MADRA News - 15 November 2021
Exciting news!
MADRA is delighted to congratulate Jenny Lloyd on her induction into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.
Gabriel Williams, MP, announced on 13 November that Jenny Lloyd is among the Inductees for the Victorian Honour Roll of Women 2021, in the category of ‘Leading Through Disaster’. Each year, the Victorian Honour Roll of Women recognises women who have demonstrated remarkable leadership and excellence in their field of expertise, interest, endeavour, or through their commitment to the community. The new category of ‘Leading Through Disaster’ recognises leadership in supporting communities to respond, recover and rebuild after the 2019/20 bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jenny was the Deputy Chair of the first MADRA committee and she brought to MADRA her training and leadership skills and a wealth of knowledge from her working career in the public services and as a Naval Officer in the Royal Australian Navy.
Jenny took the lead role in developing our Recovery Plan and planning and carrying out our community consultation and voting process, as well as being closely involved in many other projects and advocacy efforts as MADRA evolved. Our Recovery Plan and Voting Report are held in very high regard by all levels of government and other stakeholders involved in our recovery and resilience work.
MADRA is in debt to Jenny. Her tireless work and her many skills and attributes have made a huge contribution to the strong position MADRA holds today. She is a wonderful human being who made many sacrifices over the past 18 months, and she continues to be a leading light in the community in her ongoing roles with MADRA and other community organisations.
We are all very pleased and proud to see Jenny’s efforts formally recognised with her induction to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women 2021.
For more details, see the full media release HERE
MADRA Update
The new MADRA committee has been meeting weekly since the AGM in August as the new members found their feet and the committee as a whole re-focused for the coming year.
In the first year of bushfire recovery MADRA did an enormous amount of work in producing the Strategic Plan which set out clearly the purpose and work of MADRA. This has proved to be an invaluable resource both to the community and to the many agencies who assist in Bushfire Recovery.
This year we are moving past the immediate crisis of the bushfires and the focus of the second MADRA committee has become as much about resilience as recovery. Housing requirements; emergency, short term and longer term, remain the highest priority as a multitude of related issues play out. Last year the community voted on ideas for projects under the various pillars of the Strategic Plan, many of these projects are about resilience and the community having a say in what we want for our town. The votes have now been counted and compiled and MADRA is working on matching energy and funds to the various projects and activities.
As we all know COVID has added another layer of difficulty and change to our lives since the bushfires. As we've found, recovery takes a long time and takes many forms and we need ways to ways to get together as a community to talk and share our griefs and our hopes. Covid restrictions have complicated our conversations and get-togethers and also limited the ways that MADRA connects with its wider Mallacoota community. We've also been missing The Mouth for the last few months and welcome the recent issues of What's On for the opportunity they give for much needed community connections.
And for the opportunity for MADRA to give an update on what we've been doing....
As mentioned above Housing remains the most pressing issue for the committee as Mallacoota faces a housing crisis over the next 2-3 years. A number of government and other agencies are working on the availability of housing; on emergency housing, building issues, community housing, planning issues, youth housing and longer term housing shortages and affordability. MADRA's role in this is to identify the specific needs of our community and to bring the agencies together to find joint solutions to each of the issues. Recent constructive discussions have led to promise of some relief in immediate short-term housing and a framework to tackle the wider problems. We will give updates as we go on.
MADRA has been following up on the progress of works scheduled under the Joint Fuel Management Program. The Mallacoota Bushfire Fuel Management Group – a sub group of MADRA, will be providing an update soon.
A Mallacoota Emergency Services Expo and community day, modelled on the success of the recent Cann Be Ready Day is set for the 28th of November. Plans for the day include presentations and information from agencies including the CFA, SES, Forest Fire Management, Gippsland Health, the Red Cross, Ambulance Services and EGSC. There will be other fun stuff and a barbie. More details to follow.
MADRA committee members regularly attend meetings with the various agencies who are our partners in bushfire recovery. These include EGSC, Bushfire Recovery Victoria and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Parks Victoria, Recovery Management Teams and Community Recovery Committees from other regions.
Other agencies including Vinnies, our EGSC Place Managers Meg and Tess, the East Gippsland Community Foundation and The Wilderness Workspace have recently attended and/or presented at Committee meetings. At our next meeting Tricia Hiley from Mallacoota Sustainable Energy is due to talk about Community Microgrids and the Sustainable Energy Projects currently underway.
MADRA is also represented in other Mallacoota Community Groups including the Community Wellbeing Group and Coota Gathers. These are all valued connections and good way to share thinking and plans.
MADRA continues to play an important role in matching available funding and grants with projects that have broad community support. Thanks to our Strategic Plan and the Voting Report we can draw on a fairly clear sense of purpose and priority. Some of the projects are already underway; upgrades of the Main Hall and the Muddie are in now in various stages of planning and project management thanks to funds that have been made available. Amongst ongoing projects, planning is underway for an endemic garden at the Parks office and the town streetscape plans are open for community consultation at the Shire.
MADRA also provides letters of support for individuals and groups making grant applications for projects that come under its scope, such letters have been provided in support of business, natural environment, music, arts, and sustainable energy projects.
What's Next on MADRA's list?
As mentioned already MADRA has a useful and constructive part to play in pushing for solutions to the current housing crisis. It's vitally important that the community continues to have a voice in this through MADRA.
Also on our list for the next months is to revisit the Voting Report and look for opportunities and funding to tackle the next round of projects.
And now the Covid restrictions have eased we want to do what's been missing all these last months .... to get together as a community, have a laugh, hear some music, have a barbie, share some stories of the last couple of years and keeping thinking and talking about this place we live in.