I am communicating to you from a wet Grampians. Hopefully some of this rain will get to the Mornington Peninsula. My main message is a reflection on the excellent Conference some of us attended last weekend. I missed the opening session on Friday evening but I believe it set the tone for an inspiring weekend that set the scene on the 7th area of focus, Protecting the Environment, as well as a theme of Leadership. The environment was covered by:
Vic Grosjean(Rotary’s People of Action: Young Innovators) – started the conference on a high energy note with his mission to rehabilitate mangroves and stop plastic pollution in the sea. Passionate and invigorating presentation about how to help our oceans and marine environments form the scourge of plastic poisoning and pollution and an ecological project that all costal living people can help with – planting mangroves. He really put the future into perspective.
The focus then moved to energy and the rapidly changing energy market. Professor Rae McKay, a specialist in Mine rehab in the Latrobe Valley and the person in charge of the Authority tasked with it. A daunting task that is under great pressure due to the timeline being shortened due to early closures of the mines and the pressure of community and industry demands. It could take as long as 2080 to complete unfortunately. Essentially, they are hoping to create 3 lakes with parklands, however, a lack of water may foil this plan.
Erin Coldham – Star of the South wind turbines. All of a sudden this project is now under pressure to become a reality – a wind farm at sea between Wilsons Promontory and Yarram. This wind farm fits in perfectly as coal is phased out. The electric infra structure exists in the Valley and the Valley needs the jobs, however, the time frame is tight to be up and going by 2030. She equated it to the aeroplane taking off as the runway is being laid.
Leadership: There could not be a better speaker to explain leadership than the Winthrop Professor Fiona Wood, Australian of the Year, inventor of spray on skin and a hero of the Bali bombing medical team. I would not do justice to her presentation in an essay let alone a paragraph. A key point was: leadership must be flexible. Listen and respond to your team and when needed take charge. She is an amazing person who enthralled us all with her session on leadership and achievement. One interesting story: She and her husband (also a surgeon) have 6 children, 4 of whom have represented Australia in sport! So much to learn from this lady.
Charlie Allen – Institute for Economics and Peace. This is an Australian organisation that started measuring and gathering data on global peace and is now the leading authority in this field. Their research holds few surprises, however, Australia is not in the top 10 of peaceful nations(of 164, Iceland first), there is a slow trend in the world becoming more peaceful, Russia is 10th of the least peaceful(Afghanistan the worst), most indicators for peace are improving except for Attitudes within a nation(USA the worst). The need for Rotary to promote peace is essential.
Inspirational people- Noorshal Kamawal who studied in Melbourne to become a Master(twice) in Epidemiology and Procedures in health care systems. He returned to Afghanistan to work in the government health system. He also established links with Rotary, UNICEF & WHO. He became a leader in Health in his country. When the Taliban returned last year, he needed to flee and Australia, with help of Rotary sponsors, granted him refugee visa and he now works from Australia to improve the lot of his people. A great example of how our country can help refugees and how they can then make a huge contribution to the world.
Leigh Woodgate a jockey who recovered from an horrific race fall to ride again and beat all the odds. She was in a coma for 17 days, had two punctured lungs, severe brain injury, multiple broken bones and given 3 days to live. She had to relearn to do all basic functions such as speak, walk, swallow, etc. Through incredible will power and determination she disproved all the medical people and many family and friends, that she would not recover. Though still disabled she now rides and is now an independent person. She truly is inspirational and intends to show us all how to overcome adversity and succeed.
Many Rotary projects were highlighted as well – Rotary Health, Disaster Aid Australia, our cluster’s Bay Trail and Mt Martha’s RORP (Rotary Org Recycling Playgrounds) All in all a fantastic conference with the bonus we all had fun. Congratulations to Judy Coultas who had a day out on the golf course winning the Womens’s Teams event and the Putting Competition! It is good to see that Rotary conferences are back!
Yours in Rotary, Neil
Judy Coultas teamed up with Barb Stacey from Sorrento to win.
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