BULLETIN

• Restricted breed dogs: The State Government has announced it will seek to remove the ban on registering restricted breed dogs as part of its response to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into breed-specific legislation. Owners of restricted breed dogs will be required to adhere to strict requirements, including ensuring that such dogs are desexed, microchipped, kept in escape-proof housing and identified by a special collar. It remains unclear how the State intends to deal with the overarching issue of how to defensibly determine that a dog is indeed a restricted breed dog.

• State Council: Last week we held our second State Council meeting for 2016, where MAV members adopted 33 resolutions put forward by councils. Resolutions are now available on the MAV website.

• Stand for Council: Nominations for council elections opened this week and will close at midday on 20 September. We would like to thank all councils who held one of our candidate information sessions during the last few months. We hosted 87 sessions with more than 1400 potential candidates in attendance. Councils are reminded that the caretaker period begins on 20 September. Also this week the Victorian Electoral Commission released two new videos for voters explaining attendance and postal voting.

The latest edition of CiVic Magazine has been sent to all councils and is available online.

This issue includes articles on accessible beaches by councils, the Fix Our Roads campaign, and the installation of the Man lifting cow sculpture in Sunshine.

To submit local government story ideas for future editions please contact CiVic editor Kristi High.

This week the MAV met with Minister for Consumer Affairs, Liquor and Gambling Regulation, Marlene Kairouz to continue advocating for legislative reform. Reform is needed to give councils and communities more control of pokies placement in communities that can least afford to lose.

The MAV provided further gaming research and information to the Minister that we commissioned, as well as a copy of the influential documentary KaChing.

The Minister indicated that the government is introducing bans on advertising in selected public spaces including transport hubs and near schools. The government will also support greater community awareness aimed at younger people about the likelihood of losing. The Minister is seeking information and options for the regional caps on poker machine numbers.

The MAV will continue to seek inclusion in any forum that will mitigate the burden on councils in considering applications for gaming machines.

A copy of our draft submission to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s (DELWP) Climate Change Adaptation Plan Directions Paper has been sent to members for feedback.

This is the final opportunity to provide input to DELWP prior to publication of Victoria’s second Climate Change Adaptation Plan in early 2017. The Directions Paper is very high level, seeking feedback on the proposed vision, goals, principles and action areas to be included in the Adaptation Plan.

DELWP has established a consultation website for the Directions Paper. The deadline for feedback to DELWP is 5pm on 23 September.

Feedback on our draft submission can be sent to Michelle Croughan by 5pm on 21 September.

The Local Government Digital Transformation Task Force is a leadership group established by the MAV in March 2016. Its role is to champion local government business transformation enabled through digital means. The Task Force is the first multi-stakeholder group of its type in Australia.

During five workshops held since March the Task Force has:

• established an agreed vision and strategy for digital transformation of local government
• established a fact base through council survey results
• identified key areas for targeted activity through working groups
• recommended the application of the DTO's Digital Service Standard to local government digital transformation activities
• endorsed a number of recommendations to be implemented over coming months including the establishment of a Knowledge Centre of council case studies, tools, research and other resources.

Task Force member and Surf Coast Shire Council CEO, Keith Ballie made a presentation at our Annual Conference last week, which is now available online.

Following the annual call for nominations, MAV Technology is delighted to announce the appointment of three new Executive Committee members:

• Duncan Kelly: Information Technology Manager, City of Whittlesea
• Bill Petridis: Chief Information Officer, City of Moonee Valley
• Jane Tyzack: Manager Community First & Digital Mobilisation – City Transformation, Wyndham City Council.

MAV Technology Executive Committee members make decisions about the direction and activities of MAV Technology, including project funding and events.

• The MAV would like to congratulate the winners of the Heart Foundation Local Government Awards, who were announced by Kellie-Ann Jolly, Heart Foundation Victoria CEO, at our Annual Dinner last week (pictured with Swan Hill Cr Gary Norton). Swan Hill Rural City Council won an award for its Move More challenge, and the City of Greater Dandenong won for two initiatives; the Ross Reserve Youth and Urban Skate Park and Walking Strategy.

• The state and federal governments have announced the activation of disaster assistance in response to recent floods that are affecting parts of Victoria.

• The Federal Government has announced $1.7 million in Building Stronger Communities for Women grants for community projects around building connections and helping reduce violence against women and their children.

• Several Victorian councils have been successful in receiving Federal funding through round five of the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Programme. A national list of recipients is now available online.

• Councils and communities can apply for the second round of the State’s $10 million Community Shade Grant Program. Funds can be used for shade in public areas such as sports clubs, parks and playgrounds. Applications close on 6 October and grants will be awarded in early 2017.

• Nominations are now open for the 2016 Parks Victoria Kookaburra Awards. The biennial awards recognise individuals and groups who help conserve Victoria’s parks and reserves. Nominations close on 23 September.

• The MAV is seeking feedback on our current publications and communications channels to gain a better understanding of what our members receive, read and find useful. As a loyal bulletin subscriber you are invited to have your say and participate in our MAV Communications Survey. Your views about our current communications will help us to improve the information we provide, and ensure our member communications are informative, timely and meet your needs.

• Following last week's MAV Annual Conference and Dinner we are seeking feedback from attendees to help inform future MAV events.

• For the third year in a row, MAV Technology sponsored this year's GovHack competition on 9 September. The MAV Technology open data prize for 2016 went to joint winners Pet-tential and SmartPath.

• The Australian National Audit Office has released an audit report on the first round of funding under the Mobile Blackspot Programme.

• Jeroen Weimar has been announced as the new Chief Executive Officer of Public Transport Victoria. He has been acting in the role since January.