The application process for membership of the Sustainable Hepburn Community Advisory Committee has closed. We are pleased to announce that we have filled the quota for 10 members from diverse walks of life to partner with us to deliver the Sustainable Hepburn Strategy through targeted advice, communication outreach and engagement. The full list of 12 members is below, which includes two Councillors. The Committee is convened by Jodi Newcombe, Council’s Circular Economy Officer.

• Councillor Brian Hood (Chair)
• Councillor Tim Drylie
• Karl Fitzgerald
• Linda Hancock
• Stuart Jonas
• Katherine Lewisohn
• Nikki Marshall
• Diana Martinez Valadez
• Sandra Nichols
• Peter Rice
• Michelle Stephenson
• Jo Taylor

The Sustainable Hepburn Strategy was co-designed with the community and is intended to be delivered in partnership with the community. A dedicated Community Reference Group was engaged in the co-design and development of the Sustainable Hepburn Strategy and a recommendation coming out of the process was to continue to involve the community in Sustainable Hepburn’s implementation. This recommendation has been actioned with the formation this year of a Sustainable Hepburn Community Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee will assist with building stronger partnerships and collaboration between council, community and other stakeholders for Sustainable Hepburn’s implementation as well as assisting with transparency of progress and efficiency of communication.

As a Council we will do most of the heavy lifting in implementing the strategy, but see this advisory group as a critical body to ensure we are in touch with community as we implement the actions it sets out.

Sustainable Hepburn 2022-26 is the Hepburn Shire Council’s new environmental sustainability strategy acknowledging the interconnected nature of climate change, biodiversity and waste management. The strategy updates Council’s commitment to further reduce our corporate greenhouse gas emissions, protect and enhance our local biodiversity, transition to a low waste Shire and become more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Sustainable Hepburn includes actions for council to reduce impact on its own operations as well as actions to assist the community.