The Rip by Cr Jim Mason, Bellarine Ward – 25 May 2020

Support for the community

A big thanks to everyone who took the time to read through the Draft 2020-21 Budget and give their feedback, before consultation closed!

In case you didn’t have the chance to browse through the projects and initiatives proposed for the Point Lonsdale area, I’ll take you through a handful.

Council’s set aside $610,000 for a second year of funding for the Bellarine Enhanced Broadband Installation project, which is a partnership between the City, Deakin University and AARNET.

We’re proposing to install and run high capacity optical fibre from South Geelong Train Station along the Bellarine Rail Trail corridor to Queenscliff. For those of us who don’t fully understand that technology lingo, it just means the project will bring faster internet to the region – which is always welcome!

As chair of the Rural and Coastal portfolio, the $160,000 set aside for the development of a Southeast Bellarine Coastal Reserve Strategy is right in my wheelhouse.

The funding will go towards getting together a panel of experts to investigate combining the Buckley Park Coastal Reserve, which stretches between Point Lonsdale and Ocean Grove, and the Lake Victoria wetlands. Doing this could result in a better protected wildlife park.

As you can see, these proposed allocations cover vastly different fields. The focus has been on delivering connectivity of shared paths and other facilities and initiatives that the community has been asking for in an equitable and accessible manner.

Isolation busters

While it’s great to see state coronarvirus restrictions have eased slightly, we must continue to follow the guidelines that keep us safe.

As we know, the pandemic has upended everything and that often means our healthy routines are out of whack.

While you’re keeping warm at home as much as possible, I suggest you take a look at the City’s website called ‘Healthy at Home’.

It’s an online toolkit full of fact-checked information and practical tips to live a healthy lifestyle, including meal planners, shopping lists, meditation exercises, workouts and information about respectful relationships.

‘Healthy at Home’ can be found here: www.geelongaustralia.com.au/healthyathome