MANY families with young children have reported to me during this election that they came to Mirboo North for two major family services – early childhood support at the town’s beautiful Child Care Centre and the Mirboo North pool.
So many Mirboo North families are devastated by the news that our pool will not be re-opened until after summer, and our childcare centre is to close and be relocated to the Mirboo North primary and secondary school complex.
South Gippsland’s Children and Families Strategy 2024 to 2027 identifies large parts of the shire as “a childcare desert.” While the strategy calls for evidence-based action, it fails to systematically report data on important facts such as current early childhood service waiting lists across all communities, such as Mirboo North’s 40 plus families waiting.
Two deeply concerning statistics included in the Shire’s Strategy (I) a 63 per cent increase in reported incidents of domestic violence between 2017 and 2022. (Why might this be so? How much does this rise in domestic violence relate to the Sentinel Times lead story three weeks ago that “South Gippsland is no longer the safest Shire in Gippsland”? and are we failing our children and youth?); and (II) 27.3 per cent of South Gippsland’s children are considered developmentally vulnerable - well above the 19.9 per cent across Victoria.
Just how closely are these two statistics related?
It’s past time for Council to advocate for the interest of South Gippsland communities with other levels of government on both these issues. Whether elected or not I will ask the new South Gippsland Council to fast-track Mirboo Norths Pool’s repairs and re-opening; and urgently review the Shire’s current plans to close and relocate our Child Care Centre.
Rosemary Cousin, Allambee South Candidate South Gippsland Tarwin Valley Ward South Gippsland Shire Council
