In 2016, with the support of Australia’s largest general insurer IAG, Murrindindi Shire Council began looking at new ways to work with our communities so we can plan for the future together.
Communities of Murrindindi Shire helped Council name the project – ‘Toward 2030 – Planning our Future’.
Acting Mayor Sandice McAulay said ‘Toward 2030 – Planning our Future’ is a really big project with two main goals – to improve how Council and communities work together, and to improve how community groups work with one another in their locality.
“This Project aims to put communities in the driving seat to work out what is important for them and then decide what priorities to work on in partnership with Council. This could be anything from improving sporting facilities to improving access to health or education services. It might mean working to attract new businesses or boost employment – or anything else you can think of,” Cr McAulay said.
“We want to create a way that helps communities across the Shire set their own goals for the future and to achieve them.
“Rather than Council saying what is needed, communities themselves will have more say in what their place will look like and be like to live in. And, I’m not talking 20 years down the track – things could start changing the moment the community gets in the driver’s seat. If that’s not exciting, I don’t know what is!
“So, how is Council delivering this big idea? Well, we invited the community to a series of workshops across the Shire to talk about their ideas for how this could work.
“40 people signed up to join one of four community working groups. These groups met twice each in Kinglake West, Marysville, Yea and Alexandra to explore what community planning could look like in their towns and the Shire as a whole. We weren’t talking about specific projects or challenges that exist in these communities. Rather we discussed how best to encourage the community to get involved and work on what is important for their future. The community working groups also came up with a great name for the Project – ‘Toward 2030 – Planning our Future’,” Cr McAulay said.
“Council is in the process of pulling together all the ideas that came out of these workshops. Once this work is reviewed by the workshop members it will be made available for broader community feedback. The approach will be trialled in three townships across Murrindindi Shire initially to see how things go – hold onto your hats to find out where.
“From all of us here at Council, we would like to thank IAG which has partnered with us to support the development of this important project,” Cr McAulay added.
IAG Partnerships and Programs Manager Jen Cobley said IAG’s close partnership with Murrindindi Shire Council was about helping foster a new way to support community connection and drive change on an individual and community level.
“It’s fantastic to see the progress of the workshops in the Towards 2030 Project and we look forward to continuing our support to grow community connectedness and resilience,” Ms Cobley said.
