Sam Birrell, Author at Committee for Greater Shepparton

Let’s Aspire to Keep Improving the Lives of Those in Greater Shepparton

“Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown – waiting for something or someone to show you the way” – Pink Floyd, 1973 (from the song Time). This is my last column for the News as Committee for Greater Shepparton CEO. What a privilege it has been to do this job. It is…

Prosperity Plan Paves a Path into Goulburn Murray’s Future with Equality Central

“The language, and the approach, have de-valued Aboriginal people over the last 150 years. We have an opportunity to change the narrative from a cost to society of maintaining the welfare structures, to an investment language here in our region that looks at the future of indigenous peoples, the shared culture, the shared economy and…

Leadership is Open to Everyone

There are pivot points in life, times of questioning and considering direction. Reflecting on who you are, your capabilities, flaws, and what really matters to you. Gaining a better understanding of those around you, and the community that you live in. For me a major pivot point was 2013, when I completed the Fairley Leadership…

The Greater Shepparton COVID Outbreak

Greater Shepparton is facing one of its most significant challenges ever. The continued news of positive COVID cases has been coming in on our screens and feeds since Friday morning. The rising numbers and the fact that large schools are Tier 1 exposure sites means that many families and businesses are impacted by stay at…

Weigh Up a Vaccine’s Pain and Gain

Does anybody know what a micromort is? No, it is not a small American cartoonist. A micromort is a concept developed by Ronald Howard, a professor at Stanford University, to establish the probability of death. A micromort is one chance in one million that a person will die. Micromorts can be applied to different activates,…

It’s Time to Tackle Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that without significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions the world will struggle to keep increases in global temperatures under 2 degrees Celsius. If we can’t keep the increase under 2 degrees, there is a risk of ‘dangerous’ human interference with the system. That means that once it…

Tiring Journey to Destination Bypass

The year was 1996. There was a Federal election in February – Keating out, Howard in. Oasis was the big new band. I had hair. In Greater Shepparton, the call was made on the western alignment for the Shepparton Bypass of the Goulburn Valley Highway. People sold farms to Vic Roads, and the community thought…

Time for a Healthy Dose to Boost Jobs

The Regional Australia Institute has identified that there are 54,000 job vacancies across regional Australia. A significant number of those are professional or skilled jobs. This has led to a campaign by the institute, called “move to more”, with the intent to move more skilled workers from metropolitan areas to regional Australia. This campaign sits…

Time to support super school staff

One group that is doing it very tough in Greater Shepparton at the moment is the staff of Greater Shepparton Secondary College. The challenges of a new merged entity coincided with a pandemic that led to a challenging first year of operation and meant students have found it difficult to settle as a result of…

Lockdown questions need answers

When the five-day circuit breaker lockdown was announced by the Victorian Government on February 12, there was one new feature — regional Victoria would experience stage four restrictions for the first time ever. Shops and cafes closed, children were home from school and we could have only two-hour exercise outings, not more than 5 km…