Community Newsletter

Community Newsletter
S P R IN G 2015
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR HIGGINS
MINISTER FOR SMALL BUSINESS
ASSISTANT TREASURER
Building Our
Future Together
Home secured for ‘Very Special Kids’
T
he Federal Government has delivered
$4 million to enable ‘Very Special
Kids’ to purchase its home in
Glenferrie Road, which it has leased from
the State Government for the past 21 years.
I was thrilled to be able to deliver this
funding, securing this critical service for
Victoria and providing certainty for the
children and families who rely on the
services and support of Very Special Kids’
dedicated staff and volunteers.
With Milou and her father Matt at the Malvern Special Needs Playgroup
The purpose-built facility offers 24
hour nursing care for children with lifethreatening conditions, a family services
clinic that supports more than 900 families
across Victoria and a children’s hospice.
Malvern Special Needs Playgroup
The future for the Malvern Special Needs
Playgroup has also been secured with a
grant of $120,000 over two years, ensuring
Announcing $4 million in funding for Very Special Kids
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this essential playgroup continues to assist
families with children with special needs
in Higgins.
Advocates raised the plight of the
playgroup with then Minister for Social
Services, Scott Morrison MP, at a childcare
forum that I hosted in Higgins earlier in
the year. Scott subsequently returned to
Higgins to announce that the playgroup’s
funding had been continued.
Youthful Green Army restores vital waterways
Left: With Yarra River Keeper Andrew Kelly and the
South Yarra Green Army team
Above: Helping Green Army member Claudia Sullivan
on the Yarra River bank
I
was thrilled to lend a helping hand to
the Green Army team who are cleaning
up and re-vegetating banks along the
Yarra River, Gardiners Creek, Malvern
Valley Public Golf Course and the Glen
Iris Wetlands and improving walking and
seating areas.
Apart from generating real environment
and conservation benefits, including creating
natural habitats for indigenous flora and
fauna and eliminating weeds, Green Army
members aged 17–24 years, also gain
valuable work experience to help them
prepare for a future career.
The popular Green Army Programme
encourages practical, grassroots action to
support local environment and heritage
conservation projects across Australia.
It provides training to 15,000 young
Australians by 2018, and is part of the
Coalition Government’s investment of
more than $2 billion in natural resource
management.
At a local level, residents can enjoy
improved recreational walks and rest areas
while taking advantage of our fabulous
natural resources.
Action needed on SY station and level crossings
More action needed
on level crossings
L
ocal residents and traders were shocked
to hear that a huge opportunity to
connect South Yarra as a rail hub, as part
of the Metro Rail Project, is being missed in
recently revealed State Government plans.
An interchange station would enable
residents using the Frankston or Pakenham
and Cranbourne lines to change to the
metro rail at South Yarra providing direct
access to the Domain, city centre, Royal
Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne University
or North Melbourne.
Oskar Cebergs, executive officer of the
Chapel Street Precinct Association Inc. said
his members were angry that the Andrews
Government was cutting South Yarra train
station from the Melbourne Metro project.
“This decision will only decrease capacity,
reliability and efficiency and increase
travel times for residents and tourists, and
ultimately directly affect the economic
viability of our destination,” Mr Cebergs said.
The Andrews Government is yet to put
forward its business case to the Federal
Government for the Melbourne Metro Rail
Project but when they do, it must include
a South Yarra interchange station.
I will continue to fight for its inclusion.
Residents also continue to be frustrated by
level crossings in Carnegie, Murrumbeena,
Kooyong, Toorak Road and Tooronga. In
some instances, road closures are around
20 minutes during peak hour affecting daily
life – where to shop, where children go to
school and how long it takes to get to work.
While it is good to see work begin on
removing the Burke Road level crossing in
Glen Iris thanks to the previous Coalition
State Government, I am deeply concerned
that the Victorian Labor Government has
scrapped a commitment to improve traffic
flows in other areas of Higgins. Instead of
starting this year on removing crossings in
Murrumbeena and Carnegie, Labor cannot
say exactly what they will do, how or if
their new plan will be funded and are not
sure when it will start let alone finish.
We need these level crossings removed
now and a plan established for the removal
of all other level crossings in our local area.
Join me in this campaign
to remove our level crossing
by completing my petition at
kellyodwyer.com.au or call
me on 9822 4422.
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Solway leads on environmental sustainability
S
olway Primary School has been recognised for
its environmental sustainability having met
stringent energy efficiency, waste management,
biodiversity enhancement and water efficiency
benchmarks and integrating these topics into the
students’ curriculum. Congratulations on your
environmental sustainability leadership Solway!
With Solway Primary’s environment leaders
Arts community considers reforms
H
iggins is home to an extremely vibrant arts community
whose members contribute so much to the colourful
fabric and richness of our lives and who are supported by
many local small businesses.
I was delighted to host an arts forum at the Chapel off
Chapel theatre in Prahran to bring our local arts community
together to consider the Government’s Excellence in the Arts
policy discussion paper and to put forward their views before
the final policy is released.
To let me know what is important to you, complete my
survey at www.kellyodwyer.com.au
With Higgins resident, singer
and songwriter, the fabulous
Deborah Conway!
Recognising our Higgins volunteers
R
ecently I hosted a special celebration to recognise the work of volunteers in our
community with about 300 people representing more than 70 organisations attending.
Our special guest, former Governor of Victoria and local resident, Sir James Gobbo
AC, CVO, QC, inspired us with his
personal reflections on a lifetime of
volunteering in health, multicultural
affairs, scouts, arts and education.
The value of volunteering
to the community is immense.
From next year, I will be introducing
the Higgins Community Service
Awards to recognise the amazing
contribution of local volunteers.
The Awards will be open to
organisations in Higgins to nominate
someone who has made a significant
With Sir James Gobbo and Camberwell South Primary
School volunteers at my Christmas in July community
contribution to our community in a
thank you event
volunteer capacity.
Malcolm Turnbull meets Higgins youth
Y
oung people in Higgins were invited to
catch up with then Communications
Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Queensland
MP Wyatt Roy – the youngest person ever
elected to Parliament – at a Politics in the Pub
event at the Malvern Vale Hotel.
Malcolm listened to residents’ concerns
about local services in pockets of the
electorate that have experienced slow
internet speeds and discussed the Federal
Government’s plans to improve local
connectivity through the roll out of the
National Broadband Network.
Catching up with young Higgins residents at our
Politics in the Pub event
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Community
safety
upgrade
C
arnegie residents will feel even
safer shopping or dining in
Carnegie thanks to a $100,000 grant
to the local traders’ association to
upgrade security measures in the
popular Koornang Road shopping strip
including CCTV and lighting.
Carnegie Traders’ Association
President Mr Graeme Callen said he was
thrilled with the result after a lack of
support from the Glen Eira Council for
the project.
Glen Eira Council rejected the money
earlier this year but the Federal Minister
for Justice, Michael Keenan MP, who
visited the area with me last year, has
now signed off on a direct grant to
Traders under the Federal Government’s
Safer Streets Programme – a victory
for common sense and our local
community.
Mr Callen said the Traders would
form a working group in consultation
with the local Police to work out how
to get the best value for the money and
the optimal sites for installing the CCTV
and additional lighting.
The Carnegie upgrade follows on
from the installation of CCTV earlier
this year in the Chapel Street precinct
adjacent to the Prahran Market under
the same Programme.
Ashburton Traders are also putting
together a proposal for their High
Street precinct and I will make strong
representations in Canberra for their
proposal to also receive funding.
TACKLING BLACK SPOTS
T
he Federal Government has
announced $155,000 will be spent
to upgrade two road black spots in
Higgins – the roundabout at Union Road
in Windsor and the Chadstone Road
entrance to Chadstone Shopping Centre.
I have also written to local Councils
about a number of black spots identified
by local residents and supported their
bids under the Federal Black Spots
Programme for funding to address traffic
and safety concerns at locations in Glen
Iris, Carnegie, Malvern, Malvern East,
South Yarra and Prahran.
Please contact me to report your
local traffic location concerns by email
at kelly.odwyer.mp@aph.gov.au
In our community
Celebrating 40 years and the end of the
Opening ARCARE’s new Aged Care Residence
2015 season with Prahran Football Club
in East Malvern with CEO Colin Singh and
City of Stonnington Mayor Melina Sehr
With finalists in the Higgins ANZAC Poetry Competition and
their parents and teachers at Ten Cubed gallery in Malvern
With Regional Co-ordinator Ray Jasper and
hard-working branch members of the Malvern
SES at a community morning tea
Christmas in July thank you to community
volunteers
Catching up with residents at Gardiner Lodge in Glen Iris
Being interviewed by Catherine McGrath for SBS news about my
support for an additional intake of Syrian refugees
With Lacrosse Players Eddie Mizrahi, Ben
Greenwood and Aaron Hussein in Malvern
Discussing small business issues with Amy Elliott, founder
of My Mini Minders
With Grade 4 at Camberwell South
Primary discussing leadership
Promoting Pink Tennis Day with Richard
Foley and Rufus McKeown in Malvern
With Janet Zhong who was selected to
represent Australia in physics in the 2015
International Science Olympiad Team
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With young netballers at Prahran and
former AFL coach Kevin Sheedy
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary
of Singapore’s independence
Breakfast meeting with the Carnegie Traders’ Association
IN THE HOUSE
Focus on small business
Meeting with local Ashburton shop owners
Peter and Susan Friend
As Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer, Kelly is one of nine women in the Turnbull Ministry
H
aving grown up with parents and
grandparents who owned small
businesses, I am acutely aware of the
pressures on families, as well as the
satisfaction, that owning a small business
can bring. I was honoured to recently be
appointed the Minister for Small Business
and Assistant Treasurer. My experience,
and feedback from local businesses will be
of great assistance in strongly representing
small business interests across Australia.
As a group, small businesses in Australia
provide over 4.5 million jobs. The Federal
Government has been working to take
some of the pressures off small business
such as:
• providing an immediate tax deduction
for assets up to $20,000 until the end of
June 2017;
• cutting the company tax rate for small
business by 1.5 per cent to 28.5 per cent;
• a 5 per cent tax discount for
unincorporated small businesses;
• the ability for start-ups to immediately
deduct professional expenses incurred
when they start a business;
• a wage subsidy for employers who hire
eligible job seekers and parents returning
to the workforce; and
• changes to Pay As You Go tax thresholds,
removing almost 450,000 small businesses
from the system and saving small business
around $67 million each year in red tape.
Soon we will introduce legislation to
Parliament supporting crowd-sourced equity
funding so that small business can access
new sources of funding to assist growth.
If you would like to share your small
business story with me, please contact me
at kelly.odwyer.mp@aph.gov.au
Legislation introduced
to strengthen foreign
investment rules
Government
responds to Financial
System Inquiry
A
W
s always, it has been a busy
period in Parliament with a
number of important pieces of
legislation being debated. I had
carriage of the Government’s
legislative package to
strengthen Australia’s foreign
investment framework,
enabling our current foreign
investment rules to be properly
enforced and providing greater
transparency on the actual
levels of foreign investment in
land and residential real estate
than ever before.
The package seeks to direct
foreign investment towards
increasing the supply of new
housing stock; to improve
monitoring and compliance
within the foreign investment
rules; to provide greater scrutiny
of foreign purchases; and to
provide a predictable and modern
environment for investors.
The legislation also increases
penalties for those who breach
our sovereign rules and underpins
the collection of data on foreign
investment real estate purchases.
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ith the Prime Minister and Treasurer, I was pleased
to recently announce that the Government has
accepted the overwhelming majority of recommendations
from the Financial System Inquiry conducted last year
and has included additional measures that will help to
deliver a financial system that is efficient, resilient and
fair including:
• improving the level of competition, efficiency and
transparency in the superannuation system; enabling
more flexible and reliable retirement income products
and enhancing superannuation governance;
• raising professional, ethical and education standards
for financial advisers; and
• banning merchants from imposing excessive
card surcharges.
HIGGINS
Christmas Appeal
A
s we approach the end of year, it’s time to reflect on the many people in our
community and across Australia who are struggling through no fault of their own.
If you would like to give a book or toy to a disadvantaged child, or make a packaged
food donation, please bring your gift to my electorate office. All gifts will be re-distributed
to homeless or disadvantaged local families through the St Joseph’s outreach services in
South Yarra which provides emergency housing and food relief to people in need.
Please contribute to local charities by bringing your gift or packaged food donation to:
Suite 1, 1343 Malvern Road, Malvern
Jean Hailes survey highlights
women’s health needs
W
omen are often the primary carers
in the family but they don’t always
take the best care of their own health. It
was an honour to launch the Jean Hailes
Organisation’s national survey of women’s
health needs for Women’s Health Week in
October which surveyed more than 3,000
women across Australia to find out gaps in
information and health service needs.
The results of this important research
will help inform best practice in women’s
health needs and policies moving forward.
With Jean Hailes CEO Janet Michelmore
AO and researcher Dr Mandy Deeks
Community
Morning Tea
Have
your say!
Arrange
a visit
Electorate
Services
If you would like to
share an early morning
coffee or tea with me,
please phone my friendly
electorate staff on 9822
4422 to register for a
forthcoming community
morning tea date.
If you can’t make
it to a community
event, please visit
my website and fill
out an online survey
or call my office to
discuss any issues.
If you would like
me to attend your
community event or
visit your organisation
or business in Higgins,
please phone my
office.
If I can help you with any of the following services
please send me an email kelly.odwyer.mp@aph.gov.au
or phone my office:
• Special Occasion Birthday and Anniversary Messages
• Grants Assistance
• Nominate Local Sporting Champions
• Borrow my community marquee
Higgins Electorate Office
Suite 1, 1343 Malvern Road
Malvern VIC 3144
Phone:
Email:
Website:
9822 4422
kelly.odwyer.mp@aph.gov.au
www.kellyodwyer.com.au
I’m here to help If I can assist you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Authorised by Kelly O’Dwyer. Suite 1, 1343 Malvern Road, Malvern VIC 3144. Printed by McKellar Renown Press, 6 Rocklea Drive, Port Melbourne VIC 3207.
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