East Gippsland Shire offers the ultimate escape. It spans Country of three Indigenous nations – Bidawell, Gunnaikurnai and Monero – and while it might only be three hours from Melbourne, it’s a world away from city living.
You can discover all kinds of wonder here: think open roads, uncrowded beaches and vast lakes, rolling green hills, native forests, rugged High Country and some of the nation’s most appealing towns.
About 75 per cent of the shire’s 21,000 square kilometres, is public land. We view our mountains, sea, rivers, lakes as precious natural resources – they’re our industries, our weekend escapes, and the backdrop to our daily life. The Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation jointly manages 10 parks and reserves on their Country.
Our region is home to around 48,500 people and 4450 businesses – and, as you might expect, around a quarter of those businesses are engaged in agriculture, horticulture, forestry or fishing. We also have a strong tourism sector – hospitality and accommodation employ over 8 per cent of our working population.
It’s this mix that makes our shire so desirable. It woos tree and sea-changers and ensures that tourists book another visit the minute they return home.
An educating man
I’m the principal of The Alpine School. Created 1998, it now boasts four campuses – the Snowy River campus being closest to Marlo, the town I call home.
Each campus is set in an iconic location and offers a residential education experience for Year Nine students.
It’s a life-changing experience; a chance to explore and learn about the local environment and cultures – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.
Students come away with a better sense of self and place, and a deeper understanding of what it means to be a community leader.
And that learning goes both ways – I learn from the students and their endeavours and gain an understanding of the issues of importance to successive generations.
Time out to enjoy nature
My wife, Alice, and I live in Marlo, close to where Snowy River meets the sea, so we enjoy paddling out for a surf when we can. I also love to explore the open roads on my bright red Moto Guzzi motorbike – a relaxed cruise offers fantastic thinking time.
I’m also an active member of my local CFA – the Marlo brigade.
A morning run starts my day.
Victoria’s second largest LGA
East Gippsland Shire is remote and large – the second-largest local government area in Victoria – and that spreads demand and limits economies of scale for service delivery, creating resourcing challenges.
But our Council has turned that challenge into a strength by forming strategic partnerships with businesses and communities to pool resources and develop creative solutions.
I’ve also long been an advocate for support from both state and federal governments to help us recover from drought and bushfire, and – more importantly – to embrace our vision of the future.
That vision includes playing our role in tackling climate change through our award-winning Bright Futures East Gippsland program; growing our visitor economy, preparing for future natural disasters, and improving the services we offer to our more vulnerable residents and remote communities.
Bike trails and budget
The Omeo Mountain Bike Trails project, 121.58 kilometres of bike trail, starting and finishing in the town, benefits the entire East Gippsland community with the economic and tourism opportunities it will bring and turns Omeo into a year-round adventure tourism destination.
The 2021/22 budget saw us deliver a capital works program of $88.7 million – the largest ever proposed by Council and supported by $44.2 million of state and federal government grants.
This ensures Council is appropriately resourced to drive the economy, support bushfire and pandemic recovery, and provide the region with critical infrastructure and services.
In recent years, we’ve pioneered cutting-edge technology called phytocapping to turn former landfill sites into public space by strategically planting native trees that act as a giant natural water pump.
We’ve also innovated to tackle the substantial increase in planning applications that resulted from the 2019-20 bushfires by teaming up with Brimbank City Council. We won a Planning Institute of Australia award for improving and speeding up the planning processes, and both Councils benefitted.
A strong vision for the future
For me it’s about being there for your community and ensuring that Council provides effective and affordable services.
I have a strong and positive vision for this region, but everyone has a role to play in making East Gippsland a better place to live, so I ensure I’m approachable and listen to locals’ needs. We’re stronger if we move forward together to achieve a shared vision.
I’m optimistic about the great things happening in East Gippsland!
