Hello everyone and Wominjeka!
I can’t believe February is upon us and school’s back for most families! I wish everyone with school-aged children well for the year ahead.
The Australia Day long weekend marked the end of the school holidays.
January 26 has different meaning for different people, and we are incredibly respectful of this. Here in Greater Dandenong, we have such a beautifully diverse community that celebrates Australia through sharing cultures and respect for one another.
I hope you had an opportunity to enjoy some of the iconic events that took place locally over the long weekend.
We held the Greater Dandenong Australia Day Awards and Citizenship Ceremony. The event celebrated our 100 newest Australian Citizens and honoured 13 residents and groups who go above and beyond to enrich the lives of others. I personally love this combination because it not only provides a wider audience to celebrate the Award winners but also demonstrates the incredible opportunities available to our new citizens.
This event would not have been possible without the dedication of the Festivals and Events and Governance teams, thank you for all your hard work.
The Springvale Lunar New Year Festival was also held on Australia Day and is Greater Dandenong’s largest community event. It is hosted by the Springvale Asian Business Association and supported by us here at Council. This year we welcomed the year of the Snake which represents opportunities for personal growth and change. I wish everyone who celebrated Lunar New Year a happy and prosperous 2025!
We have some great internal projects underway, including the upgrade of our security access card system and control software. This will ensure the ongoing safety and security of our staff, accessing building carparks, facilities and even printers.
The first stage of this upgrade is on-track, with Building Maintenance completing an audit of all access card accounts in our security database and deleting all expired accounts. This will be a multi-phase project so please keep a close eye on The Source for updates.
In other news, some software has landed that is going to revolutionise day-to-day life here at Greater Dandenong City Council. The software maps and streamlines processes, meaning less time figuring out how to do things and more time getting things done. We’ll have a consistent and shared way of working across the organisation.
Start thinking about the processes you would really like improved or clarified, maybe it's recruitment and onboarding or applying for a grant, for example? Also think about the processes your team uses and would like to share with the organisation. Jot down your ideas and shortly, more information will be available on The Source.
If this is something you’ve been waiting for and you’re keen to get on board early, Alison Saunders and Jason Williams would love to hear from you. They’re looking for champions from each team to lead the way.
As you might have seen on the front page of this month’s Council News, the Sustainability Festival is coming up on Sunday 23 February. It is a great reminder to think about the simple changes we can make in our lives that collectively make a big difference. Whether it is remembering your reusable cup for your coffee, printing less and using e-documents or championing recycling to reduce waste, we can easily incorporate small changes to help protect our planet.
I wish you all a fantastic month ahead. Keep up the great work and thank you.
Jacqui Weatherill, Chief Executive Officer.