NEXT year’s Australia Day event in Swan Hill will be run by the Swan Hill Rural City Council for the first time.
The organising committee, which is made up of volunteers, has been dissolved after council cut funding and rejected its proposal for a return to the traditional breakfast at Riverside Park.
After a successful 40th anniversary celebration in 2020, no breakfasts were held in 2021 and 2022 because of COVID-19.
Swan Hill Australia Day Committee co-ordinator Marie Schlemme OAM, who has been involved since the first event in 1981, said she was disappointed council budget and policy changes had brought an end to it.
Ms Schlemme said committee members were enthusiastic about a return to the traditional breakfast at Riverside Park in 2023 and intended to appoint a new coordinator.
But council staff rejected the format and told them the 2022-23 budget for Australia Day activities had been cut from $30,000 to $20,000, with $15,000 earmarked for the Swan Hill event.
“Committee members were requested to take this grant offer back to their respective organisations, keeping in mind this grant money was insufficient to meet the operational costs of running the traditional breakfast,” she said.
“The final meeting between council officers and the Australia Day Breakfast Committee was held in August at which representatives of the only three incorporated organisations who qualified, reported they were not prepared to apply for the $15,000 grant to auspice an unspecified event which had not been determined by Council.”
Ms Schlemme said this gave them no choice but to dissolve the committee.
“I would like to extend my personal thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who, with the support of Council, provided 40 wonderful Australia Day breakfasts – initially in Campbell Street then in Riverside Park – in the form of an outdoor restaurant open to all who wished to attend,” she said.
“The breakfasts also offered the community the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of Citizens of the Year, Young Citizens, many of our district school students, and special events.”
Ms Schlemme also thanked the community for embracing the event by attending in large numbers each year.
“We all have a lot of great memories,” she said.
Acting Mayor Bill Moar said council would step in for 2023 as part of a transition to a new community run event.
“It’s been a fairly lengthy process to get to where we are,” he said.
“And we’ve tried all avenues to keep the current group together and keep running it, but apparently, that’s just not possible.”
The work of the Australia Day Committee members was acknowledged at council’s September general meeting and councillors voted to host a Mayoral Reception to “thank them for their years of dedicated service to the community”.
Expressions of interest will be sought from organisations willing to partner with council to stage the 2023 event, based on a yet to be determined format.
