Mayor Tony Briffa
It has been my absolute pleasure to serve another term as Mayor of Hobsons Bay.
As we prepare to elect a new mayor on November 10, I’ve been reflecting on all that has happened over the past year and everything we’ve achieved.
A key part of my mayoral program was to strengthen the relationship between Council and the Victorian and Australian governments, along with other councils in the west.
The relationship between Hobsons Bay and our local Members of Parliament has never been stronger.
The council’s CEO Aaron van Egmond and I have had regular meetings with MPs Melissa Horne, Mat Hilakari and Sarah Connolly, and their support of Council within government and government agencies
has been terrific.
I was also honoured to have been appointed to the Local Government Mayoral Advisory Panel, working with 12 other mayors from urban, regional and rural areas across Victoria and the Minister for Local
Government, Ms Horne.
In terms of capital works, I was pleased to have opened several upgraded reserves and sporting facilities over the past year, and to have supported the development and implementation of our Better Places projects in Altona Meadows, Altona North, Brooklyn, Laverton, South Kingsville and Spotswood.
It’s also great seeing work on the Altona City Soccer Club pavilion coming along.
The renovated Altona Meadows Library with the new STEAM Centre of Excellence is something I am also very excited about and recommend everyone visits.
Celebrating our community is important to me, so I am very pleased we brought together a multicultural women’s leadership program and established an LGBTQIA+ community liaison group, which helped create the incredible Western Rainbow Awards, which we celebrated in September.
I had the privilege of visiting many of our local businesses to talk to owners and staff about the issues affecting them.
Small business is the backbone of our local economy and I’ve been proud of the work we’ve done to help support and promote businesses.
Our friendship alliances mean so much to us. I had a three-day visit to our sister city of Anjo in Japan in April, and was honoured to welcome Anjo representatives, including their mayor, to Hobsons Bay last
month.
It is a wonderful, long-term relationship that we each learn so much from and that more than 200 students have benefited from by participating in the exchange program.
We also furthered our connection with Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council in north Queensland, hosting Mayor Ross Andrews, who spoke at an event in the lead-up to the Voice referendum.
Of course, there have been challenges too. It was particularly challenging when we discovered people were living in an industrial precinct near a major hazard facility, but I’m pleased the Techno Park Housing Solutions Group has been set up to assist tenants and owner-occupants with long-term solutions.
Being Mayor is certainly full of highs and lows, but it doesn’t take away from the privilege it is to serve our wonderful community.
