A message from Councillor Jade Benham
Bye, for now
DURING last week’s council meeting, I requested and had approved, a leave of absence.
Word has spread that I will be running for the National Party in the seat of Mildura at the state election in November. I am doing this because I want a fairer go for regional Victorians – so rather than sit back and grizzle, I am putting up my hand, to be a voice for you all.
I was committed to continuing to represent our region, as your mayor, for as long as I could. But, it has now become clear to me, that the time to separate these interests, is now.
It is bye from me, for now.
A message from the acting Mayor Bill Moar
New acting mayor appointed
I AM honoured to step in as acting mayor during Cr Benham’s leave of absence.
Since being elected as mayor in November 2021, Cr Benham has had a tremendous impact on our municipality, so the shoes might be big, but I am excited to be putting the mayoral hat back on.
Together with council, I look forward to moving ahead with the many projects in the pipeline for our municipality, while ensuring Council’s core business of providing services and facilities to our community continues.
Milestone achievement
I WAD delighted to recently meet with DrumMUSTER’s regional consultant John Knight.
He presented me with a milestone achievement award in recognition of our municipality’s efforts in collecting 600,000 drums since 1999.
Congratulations to our community – we have saved 647 tonnes of drums from going into landfill.
For local farmers looking for other ways to reduce our footprint, don’t forget that council is participating in an Ag plastic recycling trial.
Farmers can easily dispose of their agricultural plastics at the Swan Hill Landfill and it will be diverted for recycling.
Foot and Mouth Disease
AS a farmer myself, I am becoming more concerned about the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Indonesia.
FMD is one of the most serious livestock diseases in the world and affects cloven-hoofed animals like cattle, sheep, and pigs.
We cannot overstate the impact if it got into Australia, an outbreak of FMD could devastate our livestock industries, affect the economy and threaten jobs.
I would like to take the opportunity to remind local residents travelling abroad to be mindful and travel safely – to protect our community and our livestock industry.
Go North Arts Festival
COUNCIL has partnered with Creative Victoria to bring The Go North Arts Festival to the banks of our mighty Murray River this September.
The event will be headlined by popular musician Clare Bowditch and it will be run from September 2 through to September 4.
There will be something for everyone, including the announcement of the Print and Drawing awards, art workshops and the main event a concert at Riverside Park on September 3.
It is so exciting for our municipality and it will hopefully encourage people to the Swan Hill region and to immerse them back into our local arts and entertainment culture.
For more information, visit gonorthartsfestival.com/, call the Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery on 5036 2430 or visit the Go North Festival Instagram page.
