Mayor's Message – 4 March 2025

Published on 04 March 2025

Hi everyone,

I hope you’ve all been keeping cool during the warmer weather. The kids and I have been enjoying going for big walks in the evenings when it’s cooled down a bit, with our new dog, Elphie!

It’s been another big month for Council, so let’s get into it!

Launch of Eco Art Truck Project

You may have seen that our local Cleanaway waste collection trucks have had a makeover. Three local artists created artworks on the theme ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ which have been printed on the trucks to raise awareness of sustainable living.

Councillors and Council officers attended the launch of these eye-catching trucks, alongside the artists and truck drivers.

I was lucky enough to get a ride in one of the trucks, thereby ticking another item of my bucket list – and also having quite a lot of fun.

You can read more about the Eco Art Truck Project here.

Council Plan, Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan, Community Vision, and Council Budget 2025/2026

Council currently has some big pieces of work underway. We’re in the process of developing our new Council Plan, which will guide Council’s direction and priorities over the next four years.

Alongside this, we’re also developing our new Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan, and undertaking a mid-term review of the Community Vision, both of which also guide our work.

Councillors and our Executive Team attended our first workshop on these pieces of work – which was fantastic! Community input is essential for these plans so stay tuned for opportunities to contribute.

Our budget process is also well underway. We received an incredible number of submissions from community members and groups – thank you to everyone who took the time to submit something!

Over the next few months, Councillors will craft a draft budget, which will go out for community comment. We must adopt the 2025/2026 Budget by 30 June.

I find the budget process extremely challenging. With finite and dwindling Council resources, Councillors are increasingly forced to make difficult decisions, and to say ‘no’ to initiatives and projects that they’d really like to say ‘yes’ to.

February Meeting of Council

We had our first Meeting of Council for the year, during which we approved three Governance policies relating to Complaints, Data Privacy and Protection, and Gifts.

While policies such as these may not spark debate the same way some other matters do, they’re incredibly important to ensure Council is doing the right thing by community members.

It was also great to hear from other Councillors about what they’ve been up to – attending committee meetings and community events, and meeting with local residents.

The Mongoose

There was a real buzz in Castlemaine a couple of weeks ago during the filming of The Mongoose. It was exciting to see car chases and stunts right in the heart of town – and get some insight into how a movie is made!

Thank you to everyone for your patience and understanding during the four days of shooting. I know there was some inconvenience to residents and businesses, but I hope this was largely well-managed, and that most people had a positive experience overall.

Leadership ceremonies at local primary schools

Something that brings me a lot of joy in the Mayoral role is attending leadership ceremonies at some of the local primary schools.

In the last month, I was delighted to attend Chewton Primary School and Castlemaine North Primary School, to share my thoughts on leadership with students, and to help present leadership badges to the new School and House Captains, and other student leaders.

Castlemaine Careers Fair

Escaping the chaos outside, it was a pleasure to attend the Castlemaine Careers Fair, held in the Town Hall on 19 February.

It was lovely to visit all the stalls at the expo and to have some wonderful chats with stall holders and attendees, alike.

I particularly enjoyed the hands-on experiences offered by Bendigo TAFE – concreting, tiling and other trade skills. Perhaps when my local government journey has come to an end, a trade awaits me…

Active Transport grant

Recently, Council was lucky enough to receive a $3 million grant from the Federal Government to design and construct a shared cycling and walking path between Ireland Street in Mckenzie Hill and Parker Street in Castlemaine.

This is huge news!

Small Councils like ours struggle to fund new builds like these due to the sizeable cost involved. And often the co-contribution requirements for available State and Federal Government grants make them inaccessible to us as well.

Receiving this funding is a great first step in improving linkages between and within our towns, and making walking and cycling safer in the shire.

Of course, we understand that there is still much more work to do in the active transport space, and we’ll continue to seek opportunities to fund other important projects.

There’s been a couple of other exciting announcements, too.

In early February, the bid for the Victorian Goldfields to attain UNESCO World Heritage status progressed to its next step – a huge milestone after 35 years of advocacy.

1 Dismissed Announcement

Our Shire, Our Future 2025-2029

Mayor's Message – 4 March 2025