INSIDE DE TODAY
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YEAR 12
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Committed to the cause Moe Racing Club turned pink in support of Latrobe Regional Health on Sunday. Locals Jessika Mylne, Rachel Schroeder and Jemma Dowling were among the packed crowd who helped raise more than $25,000 at the health cancer fundraiser meeting. MORE PAGE 46
RINSE AND REPEAT ANOTHER BRIDGE DRAMA
Photograph: Liam Durkin
PEOPLE POWER HEALTH ASSEMBLY IS HERE TO STAY
By AIDAN KNIGHT
AFTER being excluded from state government funding in the 2025/26 budget, the Latrobe Health Assembly (LHA) has received a new lease on life. The organisation, born from the ashes of the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry, will rise like a phoenix thanks to a passionate community campaign that prevents its seemingly unavoidable closure. Assembly chair, Tanya Rong, said it felt like the end of an era when the defunding announcement came through in May this year. “But our community simply refused to give up. The people of the Latrobe Valley stood up and said, 'we still need this'. The work isn’t done here. "We began the difficult process of ending a suite of powerful communitydesigned projects and preparing for a November closure. "But because of the passion and persistence of our community, we now have a lifeline, a chance to keep going,
to evolve, and to continue doing what we do best: bringing people together to make positive change." This lifeline came in the form of the strong public advocacy and regional support, from community and LHA members, leading to the Department of Health advising the state government to reinstate the Assembly, on a leaner portion of its previous budget. This will enable the organisation to soldier on, albeit not as strongly as it previously was, but long enough to transition towards a "community-owned" model of the independent body, to ensure that these important programs prevail in the wake of any further funding cuts. "The loss of previous projects will leave a lasting impact on our community," Ms Rong said of the LHA's losses from the ordeal. "However, the new Assembly will work tirelessly to maintain the same impact it has had for the past eight years. We’ll keep co-designing, collaborating and creating real, local solutions, and
we’ll keep fighting for the health and wellbeing of every person in the Latrobe Valley.” Not long after the defunding announcement, Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas went on record to say the LHA's works were "complete" - something executive officer Ellen-Jane Browne and the rest of the Assembly dispute vehemently. "Our work isn't done," she told the Express in an exclusive interview last week. "Changing health inequality takes time, you can't just snap your fingers and cure chronic illnesses in any community, let alone one of the most disadvantaged in Victoria". Ms Browne elaborated that the permitted amount from the cash reserve was around 10 per cent of the previous budget, and will be utilised purely to keep the organisation afloat for the next 12 months while community and philanthropic efforts are made amid the transition to secure a longer future for
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the LHA. Ms Thomas is confident that the community-led model will be a good one and achievable at that. "What the opportunity here is for community to take total control of the assembly and for them to kind of say, 'how do we influence government as a community member?',” she said. Ms Rong will stay on as interim chair of the LHA until the end of January 2026, as the Assembly takes time to assemble a new board, and all paid positions are made redundant, of which Ms Browne said totalled 18 employees. Going forward, the Assembly will be comprised of volunteers on each and every angle, and as such will now be able to act as a registered charity - making room for tax benefits that may entice said philanthropists and businesses to consider funding or donating to the new brand of LHA. Any money not used from this 10 per cent allocation by the end of 2026 must be returned back to the state government. Continued - Page 2
CLINICAL SKILLS MEDICAL CAREERS
COACH OF CASEY MCLENNAN JOINS VFL