By Callum Ludwig
Yarra Ranges Council is partnering with Mornington Peninsula Council to request the State Government to reevaluate their status as metropolitan/peri-urban regions.
They want to create a new category; peri-regional, allowing access to regional funding for projects in the eastern areas of the shire like the Upper Yarra, and continue to maintain green wedge protections provided for urban areas.
Mayor of Yarra Ranges Council Jim Child said a peri-regional status would better recognise the mixed metropolitan and regional makeup of the Yarra Ranges.
“Both Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Ranges have some urban townships and areas, with urban issues such as high housing prices, but we also have communities that share regional issues, such as slow internet speeds, poor public transport and socio-economic disadvantage compared to our neighbours,” he said.
“Importantly, a significant amount of funding opportunities and programs provide eligibility based on this classification and we’ve only had access to urban funding programs to deliver regional objectives and projects.”
Residing in the metropolitan area has raised a lot of issues in recent times for Yarra Ranges residents, with outrage and uproar from communities in outer areas of the shire who had to adhere to metropolitan Covid-19 restrictions in towns like Warburton and Healesville.
Cr Child said the Yarra Ranges is deserving of more support for their contribution to the state economy.
“While initiatives and occasional funding access exist to assist Interface Councils (Councils ringing around Melbourne’s metropolitan edge), many other programs that would benefit our regional communities are out of reach for us while we remain classified strictly as a metropolitan Council,” he said.
“This also impacts community groups and organisations who may deliver services to our more regional areas, but would be unable to access regional funding programs due to our classification.”
In February 2022, Star Mail published a story on the struggles faced by Yarra Junction Medical Centre (YJMC) due to their classification as a regional centre under the Modified Monash Model, the second-ranking in the model. If the clinic was based in Millgrove or on Settlement Rd which runs adjacent to the Warburton Highway, they would be classed as the fifth ranking; a small rural town clinic.
As a result, the medical centre is not considered a Distribution Priority Area (DPA) for GP’s searching for a position despite being over an hour and a half away from Melbourne’s CBD and often are too far to travel for many doctors.
Importantly, the clinic is not eligible as a location for doctors trained overseas to fulfill 10 years working at a rural practice once operating in Australia.
In the past 12 months, YJMC has gone from seven full-time doctors to only three part-timers and is unable to meet the needs of people in the area they have served for the past 40 years. They are also the only medical centre capable of providing emergency treatment in the area, with Lilydale the next closest location.
The Yarra Ranges Council had stepped in to try and assist, attempting to contact State Government ministers and Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt, as well as providing data to support YJMC’s case. If they are successful in having the Yarra Ranges recognised as a peri-regional area, it hopefully will result in a change of fortunes for YJMC and other organisations in the area.
