial
See Real Estate liftout inside
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A Star News Group Publication
PR OP ER T Y
Phone: 5957 3700 Trades and Classifieds: 1300 666 808
Cafe with a cause opens Lilydale’s newest cafe and bar has opened its doors to customers after years of fundraising and developing the idea. The CriBB Cafe and Wine Bar, an initiative of charity organisation Bridge Builders, was a vision that has been brought to life to support the development of young people. The enterprise will fund the work of the charity which gives young people a safe environment to express themselves, find help during challenging times and encourages growth through training. Bridge Builders directors expressed their overwhelm at the community support in a just a few weeks since opening. To read more, turn to page 10
The CriBB Cafe and Wine Bar is officially open in Lilydale. Cafe 2IC Charli, Bar Manager Jake and Cafe Manager Kelly. (Stewart Chambers: 425509)
Fund SES: inquiry By Mikayla van Loon Findings from an extensive inquiry into the flood event of 2022 has confirmed the need for sustainable funding of the state’s emergency response service. This along with the uncovering of messy procedures, failures in emergency warnings and poor handling of claims post event helped establish the 73 findings and 90 recommendations made by the parliamentary committee. The October 2022 flood event impacted 63 municipalities, representing 81 per cent of all local government areas in Victoria. While much of the intense flooding occurred in Shepparton, Echuca and Rochester, the outer
east was heavily burdened by the flash flooding, seeing excessive water in Lilydale, Yarra Junction, Yarra Glen and across the Hills, with close to 75mm of rain falling in around an hour and a half. The inquiry, made up of a cross-section of parliamentarians, handed down its final report at the end of July. And despite October 2022 being the wettest month ever in Victoria since records began in 1900, inquiry chair and Labor MP Ryan Batchelor said man made solutions actually went a long way in causing more problems. “Not all the damage done in the October 2022 flood event was caused by nature alone,” he said. “The impact of the volume of rain that fell was
exacerbated by decisions made, often years prior, on the shape of the built environment, new physical infrastructure, and by our planning system.” But for local SES units, the final report came as a sigh of relief, backing up their calls as part of the Fund VICSES campaign. “It was good to see those recommendations reflect what we’ve been saying for a long time, which is that SES in Victoria has been grossly underfunded for decades, and we’ve been essentially over performing, if you like, compared to the level of financial input we’ve had from government,” Lilydale SES unit controller Shaun Caulfield said. “So it’s fairly reassuring to see that recognised, that there’s both a gap in the funding for equip-
ment, also the funding for training volunteers, but also in terms of being able to attract and retain new volunteers, as we need to over the course of time.” In total, 25 findings related to the resourcing and response of Victoria’s SES, the lead flood response agency, with nine recommendations suggested by the committee. A key finding stated the SES “lacks the appropriate resources to prepare and respond effectively to major emergencies such as flood events”. The report highlighted, however, that during October 62.5 per cent of SES volunteers from 98 per cent of the state’s units responded in some capacity. Continued page 4
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