Networking a feature of Bass Mayor’s trip to Canberra

A TRIP to Canberra in the past week for the Bass Coast Shire Council Mayor Cr Michael Whelan and Deputy Mayor Cr Rochelle Halstead yielded ideas, information, networking, and a meeting with the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

It was the Australian Local Government Association’s National General Assembly at the National Convention Centre, from June Tuesday, June 13 to Thursday, June 15 with many of Australia’s 537 municipalities represented.

“I thought the session with Saul Griffith was one of the best I attended,” said Cr Whelan.

“He spoke about the rollout of renewable energy projects around Australia, including offshore, the need to go hard on electrifying everything, and the importance of communicating with local government and local communities.

“I even got a chance to have a chat with him afterwards and get a selfie with him,” said Cr Whelan.

An Australian educated engineer and renewable energies specialist, Saul Griffith is one of our most successful exports to Silicon Valley where he has set up numerous technology companies after graduating with a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

An advisor to governments and several Fortune 500 companies he was the founder and chief scientist at Rewiring America and has since set up Rewiring Australia, a non-profit, independent organisation dedicated to education, communication and advocacy around the benefits of the mass adoption of electrification by homes and businesses as a way to address climate change, while at the same time generating jobs, economic benefits and cost savings for households and business.

Cr Halstead was interested in sessions about managing change and a breakout session for the peri-urban councils around Australia, those like Bass Coast dealing with the impact from a big neighbouring city.

“One of the best things about coming to an event like this is meeting with the representatives from other councils. We have a lot of things in common, of course, but there are others who have developed innovative responses to common problems for local government,” said Cr Halstead.

But one of the highlights of the week came at the Australian Council of Local Government conference, also in Canberra on Friday, when Crs Whelan and Halstead were among a number of council representatives who met with the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

They also caught up with local MP Russell Broadbent.

All-in-all a successful trip to Canberra, sure to be reported on at this Wednesday’s June council meeting.