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Our Guest Speaker - John Baker CEO Mornington Peninsula Shire Council We were very pleased to have John as our Guest speaker. John commenced in this role in November 2018. His background is in major consulting firms and local government in the UK and then aged care and disability services in Australia. He attributes much of his approach to his work to his early experience as a social worker; being respectful of others, exhibiting humility and make decisions as part of a team. John identified the major challenge for the Peninsula as protecting the very character we love - the green wedge - against the expected surge in population. Melbourne will double to around 8 million by 2050, and we already experience 6.3m visitors per year, many of who are relatively low yield. He expressed concern at the Council's somewhat limited ability to manage this relative to State responsibilities. He cited the proposed railway terminal and yards at Baxter as an example of this. In terms of things he would like to achieve John nominated an integrated and improved bus service, He recognised the cost of this to be around $20m pa, but contrasted this to the $120m it will cost to build the Jetty Road bypass. He would also like to see the development of the Marine precinct at Hastings, which could be achieved on between 50 and 500 ha of the current land zoned Port Industrial, and therefore not green wedge. He noted that 70% of Peninsula residents are fortunate that their workplace is on the Peninsula. Culturally he would like to lead a change where the community is genuinely at the heart of what the council does. He wants to be outward focussed and more connected to the community. He concluded with his "moral compass" - integrity, respect and courage. The latter referred to being able to make decisions without managing out 100% of the risk. I noted a high degree of consistency between John's comments on integrity and Rotary's values, and the consistency with Rotary's theme this year "Connecting the World". It was a really good night and we were very pleased to have a number of friends with us. Vocational Visit - Jayco Thanks to Ken Bilham, a team of Mornington Rotarians visited the Jayco operation at Dandenong. Suffice to say they all came away wanting one, or in some cases, one bigger and better than they now have. It's an amazing business with 1100 staff producing 9000 vans per year, from small camper trailers to large motor homes. That is one per hour of every day in the year! |
