Cr Jude Dwight - Mayor, Knox City Council

Amazing to be able to support RDA Knox this morning as they appeared on TODAY.

What a fabulous way to start the day, has warmed my heart tremendously with the warmth and care this incredible club give.

RDA Knox has been built pretty much from scratch over the past 5yrs with volunteers wanting to offer equestrian opportunities for people with different abilities.

And they can't do it alone. Support from Lion's Club (the valuable hoist pictured below!), Bendigo Bank FTG, Bunnings, Kennards, RDAV and others - they're really bringing together community spirit.

Knox City Council is proud to provide support through funding to assist with accessibility, solar lighting to reduce costs and improved health and safety measures.

Piper, what a pleasure to meet you. And a privilege to see you shine!

One of our club members is missing.

Update (from Eastern Raptors at 6am: still no contact from Keeli. Please continue to share and if anything changes will update. Thankyou

FOUND SHE HAS BEEN LOCATED
THANKYOU
We cannot thank the local and wider community enough for all your help. To everyone who shared our post to those who have searched the area. Unfortunately we cannot provide any further information but police have located her and her family have been informed she is safe. We will leave this post up for a few more hours so those who were concerned can see she has been located. Thankyou once again what an amazing community we have around us.

Sports and leisure clubs, as I'm sure you've noticed we've had a larger amount of rainfall than usual over the last week and Council is advising clubs to avoid using grounds to train.

Some areas of sportfields showing signs of wear and damage have been cordoned off to prevent the grounds from becoming unplayable in the future.

Our Parks Team is trying to get out to our reserves over the next week to reduce the amount of water on the grounds and dry them out where possible.

✅ If clubs could please communicate this with your coaches, team managers and members ASAP so everyone's working towards the same goal, that would be great.
✅ For games, clubs can move roped-off areas, but we kindly ask that you promptly reallocate them and avoid those roped-off areas immediately after the completion of games.

Thanks so much for your assistance in helping to keep our reserves playable with this mad mid-winter weather.

And if this is your child you're probably wondering why he can't just stand at the edge like everybody else, huh?! (PS. Don't worry, it's not your child - the pic's from WA , where it's warmer clearly😆)

🌱🌳 business planting event! 🌳🌱

I'm so proud of all the Knox businesses willing and able to get out of the workplace to help grow that web of trees, shrubs and grasses surrounding us, enhance the soil beneath our feet, water in its various states, the air… the countless interactions of what is biodiversity - "the variety or fullness of life"

And how this multiplies with EVERY single additional life form!
🙏🙏

The right name is so important, especially when the previously one was the 'Forest Road Drain' 🤦‍♀️

So, hillsfolk (and to the whole planet given the international interest in this patch!) I am very proud to present... 'Wayut Creek'

Wayut ("wah-yoot") means Stringybark in our local Wurundjeri tongue. It is such an important species to this area, needing cooler, wetter climates and healthy supportive environments.

A huge shout out to the Friends of Koolunga Native Reserve for their long-term work with Melbourne Water and the Wurundjeri Land Council to achieve this outcome, and to those who got involved in submissions too 🙏

Melbourne Water renames and restores historic waterway in Ferntree Gully | Melbourne Water Melbourne Water and the Friends of Koolunga Native Reserve have worked with local Wurundjeri elders to give a new name and a fresh start to a historic waterway in Ferntree Gully.

Thanks to ABC Melbourne, invasive weeds at Bunnings are back on the radar!

Alongside Gazania, Ivy makes the list. Both of these invasive plants are not declared weeds under the Catchment & Land Protection Act because they don't have a big enough cost impact on Agriculture - which is what currently defines the list.

Invasive Species Council advocacy director, Jack Gough says "It is an insult to all the landcare groups and bushcare groups and the work of local government to still have some of these species sold."

Great to read the Federal department met with state ministers to discuss the plan. Now let's see some results!

If link below doesn't work, see link in comments

KES Knox Environment Society
Greening Knox
Friends of Koolunga Native Reserve
First Friends of Dandenong Creek
Friends of Blind Creek Billabong
Friends of Old Joes Creek
Friends of Glenfern Valley Bushlands
FROGY
Friends of Lake Knox Sanctuary
Friends of Sassafras Creek Inc
Friends of Merri Creek

Retail giant Bunnings under fire for stocking invasive weeds that threaten Australian ecosystems Major Australian nurseries, including retail giant Bunnings, are selling plants listed by governments and their own industry body as invasive weeds.

Celebrating our public art💙

A timely little reminder to not believe everything you read, especially when the posts come through FB anonymously.

It's an election year. 'Community voices' are likely to post about things that are contentious and paint current Councillors in a bad light, and that's ok - it's part of democracy. The important bit is that we either check what we're being told or don't buy in too readily.

Despite being "all there on the livestream", I'm the first to admit Council meetings can be difficult to decipher! Councillors are elected to make informed decisions with the info available to us at the time. It can take months, even years to be across issues but a council meeting allows us only a few minutes to explain these complex matters to the public.

For the record, ALL of Bambury St and ALL of Elsie St have finally been excised from the Boronia Activity centre. Council voted in favour of Neighbourhood Residential Zone 1 (NRZ1) for these two streets and not General Residential Zone 3 or 4 as would befit the activity centre. Residents have been consulted, multiple times, and I'm very pleased that a decision one way or the other has been made. Certainty was well-overdue.

Further, to the 10 storey height limits also discussed - these are 'MANDATORY' height limits, unlike many other activity centres in Melbourne metro which have 'discretionary' height limits, and further limited by other design overlays. To be clear, what's depicted below is not possible. It's taken me ages to wrap my head around this so if you'd like to discuss it further feel free to contact me or come along to a 'Meet your Councillor' session at Millers 🙂

Ferntree Gully Community Voice
Boronia & The Basin Community News

Great afternoon to cast a line in, sit, hang with some old mates...
FTG's beautiful quarry reserve is well stocked with Aussie Bass, and a whole lot of atmosphere on a winter's day.

The City of Knox is privileged to be part of Greater South East Melbourne or GSEM, working with other council areas in Melbourne's southeast - from Knox to Mornington Peninsula and out to Cardinia, covering almost one-third of Melbourne's population!

Gross Regional Product of $85 billion makes GSEM one of Australia's largest manufacturing regions. 35% of Greater Melbourne's manufacturing jobs are located in this region.

But it's a time when the economy and labour market are rapidly changing. Which is why it's so important we plan for the Jobs & Skills future of GSEM. And why I was pleased to be part of a very successful launch in Canberra last week of GSEM's Jobs & Skills Roadmap.

The roadmap seeks to improve equity, inclusive growth and reduce disadvantage in our VET sector and better analysis of “the mega trends in the national and local economies in order to invest in education and training in areas of growing demand".

Thank you to the MANY passionate and committed MPs who attended and all the Mayors of the Greater Southeast (see attached media release in comments for details).

An amazing opportunity to build on the intial work of GSEM's Jobs and Skills Summit held in May, raising the profile of our strong, non-competitive collaboration across this great region.

Left to right: Mayor Simon Brooks (Morn Pen), Mayor of Knox, Moi; Hon Catherine King MP - Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development & Local Government; Hon Brendan O'Conner MP - Minister for Skills & Training; Mayor Nicky Luo (Monash); Mayor Lana Formosa (Greater Dandenong); Mayor Jenna Davey-Burns (Kingston); Mayor Jack Kowarzic (Cardinia); Mayor Nathan Conroy (Frankston)

Congratulations Lynne, a very worthy recipient of the Woman in Sport Leadership award at Knox City Council's Sport & Leisure Awards ceremony last night!

Pictured here with another phenominal leader in sport, Melissa Barbieri
Making Eastern Raptors Rugby League Club and Chandler Ward proud!

A massive congratulations to our club secretary Lynne on receiving the Knox City Council Women In Sports Leadership award at the Knox Sports and Leisure Awards last night.

Lynne is a vital part of our club and a strong voice for female participation. She is a very worthy winner in our eyes and a huge asset to our club.

You may recall previous posts in which I shared with you a number of the proposed changes to the Boronia Activity Centre under the draft Boronia Renewal Strategy. It has been a loooong process, beginning way back in 2016!

The Boronia Structure Plan (2006) was a 10-year plan for Boronia. As this came to an end, consultaton began towards a Boronia Renewal Strategy. Since then, the BRS has undergone a number of community consultation rounds and iterations with the Planning Minister.

To close the loop, the Boronia Renewal Strategy (2024) and Planning Scheme Amendment C192Knox have been endorsed by Council and sent to the Planning Minister for final approval.

The Strategy and amendment are intended to provide a framework in which to support activity centre life and work. They set the mandatory heights and planning requirements to support residential and commercial development in an area with access to public transport and other services.

I am extremely disappointed that Council was not successful in achieving lower height limits for the intersection of Boronia and Dorset Rds. Cr Yvonne Allred and myself fought hard to try to see these reduced. Unfortunately the independent Planning Panel appointed by the Minister did not support our recommendations.

There is some comfort in the fact that the limits in place are 'mandatory' and subject to well considered setback and other design requirements. Mandatory height limits provide an important level of certainty. Exceeding these limits is not possible and cannot be appealed at VCAT, unlike 'discretionary' limits as exist in many other parts of Melbourne.

It’s increasingly clear that the State Government’s housing targets and plans for growth across metro council areas will impact us all. Residents will see much change to our activity centre over the coming decades. But it remains important to have a voice and fight for the best outcomes we can achieve. And for that I want to thank all those who got involved, who had their say, made submissions and did their best to guide those outcomes 🙏

The art of making fire!

Great artist, Uncle Chris and his gift of fire at our incredible Stamford Park wetlands and public open space official opening today 🖤💛❤️

Knox has approx 50,000 residents over the age of 55!

And 120 of them joined in a bedazzling line dancing session today in recognition of - World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 💜

These guys are SERIOUS line dancers! Put me to shame ☺️

What an awesome idea to raise awareness and strengthen our amazing community of seniors! So good to have Eastern Community Legal Centre Orange Door and Eastern Health there, and their ongoing commitment to this important work.

💜Thank you Rowville Senior Citizens, Knox Arts and Events and Knox Community Access & Support teams, and Jeff & Denise 🙏
💜Spot #1 ticket holder Susan Laukens For Knox

I'm doing my best to keep the fungi pics to a minimum this 😁 although there's PLENTY more from beautiful Doongalla atm.

Pack a thermos, rug up and spend time in this amazing part of the world 💙 So good for the soul in these very busy times!

Great to join Marcia Timmers-Leitch and all my old mates from First Friends of Dandenong Creek at their World Environment Day planting along the Dandy creek today.

A whole new habitat island created with plants for butterflies, small birds and eventually mammals and arboreal creatures too as we think about who we share this amazing planet with and how we support the valuable ecosystems in our patch.

Really proud of Knox City Council's support for this project. Thank you to our bushland team for all your hard work prepping and looking after these sites to get established.

Thank you so much to & Wisdom foundation Australia for your continual support year after year, and the fabulous food you donate. Thank you to the Club of Bayswater for cooking up a feast on the BBQ, and all the community groups and volunteers who came out to help.

Pic: My mayoral planting 😊 - a young Eucalyptus viminalis (Manna Gum) with FFDC President Anthony Bigelow, and Cr Timmers-Leitch.

👏👏Just want to give a MASSIVE SHOUT OUT to you, fabulous people of Knox! 👏👏

Waste management costs Knox residents approx $30M p/a. It is the biggest, single service we're responsible for and the one everyone expects Councils to get right.

With your amazing transition to the new waste service, we are diverting a further 22% of waste away from landfill - the most problematic, expensive and destructive of all our waste streams.

This brings us to a total of 72% diversion from landfill! One of the highest diversion rates in the state!! 👏👏👍

Dumped rubbish continues to occur (😠) but despite the transition there's been no signficant increase in occurrence, or in the contamination rate of bin contents either.

But don't just take my word for it! In the interests of continuous improvement, Council engaged an independent research company (Metropolis) to conduct the 2024 customer satisfaction survey on our behalf.

The results will be available on our website shortly but the biggest survey news is that 3 of the 4 highest rated services (ie., highest satisfaction in Council's delivery of that service) relate to waste! The regular fortnightly garbage collection came in top 10, slightly lower than the metro average (expected to dip when there's a change) but still categorised as 'excellent' with a score above 7.75.

For stats-geeks like me who take this research seriously, this does not trigger the need to throw costly resources into fixing a problem. In fact, it's cause to say "thank you, well done and what else can we do to make it better!"

Unsurprisingly in an election year, campaigns are mounting against this great work so if this post happens to get bombed with comments to the contrary please take my big dose of encouragement and the pat on the back - it's yours! Well done Knox 👍👏👏

And of course I acknowledge that it's not smooth-sailing for everyone - change never is, which is why it's important to me to say thanks for doing such a great job! If you're still experiencing challenges with the new service please reach out to our waste team (via customer service). This next phase is about making it even better!

Lament is not something that can be forced. And healing does not come without forgiveness.

But neither is possible without truth-telling.

6.2 million Australians stood with our First Nations people and voted YES! I am proud to be one of the 6.2M and in my lifetime I work to see that number grow.

Thinking about how you might be able to contribute to this amazing community we live in??

Is it time to break out of your comfort zone and try something new?!

Our fabulous The Basin Fire Brigade is hosting a recruitment night next Wednesday - the perfect chance to find out what you've always wanted to know about firefighting and the work of our CFA!

Wednesday 29th May, 7pm
The Basin Fire Station

In the spirit of , feel free to tap someone on the shoulder and give them a little nudge 🙂 You just never know what might come from volunteering in local emergency services.

It's well and truly time I say a big welcome to the wonderful Maureen Mclaughlin at our Basin Community House!

At the announcement of Heather’s retirement, our much-loved Community House sought to find that special someone who might build on Heather’s incredible work and support The Basin community through a new season. Well, Maureen is that someone, and special she is!

Maureen and I shared valuable time together last week catching up. She brought me up to speed with where the House is at, the garden looking well-established including some fabulous art installations by local First Nations artist, Amanda Wright. And where her mind and heart are heading as she considers the many needs around us and the opportunities the House has to meet those needs.

Our community houses make such important contributions to our local communities. I'm really pleased we have Maureen with us at TBCH, and look forward to working with her in our roles. If you see her around, do make her feel very welcome!

And how good does the recently completed Portico look? Pleased Council has been able to complete this much-needed addition to the House, after many wet seasons getting in and out with no shelter!



PS. I've just seen TBCH's post AFTER writing this one! Their photos in the autumn light are much nicer - check them out The Basin Community House

In the beautiful words of George Takei, ‘Let’s keep calm in the face of difference, and live our lives in a state of inclusion and wonder at the diversity of humanity.’

IDAHOBIT... The older I get, the more I find myself hoping I'll see the day when this is no longer needed.

Thank you to all who work to make that our reality.

Amazing to be able to carve out time in a busy schedule to enjoy the tiny wonders of our world, right here in the Basin's National Park. Incredible diversity, all in a very short walk!
Love this time of year!

When most people look at this 50yr old pic, they typically say "nothing's changed!". Some say "only the cars have changed, which were the best bit!" 😳

I'm often asked what I'm doing about Boronia. For a bit of context, in Dorset Square, Council only owns the carpark (and not even all of that!). And in fact, that's what HAS changed.

By reconfiguring the car park, Council made room for trees. And while the trees host Myna populations 😠, guess which carparks fill up first on a warm day...? (not today obviously!)

That's the change I see, cos that's the one Council could do something about. But that was well before my time.

Other changes are afoot though. Hopefully you're all aware by now of the Boronia Renewal Strategy and Planning amendment coming back to Council shortly having gone to a Planning Panel for recommendations.

The Boronia Renewal Strategy is about encouraging future investment in Boronia for positive development to occur where there is great access to transport and services.

I'll pop the link in comments so anyone interested can read the strategy and panel report 👇

One day we'll see this pic, and the response will not be that nothing's changed 👍

Red sky at night.... ❤️

It's not very smart on socials to post things a week after the event! But every now and then, more time is needed. Like this time.

Thursday last week, a tremendous number of Boronia locals braved the cold wet weather to stand together in memory of our ANZACs.

It was on this day, April 25th, 12 months ago we lost my beautiful brother in law and friend, Andrew Luke Dwight.

At each of the ANZAC services I attended I was deeply moved, being present in my role as Mayor, but present too as fellow Australian, grateful for my freedom, and as sis, grateful for my life, and his.

Thank you beyond words to our service men and women and all who work to uphold their memory. Thank you to Major Sarah Mooney for your leadership, commitment and humility.
And thank you Boronia RSL for your ongoing work and important legacy.

What a stunning day for the spectacular Ther (Chariot) procession through The Basin!

Today was day 9 of Mahotsavam at Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple, 10-day festival commencing the first Friday after the Tamil New Year.

Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar remains the only consecrated temple to take the Ther onto the streets of Melbourne - any wonder it draws such a huge crowd of devotees!

And many volunteers worked hard today to prepare food for approximately 1600 people! Amazing effort by all to celebrate this important festival.

Thank you to my hosts who kept me hydrated, fed and took time to explain the proceedings. It was wonderful to be part of this with you 🙏

So many great stories! So many amazing people! So many ways to Change.Someone's.World 💙

Volunteer for Knox's volunteering expo would have to be the biggest thing that's happened in our function rooms all year!!

Was hoping to post earlier to say "get on down!" but I just couldn't drag myself away. I'd like to do some individual posts in the coming months to share some of these wonderful stories and the many ways we can all help build a strong and connected Knox.

If anyone's been confused by bin collection talk of late, Knox Council bin collection frequencies are not changing. Using the current Knox lid colours:
🟩 FOGO - weekly
🟦 Recycling - fortnightly, alternating with landfill
🟨 Landfill (the most expensive to dispose of) - fortnightly
Also included is
🌿 Bundled branch collection (same day as landfill bin)
🤖 2 x hardwaste collections p/yr

Thank you to the many, many residents who have worked hard to adjust to the change and drastically reduce the waste we send to landfill by over 30%!!

It's early days so if you are still finding it difficult, get in touch with our waste team (via customer service) to talk through the challenges - they're full of great tips and tricks and want to find ways to help.

Never thought I'd open an event with a python wrapped 'round my neck😅😅😅
(PETS-in-the-park they said!)

Fruitbowl Productions Knox Pets In The Park