All reports

Council meeting · 28 April 2025

Anzac Day services, a grilling from Rowville Primary's Grade 5 and 6 students, and Pets in the Park

2 min 07 s · Item 5, Reports by Councillors · Reported as Deputy Mayor

0:001:37:35

This report runs from 27:55 to 30:02 of a 1 h 38 min meeting. Watch the full meeting on the council webcast.

Summary

I noted the Anzac Day services held across Knox, including laying a wreath on behalf of the Mayor at the Boronia RSL dawn service and joining the service at Waterford Valley Lakes retirement village. I also spoke about visiting Rowville Primary School, where the Grade 5 and 6 students studying governance and civic responsibility gave me a grilling and some ideas I have passed on to staff, and about Pets in the Park.

The Anzac Day service at Waterford Valley Lakes retirement village.
The Anzac Day service at Waterford Valley Lakes retirement village.

Transcript

Edited from the meeting's auto-generated captions.

And just a couple from me. Just noting, as my colleagues have, the incredible Anzac Day memorials and services that were held across the municipality. It was an honour for me to lay a wreath on behalf of our Mayor, Mayor Cooper, at the Boronia RSL dawn service, with my colleagues and our CEO in attendance. I also joined Councillor Considine at Waterford Valley Lakes retirement village for their incredible service a little bit later in the morning. The turnouts were amazing. It was a relatively mild morning, I think, comparatively speaking, so it was lovely to be out so early and sharing in that moment.

And just a shout out to Rowville Primary School. Back on Tuesday the 1st of April, I had the pleasure, and I think probably one of the highlights of being a councillor is attending primary schools when you get the chance to engage with students. The leading teacher of 6B invited me to attend and have a bit of a session with all the Grade 5 and 6 students, as they were studying governance and civic responsibility.

So it's fair to say they gave me a grilling across all manner of council matters. We went into the planning scheme, we talked about infringements and parking issues, and they had some ideas about where we could put dirt jumps and new playgrounds, and had some fantastic ideas. As always, for me, a real honour and a privilege and a highlight of being on Council is to have that sort of conversation, and as I promised them, I have fed some of their ideas back to the relevant staff here at Council. But a really impressive group of students, our future leaders of course. Some of them are planning to have a tilt at Council in, I think, about eight years' time, so I said I was looking forward to that, if I was still around.

And just to note, the 6th of April, Pets in the Park. It goes a little bit under the radar, Pets in the Park, but it's a signature event of ours and was so well attended, and the weather was fantastic.

So there's some other matters that I will provide in writing further to this report.