President’s Report AGM

8 September 2024

Apollo Bay Community Hall: Senior Citizens

The past year has been a busy one and has seen many changes. Changes to the committee since the election at last year’s AGM, in that four of our committee members have stepped down for individual life reasons. Seamus Fillmore didn’t have the time to commit alongside his work and other community projects. Similarly, Mick Wright’s new role as President of the Football and Netball Club along with a full-time teaching position prevented him from continuing. Sally Cannon’s busy work and family life, well-known to the whole community, understandably left her insufficient time to continue in her role as Vice President. Steph Goodlet moving to Queensland with her family, made it difficult for her to stay on the committee but she still contributed by phone to our discussions, and we wish her and her family well. And, finally, Bill Hurley Fraser has just decided to take a year’s break from the committee to focus on his work and his new home. Thank you to Seamus, Mick, Sally, Steph and Bill for their contributions. Tony Webber joined the committee recently and has been a welcome addition to the group. Tony is well-known for his involvement with the Otway Forum, Community Radio, Landcare and the Agricultural Show. Tony is a regular attendee at the monthly council meetings and has been for many years.

At the last AGM, portfolios were discussed and over the year were allocated to committee members and advertised accordingly. These portfolios will be revisited by the new committee for the coming year. Our membership has grown over the year now boasting over 330 members with a further 100 followers on our mailing list. We have developed ways to ensure that we communicate on different platforms. Within the committee, we use WhatsApp for quick response items. Thanks to Mikhala McCann, we have a website abcvoice.com.au on which Beth and Bill post reports and news items regularly.

Along with a facebook page, we also post regular reports in the Apollo Bay Newssheet and directly to members by email. We subscribe to the Colac Herald online to ensure that we stay informed about the region. In addition, as President, I have been a guest speaker at the Chamber of Commerce AGM, the Skenes Creek Advancement Association AGM and attended various community discussions with the Colac Climate Action Team and with the newly formed Kennett River Community Action Group.

Recently we reached out to our members to develop a register of the many skills that are in our midst and upon which we can call when the time or issue arises. We thank those that have responded and look forward to working together. The committee has represented our community in many ways. We meet with the Colac Otway Shire Mayor and CEO three times per year, and we meet with GORCAPA managers every second month. These community engagement meetings have proved to be most beneficial in relationship building and reinforcing honest mutual communication.

Following an invitation from Council, our secretary, Graham, represented our community at the South West Victoria Alliance launch of its vision for the region at Parliament House late last year. The Alliance includes the shires of Colac-Otway, Corangamite, Glenelg, Moyne, Southern Grampians and the City of Warrnambool. We joined the Great Ocean Road Communities Network (GORCN) and attend their regular meetings, acknowledging the benefit to be gained from working with groups from Torquay all the way to Port Campbell who share similar community and environmental issues. GORCN was formed in 2020 and now has a membership of 18 community groups from along the Great Ocean Road. Their AGM will be held in Apollo Bay early next month. Southern Otways Sustainable (SOS) approached us to work together on the interruption to Power supply for Apollo Bay and Graham Hill joined SOS representatives at a Powercor workshop via zoom, re: Resilience of Supply. Stressing the importance of the connectivity of the two independent feeders into AB. He is looking forward to making a further contribution to a Powercor, Citipower and United Energy Strategy meeting later this month.

Also, along with SOS, we look forward to hosting a Forum for Prospective Candidates for the forthcoming Council election on Sunday 6 October.

The committee is regularly contacted by media from the ABC to the Colac Herald to seek local views on current issues. We are proud to have successfully built important relationships with key bodies in the region and have earned respect as an organisation that is representative of the Apollo Bay community.

Our greatest achievement in the last year and one that has taken a great deal of time and effort is — Council gifting 69 McLachlan Street back to the community. At the last AGM, we discussed trying to halt the sale of the property and to lobby Council to consider much needed housing or other community uses for the site. After much lobbying, a 900 signature petition, a community protest, numerous meetings with stakeholders, the community and council, the formation of a charitable Trust, meetings with GORH, submissions to Council, last December the Council decided against selling the property and instead to gift it to the community. This is an unprecedented win for the community and provides an exciting opportunity for our future. In brief, the owner of the property as of settlement in the next week, will be the Apollo Bay Community Charitable Trust whose role it is to protect the property from being sold and to ensure its use for the community. Furthermore, GORH will manage the use of the site via a management contract yet to be ratified.

Finally, the two issues that were stressed at the last AGM, as pressing for our community and for its sustainability, namely Childcare and Affordable housing, remain of paramount importance as they do for so many regional communities. ABCV continues to lobby for both issues at every available opportunity and led by Fran, we are currently working with other bodies in the community to investigate much needed after-school care and school holiday programs for primary age children. I would like to sincerely thank the committee who have been a pleasure to work with and in particular, Graham Hill, with whom I have worked more closely over the past year and whose motto we have aimed to abide by: to consult, collaborate, confirm and communicate with courtesy! Thank you all for your support as our members and for attending today.

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