By now Easter has been and gone, so I hope that the Easter Bunny was kind to you and your family. If, like me, you did happen to indulge a little too much, why not get out there and enjoy some of the amazing walks and trails we have here in Bass Coast – a personal favourite of mine is the George Bass Coastal Walk.

The Our Bass Coast. Our Future. community engagement drop-in sessions for the development of our Council Plan, Community Vision, Long-Term Financial Plan and Health and Wellbeing Plan have now finished, with our last session being held in Inverloch last Wednesday. It has been wonderful to see so many members of our community attend these sessions, to provide really valuable feedback and suggestions for the future of Bass Coast. Engagement will continue until the end of April, so if you haven’t had a chance to have your say yet, you can still fill out our online survey at www.basscoast.vic.gov.au/ourfuture or attend our next Facebook Q&A event on Tuesday, 13 April. We will also be popping up at a few markets and events throughout the month.

It was a thrill to attend the official opening of the Inverloch Netball Precinct on the weekend, as part of the opening round of the West Gippsland Football Netball League competition. The new netball facility was funded through the State Government’s Female Friendly Facilities Funding program, Council, Bendigo Bank and the Inverloch-Kongwak Football Netball Club. Local players are sure to benefit greatly from the new facility, which includes two netball courts, fencing, lighting, storage, player shelters, as well as a new change pavilion, which includes home and away player change rooms, an umpire change room, medical room, accessible toilet, multi-purpose space and kitchenette. Over the past four years, Council has worked hard to upgrade many of our netball facilities. We are proud that Bass, Cowes, Inverloch and Wonthaggi all have compliant courts and that we continue to plan for change facilities for all of our netballers at each reserve. The brand new courts and change pavilion project at Dalyston Recreation Reserve is set to be completed in the coming weeks.

Another fantastic opening I attended recently was for the Wonthaggi Integrated Cancer Centre, also known as the L. Rigby Centre. The Centre, which forms part of the greater Wonthaggi Hospital expansion, is a modern facility which will ensure members of the local community can receive quality care, close to home. Congratulations to Bass Coast Health on the development of this Centre.