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To Rotarians and Friends of Rotary, As the Melbourne Cup holiday weekend is upon us, we are in Wangaratta, enjoying the beautiful sunshine, the 30th and final Jazz and Blues festival and a round or two of golf. The last Board Meeting was a reminder of things past (the bad old days) as our meeting was held on Zoom as a number of members were suffering from another bout covid! It is hoped that all have recovered from this and other afflictions. Hopefully, Ted is fit and well for another racing week. Reminder On Friday, November 10th, the Remembrance Day commemoration at Mornington Secondary College will begin at 11:00am, so please be seated by 10:50. It is requested that all visitors go the school office on arrival and complete the registration there. The forecast is for fine and sunny weather. A great night at Rotary Last Wednesday, the four Padua students who took part in the Model UN Assembly in August came to speak to our club members and they were truly inspirational young people. We were particularly grateful for their attendance, as they were in the middle of Yr 12 exams. Conor, Flynn, Emily and Lachlan were accompanied by their teacher, Emma O'Dowd.  They spoke about the MUNA process and the benefits of the experience, particularly for those student studying Global Politics at Year 12 level. It was evident that these students put in effort to understand the UN General Assembly processes and to use these to their advantage during the debates on resolutions put up for consideration, and the processes of proposing amendments and negotiating with others to bring about these changes. United Nations resolutions are formal expressions of the opinion or will of United Nations organs. Emma and the students praised the incredible organisation behind the MUNA event and repeatedly expressed their thanks to the volunteers who ran the day at Gustav Nossel High School.   Conor and Flynn were recipients of the MUNA Peace Prize and the perpetual trophy was presented at the Padua Yr 12 whole school assembly last month by Di Harrison, Chair MUNA 2023/24. It was a great pleasure to host these wonderful local high-achievers and to learn more about them and their aspirations. We also met Winnie Wilson, the enthusiastic Year 11 student who has been funded to attend the National Youth Science Forum in Canberra in January and Winnie will talk at a club meeting in February. Don't miss these next meetings and please invite others who may be interested - everyone is welcome The proposed Victorian Renewable Energy Terminal at Hastings Finding a balance between the development that is needed to sustain human life and enterprise, and ensuring that the natural environment, that also sustains life, is protected, presents an ongoing challenge. At our club meeting on November 15, Port of Hastings stakeholder and community relations manager, Todd Trimble, will talk to members about the State Government proposal to make the Port of Hastings the construction feeder port for offshore windfarms. The staging port is required due to the size and weight of the wind farm components – five times bigger than on-shore turbines About 15 hectares of the terminal would be built out across extremely valuable sea grasses in Western Port Bay and a recently proposed AGL gas pipeline did not go ahead due to fierce community uproar. One of the many challenges will be to communicate and consult with the community about the environmental impacts of the project in world-significant RAMSAR-listed wetlands. There will be very high community expectations regarding the protection of this significant environment. On Wednesday, November 22, we have Tom McIntosh MP, Member for the Eastern Victoria Region in the Legislative Council. He was only elected in November 2022. Tom has been working closely with Ben Smith from MCSC and being of great assistance to the three Support Centres on the Peninsula. A quick check of Tom's Facebook page shows how busy the life on an MP can be, and how committed he seems to be to helping others. Come along and find out! A final thought for this week: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill |
