Mayor's Message 31 January, 2025
Hello everyone,
Welcome to the first edition of YOUR INDIGO for 2025. I hope you all had an enjoyable start to the year and if you have children or grandchildren attending school for the first time, I hope it went smoothly and there weren’t too many tears.
As covered by the CEO in his message, this week signals the start of a new school year which means increased activity and traffic around our schools. Please take particular care when driving in and around schools and let’s all work to keep our children safe.
On Wednesday I performed one of my most favorite duties as Mayor which was to welcome our newest Australian citizens to the Shire. It’s always such a wonderful ceremony and I congratulate all who’ve taken the oath and now call Australia home.
It was also a huge honour to recognise our Australia Day Award winners. Paul Schirmer from Barnawartha has been named Indigo Shire Citizen of the Year and Hugh Bergin from Wahgunyah is our Young Citizen of the Year. Congratulations to you both and to all award winners, we are very proud of you all.
Yesterday, together with the CEO and Deputy Mayor Jane Dowsley, we attended another forum represented by a number of our neighbouring councils to discuss our growing concerns at the proposed refurbishment of the Albury Wodonga Hospital in Albury.
As stated many times before, a new single site hospital, on a new site, is the only solution to provide for the long term health needs of our growing communities that are serviced by Albury Wodonga Health. Every day the health service faces a critical bed shortage, and the proposal on the table does nothing to address this shortage.
In our case, ongoing concerns about poor Ambulance response times are greatly impacted by “ambulance ramping” at Albury Hospital. This will not be alleviated under the current proposal, and to make matters worse, there’s no plans for a helipad, which is critical when responding to emergency situations in small rural towns.
We need and deserve nothing less than a new hospital on a new site and we will not back away from this position.
Further in YOUR INDIGO you’ll read the incredibly exciting news that the Australian Government has officially given the green light for the Victorian Goldfields to seek World Heritage Listing. Indigo is one of 15 councils working with Traditional Owners, State and Federal Governments and leading experts on the bid.
We’re in for a run of very hot weather, so please take care.
Cr Sophie Price.