2025 WOMEN ECONOMIC FORUM SUCCESS
Dear Editor,
We were incredibly proud to have launched the 2025 Women Economic Forum in Shepparton, and a first for Regional Victoria.
It was a unique opportunity to showcase the region on the world stage and to share our extraordinary success, and the opportunities in regional Victoria.
It was inspiring to see local leaders, businesses and community members participate in the forum, and for women in our community to have the opportunity to attend such a fantastic event.
We heard from keynote speakers, informative panels and many thought-provoking presentations and discussions.
Many of the women who attended the launch in Shepparton, and the following 3 days in Melbourne said Shepparton had been a highlight of the event.
Events like this reaffirm the regions position as being diverse and innovative, and having a global audience was an incredible opportunity.
Warm Regards,
Kim O’Keeffe MP
Member for Shepparton District
MEAC’s 2025 SENIORS MONTH
A very big thank you to all of the MEAC staff and volunteers who made our 2025 Seniors Month activities possible. Thank you also to all of the attendees/participants, some of whom already access MEAC and those who may have come in for the very first time.
MEAC was abuzz during the month of October as we offered 16 events across that time frame. We raised some funds by holding a raffle and a “Guess How Many Lollies in the Jar” competition. Monies raised helped cover our costs.
Thank you to all of our presenters who kept us informed and entertained:
• Geoffrey W. Graham from Dinkum Oz Entertainment
• Teagan Hommes and Nyrelle Severin from GOTAFE Shepparton
• Doctor John MacKellar (retired) from The Mooroopna Historical Society
• Sarah Batho from Bunnings
• Andrew Lelliott and the U3A Ukulele Group
• Denys Parnell – 3D Printing
• Julie Ash – Wet Felting
• Leading Senior Constable Leigh Johnson – Multicultural Liaison Officer
• Steven Varcoe – Coordinator of Safer Communities at council
• Lisa Lymbery – Social Equity Project Coordinator at council
• TANK
• Chris Munari – volunteer at MEAC
• Wendy Kerr – Merritts’ Funeral Services
• Jim Hepworth – The Mooroopna Cemetery Trust
• Adrian Moule and Nadine Freemantle – CFA
• Dr Peter Eastaugh (retired) – Living Blind
We also had a number of businesses who provided items for our raffle and we thank you very much:
• Mooroopna Care Pharmacy• Taste of Capri• Shepparton RSL• Bill and Beats• Degani• Mooroopna Bakery• Riverside Muffin Break• Hydie Blooms• D’Lux Nails and Spa• Phillips Cellars and Regional Wine Centre• Paul Wickham Pharmacy• Mooroopna Pizzeria and Wine Bar• Cricketers Family Hotel• Harmony Healing Massage
Finally, a big thank you to The Adviser for your support during the festival.
Kind Regards,
Jenny Carter
THE REALITIES OF ADULT TIME FOR YOUNG OFFENDERS
Dear Editor,
In his letter (Adviser, 26/11) Andy Nicholls relates his experience as a juvenile offender who turned his life around as a result of receiving a custodial sentence in a juvenile detention centre, and suggested that my letter (Adviser, 19/11) advocated wrapping young offenders in cotton wool.
My 20 years in juvenile justice was at Turana Youth Training Centre, dealing with Victoria’s most recidivist and serious juvenile offenders. The boys I worked with included murderers, rapists, and armed robbers. For a period, I was in charge of the maximum-security unit; at other times, I ran semi-security and open units.
On multiple occasions, I stared down and talked down, inmates wielding knifes or makeshift weapons; I physically intervened to break up fights; and I authorised the locking of boys in solitary confinement (personally escorted them to those cells and locking the door behind them). I once suffered a vicious assault by two drug affected inmates, undergoing surgery for what proved to be a permanent injury.
I’m not the proverbial bleeding-heart liberal seeking to wrap young offenders in cotton wool. I’ve done the hard yards and years at the coal-face. On the other side of the ledger, I also established and conducted Australia’s first outdoor education program for young offenders.
Like Andy Nicholls, relatively few boys we dealt with went on to become adult offenders. Through my intense personal experience, I know that treating juvenile offenders as adults will ultimately have disastrous and costly long-term consequences – for both the offender and the taxpayer.
Andy should reflect on the fact that he was treated as a juvenile, tried in a juvenile court, and served time in a juvenile detention centre. By his own acknowledgement, this worked.
Had he been treated as an adult, tried in an adult court, and sentenced as an adult (the policy I am opposing), would he have achieved the same positive outcome? Or would he have been irreparably damaged? Fortunately for him, he never had to find out.
Sincerely,
Dr Dennis Dodd,
Shepparton, 3630
VICTORIA’S ROADS ARE NOT ROAD-WORTHY
To the Editor,
Regional Victorians are all too familiar with low-quality roads, both in their municipalities as well as on state roads, and as the costs pile up on drivers to maintain their vehicles, sustain registration fees and growing fuel costs, the State Government seems to be leaving the northern regions roads – among others – behind.
Road conditions have continued to be neglected despite the government flaunting extensive ‘investment in our roads’. On our way home from our honeymoon, my wife and I experienced the impacts on cars that the conditions have first hand, with our tyre popping over one of the pot-holes that litter the road between Melbourne and Shepparton.While the State Labor Government pours hundreds of millions into their own city-centric projects, it appears that their commitment to regional roads only amounts to band-aid fixes that do little to actually improve long-term safety and usability.
We as car owners are expected to make our cars roadworthy, but the government has continued to shirk their responsibility for keeping our roads safe and car-worthy.Regional communities deserve quality roads, not band-aid fixes, and big numbered press releases that don’t reflect the real impact – or lack thereof – on communities who rely on the roads.
Kind regards,
Rowan Farren
Chairperson of Mooroopna Community Plan Steering Committee
Want to have your say?
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editorial@sheppartonadviser.com.au
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