Help guide our community’s direction

Firstly, I would like to thank the people of South Gippsland for electing such a well-balanced team of councillors and thank you for the trust you have put in us.

Now I have a request for all of our community – especially the busy ones who wouldn’t usually participate in a community survey.

Just like many of you, I have a busy life but have still found the time to represent you.

I understand you have fences to fix, sheep to shear, calves to mark, cows to milk, cows to AI, paddocks to cut rake and bale, weeds to spray and a full schedule visiting and celebrating with family – now we can freely gather again.

But seriously, I now need you to urgently step up and devote some time to our future direction as a community.

Council is currently running a ‘Community Vision 2040’ project to guide our shire plan towards 2040. This has been many months in planning and it’s now engaging the public.

Data from pop-up conversation stalls, online surveys and a community panel will be used by consultants to recommend how council plans for your future.

Engagement by all residents is not compulsory and their lies my very deep concern.

To get a correct and true picture of what the community actually wants, we need a good balanced input from our whole community, not just the same old noisy and agenda-driven types with plenty of free time to participate and share their views.

Therefore, I encourage all of South Gippsland to participate in this project.

Questions? Feel free to contact me via email at cr.scott.rae@southgippsland.vic.gov.au.

Scott Rae, South Gippsland Shire Councillor, Foster North.