Mail - Upper Yarra Mail - 12th May 2015

Page 1

Upper Yarra

25 Tuesday, 12 May, 2015

Stricken charity fund-raiser

7

Mail Covering the Upper Yarra Region of the Yarra Ranges Shire

Budget winners and losers

A Mail News Group publication

33-35

Sports of all sorts

Phone: 5957 3700 Trades and Classifieds: 1300 666 808

School set to take off $3000 fine on adverts By KATH GANNAWAY

Yarra Junction Primary School students Baylin and Teagan with principal Chris Thomas are all smiles on hearing the funding announcement for their school.

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GET Off Drugs Naturally (GODN) at East Warburton has been fined $3000 and ordered to remove false claims about its Narconon program from its website. The Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria has found that claims made by GODN in relation to the success rates of their program could not be substantiated. In a statement issued on 7 May, Consumer Affairs said they had accepted an enforceable undertaking from GODN and naturapath, Dr Nerida James, who established the organisation in 2001. Narconon was at the centre of a year-long battle last year when it sought to move from East Warburton to central Warburton. VCAT ultimately backed Yarra Ranges Council and objectors and refused a permit to relocate. When issued with a substantiation notice by Consumer Affairs Victoria in October last year the association was unable to provide evidence that 10 testimonials were genuinely from patients, or that all the claims made about the treatment program were supported by independently verified scientific evidence. “Get Off Drugs Naturally also claimed that its ‘detoxification program thoroughly removes the physical cravings for drugs and alcohol naturally and even rids the body of unwanted toxins and chemicals.’ It claimed that more than 70 per cent of participants stayed drug-free ‘for many years’ after completing the program,” CAV said. Under the terms of the undertaking, Get Off Drugs Naturally must remove all false claims about the effectiveness of its program, and testimonials it was unable to substantiate, from the website. The Mail endeavoured to contact GODN, but did not get a response by deadline.

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YARRA Junction Primary School student Baylin will be happy to see the end of the “stinky, hot, annoying” portables he has had the displeasure of learning in in recent years. The announcement last week that the school was allocated $2million in the State Budget to upgrade classrooms and build a new art room was met with cheers and applause at the school assembly on Monday morning. With both Liberal and Labor coming on board last year with election promises to fund the much-lobbied-for upgrade, the school had only to wait for this budget. In the end, it will be Labor that unveils the plaque when students move into four new classrooms and unleash their creativity in the new art room. The office of Education Minister and Deputy Leader, James Merlino, confirmed to the Mail last week that the total $2M has been allocated in the 2015-’16 budget as part of a $730 million education infrastructure package for Victoria. School council president Brian Westlake said it was great news. “If we get the full amount, we can have picks and shovels going by August,” he said following the announcement. He said it had been a long battle which was ramped up in the lead-up to the election after years of concern about the state of buildings and unsuccessful attempts to get funding. “The foundations of the portables started to subside almost immediately they were put in and when we got to the stage where the art room

was condemned, and then the kids play area as well, we started lobbying from our first (school) council meeting in 2014,” Mr Westlake said. “We lobbied both parties, and to their credit we got a great hearing from them both. “I felt all the pollies on both sides worked hard, haven’t swept us under the carpet after the election, and we now have this funding, as promised.” Our school will become absolute top quality for the next 30 years and it’s really going to change the whole aspect of the school. “Academically, the school performs very highly at a state level and the infrastructure will now match the quality of education. Principal Chris Thomas had the enjoyable task of letting the students know that while there might be a little pain in the short-term, the gain would be well worth the wait. “You will see lots of workmen coming around the school in the next three months for all the planning, then we will get rid of the portables and start on the new classrooms,” he said to huge applause. Mr Thomas said everyone at the school was “over the moon” and looking forward to starting the planning process with a meeting scheduled this week. “It was a real community effort last year to get the $2 million and without such a strong community, we would not have been successful,” he said. “We start planning next week and from there hope to be building late this year and moving in around late 2016 or early in 2017.”

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By KATH GANNAWAY


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Mail - Upper Yarra Mail - 12th May 2015 by Star News Group - Issuu