By Ashok Verma
RECOVERY mode has kicked in to get North Central residents’ life back on track after the devastating bushfires.
Mitchell, Strathbogie and Murrindindi Shire Councils are planning to band together to make a joint push to gain adequate government funding for the fire-hit.
Mitchell Shire Council Mayor John Dougall said the three shires, which have been working together at the Seymour Relief Centre, will probably create a three-way advocacy group in a joint push for funds to rebuild the regions’ communities.
The three shires agree that a Longwood advocacy team is needed. The Longwood fire was the biggest and caused the most devastation. A joint advocacy team will be in one voice when knocking on the doors to say “where is this increase in funding to help rebuild our communities”.
Also, the Seymour Relief Centre, which was operated jointly by the three councils, closed yesterday. Mitchell Shire Council is now running a new facility, to be called Seymour Recovery Hub, at Seymour Customer and Library Service Centre, 125 Anzac Avenue, from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. It will deliver more targeted local support for the affected residents. The facility could keep operating for about a year.
It will have council staff and also various government agencies providing help.
Cr Dougall described the $100 million funding fire relief funding announced by the federal and state governments so far as completely inadequate. Victorian regions hit by bushfires will need more.
“I have got no doubt money and resources will be made available. Our interest is in making sure it’s effective.”
Cr Dougall said as damage assessments are still to be carried out, “I can’t be critical that they haven’t announced a bigger number yet as damage assessments are still to be done. But what we do want to hear is that they are open to what is the total cost to repair the damage. And we willl be working with local governments, the authorities and the federal government to make sure we fund the recovery. That’s what I want to hear”.
Mitchell Shire Council will also help the other two shires where residents have copped a much bigger share of the damage, Cr Dougall said.
With Premier Jacinta Allan declaring a State of Disaster for 18 local government areas and one Alpine resort, including Mitchell and Mount Alexander Shires, Mitchell Shire Council is preparing a secondary impact assessment of the fire damage in the region.
Cr Dougall has highlighted the need for using local businesses to carry out infrastructure repairs.
He said he had delivered his message to ministers “you’re going to spend a lot of money on infrastructure repair. We know that. We want you to engage local Seymour contractors or contractors from Euroa to do as much as possible because that’s a form of economic repair for our local businesses. Those local businesses employ our local people. So, we want them to be healthy. The last thing we want is families to be affected by the fire and for their kids to not be able to be employed because all Melbourne companies come in and repair the bridge or put up the light posts … stuff we can do. We want to make sure we’re looking after local people.
“We need locally based services over a protracted period for our affected community.”
Cr Dougall said the council will do a large part of the social recovery alongside other local committees. It will organise various events and help connect people to services, including mental health.
Cr Dougall has high praise for the outstanding community and volunteers’ selfless support for the fire-affected people.
He also praised the big support from Shepparton residents and organisations.
Shepparton Mayor Shane Sully had led a drive to bring semi-trailer loads of goods to the agricultural shed at King’s Park in Seymour, including non-perishable foods and household items. Repco in Seymour offered up two generators.