Councillor Matters | Cr Jenny Greenberger, February 6, 2026
Published on 06 February 2026
Our first council meeting for 2026 was held on Tuesday this week. Council now meets on Tuesdays to avoid reshuffles for long weekends.
The start time remains the same and the location still alternates between Stawell and St Arnaud.
The schedule for 2026 can be found on our website, www.ngshire.vic.gov.au.
A priority for me as a councillor this term is genuine engagement with our communities.
I think we started our four-year term strongly, by engaging to develop the Council Plan. Hearing from our community will continue to be a priority for me this year.
Currently there are two important matters open for community feedback, both accessible from the website home page.
The first relates to year two priorities chosen from the Council Plan. These selected tasks will inform the council’s 2026/27 budget.
As you may remember, the Council Plan contains a list of tasks, that over the four-year term, will enable goals and strategies to be achieved.
This new list, once finalised, will inform our budget priorities for the next financial year. It will detail the tasks we want to activate next and how we are going to pay for them.
We councillors will certainly be having a very close look at the list to highlight what we think are the next most important tasks to get going, but we want to hear from you too.
Participatory democracy! Have your say, not just at election time but throughout the term.
The second consultation is equally important. For those of us in the more senior age bracket, the subject of this nation’s aged care system is of critical importance.
The Federal Royal Commission into Aged Care identified serious issues resulting in a new Aged Care Act and regulations. The focus is now very much on the rights and needs of older people, rather than the providers of care.
For many locals, our first experience of needing additional support to continue to live safely at home comes through the Northern Grampians Shire Home Support Program. This includes in-home domestic assistance such as home and garden maintenance, meal preparation and delivery services, medical and transportation assistance, and respite care. The staff and volunteers who provide these services are wonderful and we so appreciate everything they do.
The challenge for council moving forward is that ratepayers already subsidise this service to some extent – which is fine – older people are ratepayers too and many have contributed for decades.
However, government funding arrangements are changing, with some risk that an even greater contribution from rates may be required.
For more information, please do have a look at the website, here. Then, please fill in the survey or come along to a drop-in session to tell us what you think.
It’s going to be a tough decision so the more people we hear from the better.