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School promotes the joys of cycling
Pedal power: Osborne Primary students Sophie, Mikaela, Keaton, Ryan and Riley preparing for Ride2School Day. Picture: Gary Sissons
OSBORNE Primary School students are being encouraged to embrace the joys of walking, cycling or skating to school, and are gearing up for the National Ride2School Day on 25 March. They will join 350,000 students across Australia taking part in the Bicycle Network campaign on Friday. Grade four teacher Nick Drysdale said the school encouraged student participation because the benefits of getting more exercise were clear. “Often classmates arrange to ride to and from school together, and there are the obvious exercise benefits that flow on to better concentration and better overall health,” he said. Mr Drysdale said walking or riding was “a great way to start the day, feeling fresh and energised”. “It’s a great social and independent activity.,” he said. “For a parent not having to battle through the traffic or find a carpark”. National Ride2School Day is Australia’s biggest celebration of active travel and the peak of the Ride2School program which works to help children get their 60 minutes of daily exercise by riding a bike to school. Students are encouraged to ride, scoot, skate or walk to school. Bicycle Network general manager of behaviour change, Leyla Asadi, said National Ride2School Day was a great time to discover the joy of riding and kick-start healthy habits for the future.
Councillors collect healthy pay rise Brodie Cowburn brodie@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula’s councillors will enjoy a substantial pay rise this year. The Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal made the decision earlier this month. Councillors statewide are set to enjoy a pay increase, with deputy mayors the biggest beneficiaries. Mornington Peninsula council is
designated a category three council. Under the new pay rate, category three councillors will receive an allowance of $35,972, up from the previous amount of up to $31,444. The mayor’s pay has risen from up to $100,434 to $119,316. Deputy mayors will now be paid $59,659. The new allowance comes into retrospectively from 18 December last year. The Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal has also determined that mayors and deputy mayors will receive a pay rise each year until
2025. In the year 2025 mayors will be paid $132,573, and deputy mayors $66,286. Councillors will receive a pay rise each year until 2023, when they will be paid $38,047. In its determination, the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal wrote that it had “taken into account the substantial change in the roles, responsibilities and workload of council members since their allowances were last reviewed and considered the purpose of council member allowances
and the impact of altering their value, including on diversity of representation in local government. The Tribunal has also comprehensively reviewed the existing allowances system for council members taking into account similar allowances for elected members of local government in other states and in the Northern Territory and allowances for persons elected to voluntary parttime community bodies.” In its submission to the tribunal as part of the decision making process, Ratepayers Victoria said “we have lit-
tle control over the income we need to cover the cost of rates on top of other taxes and charges. We have one income and three governments to serve. We have no ability to refuse to pay rates even if council’s rate costs are unaffordable. Given there is no reliable data to predict the financial impact of a rise in mayor, deputy mayor and councillor allowances on Victorian households, Ratepayers Victoria feels it would be unwise for the tribunal to make such a determination.”
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