Disaster resilience for Venus Bay

THIS year’s graduates of the Committee for Gippsland (C4G)’s Gippsland Community Leadership Program (GCLP) recently celebrated their completion of the program, marking another successful year of C4G developing strong community leaders across the region and delivering impactful community projects through their syndicates.

Syndicate 1 “Disaster Stars” designed and delivered a community-led disaster resilience project for Venus Bay. The group consisted of local participants Austin Cram (Bass Coast Shire Council), Sarah Davies (Country Fire Authority), Ben Lehmann (South Gippsland Shire Council), Joanna O’Reilly Stubbs (Parliament of Victoria) and Andrea Phillips (South Gippsland Shire Council).

After identifying the specific risks Venus Bay faces, including power outages and the absence of water mains, the syndicate focused on creating 1,500 custom A6 emergency information magnets for households in collaboration with the Venus Bay Community Centre, South Gippsland Shire Council, Bass Coast Shire Council, the Country Fire Authority and Ausnet.

Each magnet includes key messaging of no power = no water, local emergency phone numbers, radio frequencies and a quick response code to the Ausnet online power outage tracker. The syndicate considered colour blindness and language barriers in their design to ensure the magnets are accessible to the whole community. The syndicate also secured a South Gippsland Shire Council $1,000 community grant to support the production of the 1,500 magnets.

Community members can collect an emergency magnet from multiple Venus Bay locations, including the Venus Bay Community Centre and local businesses.

Further information on emergency planning across South Gippsland is available at www.southgippsland.vic.gov.au

Applications for the 2026 Gippsland Community Leadership Program are now open, and scholarship options are available. For more information and to apply, visit www.committeeforgippsland.com.au