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Sustainability on the table
Repair Cafe Bellarine’s Naomi Wells shows off the new Reuse Me in OG kits. (Ivan Kemp) 240766_02
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Local community group Repair Cafe Bellarine has created a new initiative to reduce waste at events including festivals, markets, school fetes and parties. ‘Reuse me in OG’ allows event organisers to borrow reusable tableware kits for free. Repair Cafe has purchased 250 sets of reusable plates, festival plates, bowls, cups and cutlery with the option for event organisers to borrow as little as 20 of each. The sets are made from recycled plastics. The concept was created after Repair Cafe Bellarine creator Courtney Johnson noticed that some of the local markets and festivals were still using single-use plastics, despite a community-wide focus on reducing waste. “We found that if markets and schools wanted to stop using single-use plastics and swap to reusable tableware, they didn’t have many options available to them, especially small events with limited budgets,” she said. Details: linktr.ee/repaircafebellarine or repaircafebellarine@gmail.com.
COVID takes a heavy toll By Justin Flynn Serious domestic assaults almost doubled in Ocean Grove in the year since Australia’s COVID-19 pandemic began, according to crime data released yesterday. Figures from the Crime Statistics Agency reveal 16 serious domestic assaults were reported to police in the 12 months to March 31, up from nine in the previous 12 months. Family violence-related common assaults rose from 15 to 25 during the same period. Geelong Superintendent Peter Ward said
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COVID-19 restrictions had exacerbated family violence issues. “COVID has added a lot of stress physically, mentally and financially on individuals and families,” Superintendent Ward said. “I have no doubt that there are some correlations between those stressors and instances of family violence.” But he also attributed the increase to the trust officers had built in the local community by cracking down on family violence. “That trust leads to people coming forward and identifying that they are victims of family
violence,” he said. Overall crime in Ocean Grove fell by 23 offences from 527 to 504. Property and deception offences fell from 362 to 248, but crimes against the person were up from 79 to 112. Assaults against police or emergency workers rose from four offences to nine, while stealing from a motor vehicle fell from 100 offences to 38. In Barwon Heads, crime fell from 171 offences to 128. Property and deception offences fell from 116 to 80, burglary fell from
19 to four and theft fell from 76 to 39. Clifton Springs recorded 128 offences, down from 200, with property and deception offences falling from 153 to 53. Drysdale’s crime rate remained steady, while the overall number of offences recorded in Portarlington dropped from 181 in the year to March 31,2020, to 171 in the 12 months to March 31, 2021. St Leonards recorded an increase from 186 offences to 234. Theft from a motor vehicle doubled from 10 offences as of March 31, 2020, to 20 offences as of March 31 this year.