Well, harvest has arrived which means late nights, long hours, and a lot of heavy vehicles on our roads. Please be vigilant on our roads and allow our farmers plenty of access to manoeuvre their equipment between their paddocks and to our grain centres.

We are entering our 16 days of activism campaign, which is an initiative to highlight the unacceptable practice of violence against women within our society. Recent figures show Iceland as being the “leader“ or safest place for women, with New Zealand also being highly placed. Sadly, Australia is way down in the mid 30’s and we need to improve our standing in this regard.

Hindmarsh will host a panel discussion on Tuesday 28 November which will be streamed through Council’s Facebook page.

Our four (4) pools are now open and hopefully our communities will support them through visitation over summer. We need to ensure they remain as a vital community asset in all of our towns and usage is an important factor.

Schools will now be conducting exams and I look forward to attending the awards nights throughout our towns to watch the various grades, acts, in our P-12 and secondary schools, and to help with the various presentations of achievements throughout the year. I will also be presenting the Hindmarsh Shire Rae Keam awards.

Nhill was recently cited as being one of the most affordable rental towns in Victoria. I was offered to write a piece in one of our local papers and got on the front foot and sold our whole shire as being affordable in the rental and owner occupier space, highlighting our features and lifestyle.

I would like to take a moment to thank all of our local papers (which we are spoilt for choice) on the outstanding job they do to bring our communities information throughout the year and also the support they give to community groups etc. I find them to be accurate and fair and give our communities the right to free speech.

The weather is warming up now, so please keep an eye out for your neighbours and elderly citizens. A quick check in doesn’t hurt and can make someone’s day.

HAPPY HARVEST!

Cr Brett Ireland
Mayor, Hindmarsh Shire Council