BULLETIN 13th Sep, 2022 (Sep 13, 2022)

Space

WHAT'S IN THIS BULLETIN

13^th Sep 2022

Next Meeting
Guest Speaker
From The Last Meeting
President's Announcements
Garden DesignFest
Gallery

Chair

WILLIAMS, Rohan

Greeter/Zoom Host

GANGULI, Suvam

Reporter

SOROS, Rob

Photographer

THORNTON, Roger

Door

ROLLS, Russell

Bulletin Editor

LIM, Daniel

Social Media

LIM, Daniel

NEXT MEETING

This meeting will be a face-to-face meeting at the RACV Club in the CBD.

The meeting will commence at 7:40am and conclude no later than 8:45.

Members can use this Humanitix link for all future face to face meetings. This link will be published in the bulletin every week going forward.
https://events.humanitix.com/rotary-central-melbourne-breakfast-meeting

Online meetings are scheduled on the last Tuesday of each month. Members can use the following Zoom link to attend these meetings. For security reasons, the password for the Zoom meetings will be circulated in a separate email closer to the date of the next online meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85224950607?pwd=HwoGsyQSAyXY4vCQRFcWLQt04xM9ui.1

GUEST SPEAKER TUESDAY, 13 SEP 2022

Posted on Sep 13, 2022

Dr Helen Addison-Smith: The right to brunch - food insecurity and pleasure

Food waste is at record levels, with roughly a third of all food produced wasted each year. With so much food to spare, why have 18% of Australians run out of food without knowing where their next meal is coming from?

The answer to this state of food insecurity could seem simple - redistribute food waste to the hungry - but is far more complex and takes us into the territory of deeply held beliefs of worthiness, shame and belonging. Research into and change of these feelings and cultures are at the heart of RMIT’s new Cafelab project.

The Cafelab will work to destigmatise the food that is wasted, while at the same time working on processes to minimise food waste. Waste food will be refigured as a source of creativity and playfulness for chefs and eaters alike. The Cafelab will remember the culinary skills created in lean times - fermenting, preserving, drying, making do - and teach them to next generations of chefs before this knowledge disappears. The space will be lively with interaction - think robots, bees, mushrooms, games, projections, libraries of books and things - all working to give pleasurable education and interaction to the many. It will strive to be a truly inclusive space, giving free access to what is often figured as ‘the finer things in life’ - such as good food, creativity and conviviality - instead refiguring them as civic rights that benefit society as a whole through mental and physical health benefits. This talk will discuss how our team of researchers and chefs will put pleasure back on the plate for all Melburnians.

Dr Helen Addison-Smith is a chef, writer, member of the Digital Ethnography Research Centre at RMIT and co-founder of the Cafelab. She owns and operates Ice-cream Social (Brunswick and Thornbury) and founded Loafer Bread (North Fitzroy). She currently works with not-for-profits such as Free to Feed and Sustain: The Australian Food Network. Helen is also a writer, with special interest in the intersection between food and feelings.

FROM THE LAST MEETING

Meeting was formally opened by President Rohan and following visitors welcomed;

Maria Groner
Elaine Shallue
Nicholas Oei - Student
David Rosenbery - Student

Announcements

Millie reminded all of the Families Day at Science Works, Sunday 11^th September.

Millie also announced a further social event ‘Drinks and Snacks’ now in planning for end of October. Details to come later.

Alan advised that David, our Exchange Student from Germany, has considerable time available for learning more about Victoria between now and the next few weeks. Members are invited to include David is outings and tours -a win/win.

Guest Speaker;
Rob Landale.

“The Aged Care Industry and implementation of the Royal Commission recommendations.’

Rob commenced with explanations of some of the data arising from the Royal Commission which might be summarised:

There are 148 recommendations for regulation in;
- Quality of Care
- Star ratings
- Care Staff
- At home care
- Aged Care fees
The Commission visited 33 facilities during 2019.
The Commission heard 600 witnesses over 18 months
There were 14 roundtable discussions and 12 community forums Australia wide.

Recommended Entities;

A new National Cabinet Reform Committee -comprised of politicians Federal and States
A new Aged Care Commission – comprised of 9 Board members appointed by the Governor General. To administer the aged care system, star ratings and quarterly reports to the Minister and Parliament
A new Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority
A new Aged Care Advisory Council -appointed by Federal Minister
A new Council of Elders to advise the minister on safety, rights and dignity of older people
Continuance of Aged CARE Safety and Quality Authority
Continuance of Dept of Health and Aged Care
Continuance of Inspector-General of Aged Care

Rob gave examples of difficulties he has observed in a few care facilities. He said that wages of employees are low which tends to lead to short term employment with loss of experience. He said that generally he has seen staff wanting to do more but the system needs fixing and profit factors make it difficult for good practices to be employed overall.

There is a consumer demand for more at home care and this is supported by Government.

Looking ahead Rob questions how greater funding is going to filter through the Aged Care facilities operations for the ultimate benefit of the residents.

In question time members related their experience with various care facilities highlighting preference for home care; the systems variance between operating large city care facilities compared with considerably smaller scale country homes; the not-for-profit sector for aged care that tend to operate on reduced income levels; and implementation of the star rating which appears hinged on all residents receiving 200 minutes of contact with staff each day can be achieved.

Chair for the day Russell thanked Rob.

David Rosenbery. Exchange Student

We were treated to a violin piece by David, equipped with a Hawks cap. David is a very personable young man who is fitting in very well with the club.

Meeting Closed

In closing the meeting President Rohan thanked Rob and David for their contributions and farewelled our visitors.

PRESIDENT'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Rotary Down Under are inviting all members to submit written articles about special parts of Victoria that are known to them – to be used for promotion of Victoria for visitors to the Rotary International Convention in May ’23.
The Regionalisation survey will remain open until 18^th September. All members are encouraged to respond to this short survey. Go to: Rotary Regionalization Pilot Survey (surveymonkey.com)
Our Succession Plan Committee will be meeting on October 3^rdto consider candidates for President Nominee role. Two members of the club are invited to join the Committee for this process.

GARDEN DESIGNFEST A SUCCESS

After two years of Covid delays, the Garden DesignFest Organising Committee, from the three Rotary clubs of Kew, Brighton North and Central Melbourne, was finally able to put on display a range of gorgeous gardens over the past two weekends. And apart from the weather, everything went off without a hitch. We bravely embraced 21st Century technology, taking payments via Squares in all the gardens (thank you Rob for training a large number of technically challenged Rotarians from all three Rotary clubs). We watched the skies with trepidation leading up to the first weekend, with 13 gardens on display in Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. But Saturday turned out to be a fine sunny day and on Sunday the storms stayed away until evening. The weather was less kind the next weekend for the 20 country gardens, with two gardens closed on the Sunday due to torrential rain the previous day. On Sunday morning in some gardens the rain lashed down, the winds howled and volunteers hung on to the shelters to prevent them from blowing away. Not surprisingly, attendance figures were less than expected in those gardens badly affected.

All the gardens on show were interesting, some were really impressive. A standout garden at 9 Barnsbury Road, Deepdene impressed by its sheer size, with huge old trees set around a magnificent old home. In Brighton, another historical garden at 23 Asling Street featured 100 year old trees and vegetables in gardens beds throughout. On the second weekend, the four gardens at Euroa were magnificent, exemplified by The Falls with its waterfall, enclosed espalier orchard and scenic lake. Garden DesignFest cannot happen without volunteers to organise the event, buy and sell raffle tickets and staff the gardens over the two weekends. I wish to acknowledge and thank all of you who helped, in particular those who accepted the added responsibility of being a Garden Captain.

Garden DesignFest has two key objectives – to give people the opportunity to look at wonderful gardens and, in the process, raise money for charity. Just seeing the smiling faces on visitors confirms success of the first objective. We are still in the process of finalising numbers prior to distributing funds, firstly two our headline charity Youth Suicide Awareness and then to the Rotary clubs. However, I am delighted to advise that over the two weekends Garden DesignFest raised, in total, over $100,000 for distribution to charities.

Roger Thornton
Chair, GDFOC

Garden DesignFest 2022 Sponsors

The Rotary Club of Kew, the Rotary Club of Brighton North and Rotary Central Melbourne sincerely thank our generous sponsors who have made the 2022 Garden DesignFest possible.

All proceeds from the Garden DesignFest go to community projects run by the participating Rotary Clubs.

Click here for further information on metropolitan and regional gardens open during the festival.