Thursday, June 24, 2021

Georges Riverkeeper General Meeting - June 2021

Mosquito sucking blood from human skin

With the COVID 19 situation escalating in Sydney, Georges Riverkeeper decided to hold the 24 June General Meeting online, rather than have Fairfield City Council host the meeting on location.

It was well attended by 27 people, including Councillors Adrian Wong, Michael Banasik, Rey Manoto, and Warren Tegg and staff from member councils as well as community representatives.

Guest speaker, Nona Ruddell, Catchment Planning Coordinator from Fairfield City Council, presented an update on the first phase of the Georges River Floodplain Management Study - Scoping Study. The Study is being led by the Georges River Floodplain Management subcommittee which has representatives from Georges Riverkeeper and all member councils and is taking a catchment-wide approach to reduce flood risk to life, property and social amenity from floods in the Georges River Catchment, now and into the future. The Phase 1 outputs include collecting and reviewing data about floods, floodplain risk management, emergency response and evaluation, land use planning and flood risk. This information will be reviewed in early 2022 and priority projects will be identified for State funding requests.

Georges Riverkeeper Program Coordinator, Rob Dixon, also presented a fascinating overview of mosquito expert, Dr. Cameron Webb’s, research about mosquitoes at Sydney Olympic Park. This included information about diseases they carry, nuisance biting, surveillance methods, mosquito population measures, potential risks to humans and control programs. Mozzies do pose a risk to human health and amenity, however the areas they inhabit provide multiple benefits to people. Control measures are available, but they are very expensive. The research shows that managing community expectations via education is key.

Georges Riverkeeper presented the Program Report for activities in recent months as well as the Draft Annual Workplan and Draft Budget for 2021/22 which was approved unanimously by the committee.