City of Greater Geelong
Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan 2009-2013
Comment from Transition South Barwon on the Draft
22 December 2009
Background
Transition South Barwon is a grassroots community project exploring ways to
transition the region of South Barwon to a world with less oil and lower carbon
emissions.
Transition South Barwon is part of the rapidly growing movement of local Transition
Initiatives where neighbourhoods are choosing to build community resilience and
reduce carbon emissions to address the expected challenges of peak oil and climate
change now, rather than waiting for increasing fuel and energy prices or government
regulations to force these changes. Transition South Barwon is a positive, solutionsfocused group that aims to help move South Barwon towards a preferable post-oil
world via awareness raising, networking, re-skilling, collaborating with local
government and developing and supporting local projects that will reduce carbon
emissions and build capacity for self-reliance.
Transition South Barwon focuses especially on the suburbs of Belmont, Highton and
Grovedale.
'Peak Oil' is the term given to the peaking of global oil production. It is not 'running
out of oil', but a change in the supply/demand interaction that will have a follow-on
effect on the oil price. We are currently consuming oil at roughly 5-6 times the rate of
discovery (Ref 1). As food costs are proportional to oil and gas costs, both in
production and distribution, as fuel prices rise due to increasing production costs, food
costs must also rise significantly. Sudden price fluctuations could lead to the inability
of the supply chain to maintain stock at local supermarkets. It is generally held that no
more than 5 days of fresh food supplies and 30 days imperishable food supplies are
held in supermarkets. (Ref 2, 3)
These factors have the potential to have a strong adverse impact on food supply and
affordability in the Geelong region.
Recommendations
Transition South Barwon makes the following recommendations to the City of Greater
Geelong Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan 2009-2013:
1. Include Council commitment to in-principle support of local Transition Town
initiatives (e.g. Transition South Barwon, Transition Bell and others as they emerge)
2. Include Council promotion and encouragement of home and community food
gardening
Discussion
1. Council commitment to in-principle support of local Transition Town
initiatives
Transition Town initiatives operating within the City of Greater Geelong (currently
Transition South Barwon and Transition Bell) are incredibly well-suited to be involved
in the development and implementation of local government strategies such as the
Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan as these action groups are made up of
active, interested and able community members who are passionate about creating
strong and healthy communities.
The Plan's approaches to public health planning include strategic local area planning
and the social model of health framework. These approaches "integrate physical, social
and economic planning with community participation as a key principle" and "think
about health where participation, sense of community and empowerment are factors
contributing to individual and community wellbeing" (Draft, page 3). These
community participation and comprehensive planning features are common to local
Transition groups too. Therefore, it is reasonable and beneficial to include groups such
as Transition South Barwon in the municipal health planning process.
Furthermore, as recognised groups of engaged, informed and interested residents,
active community environment groups (e.g. Transition South Barwon, Transition Bell,
Geelong Organic Gardeners and Geelong Sustainability Group) should be consulted in
the continuation of Council's Community Consultation Program and in the
development of the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and the 30-year Transport
Plan mentioned in the document.
The Plan states, "The City will not only address these issues at the regional level but
also by developing strong working partnerships at the neighbourhood level. Examples
of the latter are Council's work with the Corio Norlane Development Board Healthy
Cities program, the Whittington Community Renewal project, the Portarlington
Building Initiative and the proposed Grovedale Community Plan" (Draft, page 5).
Known self-organised community action groups such as Transition South Barwon,
Transition Bell, Geelong Organic Gardeners and Geelong Sustainability Group should
also be included as neighbourhood partners. The City may reach more residents and
achieve better results by supporting existing community groups and their initiatives.
Council support and promotion of local Transition Towns will aid in the success of the
Public Health and Wellbeing Plan by maximising the impact and cohesion of
community action that is already occurring.
Support for local Transition Initiatives and their activities should be included at the
following points in the document:
 Priority theme 1- Safe and Healthy Environment
Strategy: Provide a healthy and balanced ecological environment, which promotes
health in a sustainable manner
 "Support community participation regarding environmental issues affecting
health and wellbeing"
 Support of community participation in Transition South Barwon and Transition
Bell and their activities is appropriate, in particular the development of the
Belmont Community Garden and similar projects.
 Priority Theme 2 - Preparing for Population Change
Strategy: Increasing life-long learning
 Transition Initiatives are communities built on the concepts of re-localisation and
re-skilling and offer leadership, teaching and learning opportunities to
community members of all ages.
 Transition South Barwon currently runs monthly permablitz workshops. These
sessions gather people of all ages and abilities together at a resident's home to
learn from each other and make over the yard by doing a range of things
including: planting seasonal fruit and vegetables, pruning fruit trees and setting
up composting systems and chicken coops. Permablitzes address food security,
the provision of healthy food and community resiliency in a fun and interactive
way. Each permablitz incorporates education sessions Council support and
promotion would be valuable.
Strategy: To encourage opportunities for localised employment for all community
members
 The Council should actively endeavour to attract ‘green' jobs to the municipality
by;
 encouraging local food growers by supporting local growers markets - for
example; could Geelong have its historic equivalent of Melbourne's Queen
Victoria Market - the Ryrie Street Saleyards be revitalised? (Ref 4)
 encouraging local processing of food products, perhaps by specialised
industrial precincts.
 Priority theme 4 - Community Strengthening, Social Inclusion and Mental
Wellbeing
 (The goals listed on page 6 under the theme of Community Strengthening, Social
Inclusion and Mental Wellbeing do not match those discussed in further detail on
pages 15 - 16.)
 To provide leadership for communities to live together constructively,
respectfully and safely
 Provide environments and program which support and enhance community
wellbeing
 Enhance healthy lifestyle behaviours and community connections through
support, education and the opportunity for participation or all members of the
community
Strategy: Provide and promote opportunities for participation in community life
Strategy: Support initiatives that promote the mental health and wellbeing of the
community.
Strategy: Build stronger healthier communities that reduce social isolation
 The neighbourhood focused programs of Transition South Barwon and
Transition Bell should be recognized and included in this section e.g. the
development of the Belmont Community Garden.
 Support of Transition Initiatives and their initiatives is well suited to add to the
success of this theme as they foster grassroots community development. It is
recommended that the City offer or support ‘Training for Transition' training
sessions, Transition Town community information nights and leadership and
facilitation training to increase the capacity of residents and our Transition
initiatives.
"Reminding ourselves that there is a lot that we can personally do, and starting to take
action to manage the environment better, can help us move from despair and
hopelessness to a sense of empowerment." (Ref 5)
"It is common for people to experience a range of emotions and psychological
symptoms when faced with information about environmental threats and predictions of
an uncertain future. People may feel anxious, scared, sad, depressed, numb, helpless
and hopeless, frustrated or angry." (Ref 5)
 As a positive approach to the problems presented by Peak Oil and Climate
Change, Transition Initiatives enable people to deal with these 'threats' without
associated psychological stresses.
2. Council promotion of home and community food gardening
Promoting local home and community gardening will add to food security and human
health by increasing access to organic fresh fruits and vegetables.
 The Plan states, "A (healthy) city should strive to provide: ... The meeting of
basic needs (for food, water, shelter, income, safety and work) for all the city's
people" and "a diverse, vital and innovative city economy" (Draft, page 8).
These statements should include that the city strive to provide these needs from
within its local area and work to support a localised economy that sees the city
provide itself with as much of its food, water, shelter and employment needs as
possible.
 Promotion of home and community gardening should be included at the
following points of the document:
Priority theme 5 - Physical Activity and Healthy Eating
Strategy: To facilitate appropriate urban development that encourages a healthy
environment and healthy human behaviours and responses.
Strategy: To assist and encourage the community and business sectors to make
informed nutritious choices
 Council supported and promoted local home and community garden initiatives
can act as hands-on learning opportunities to increase community capacity for
food production while also increasing the availability of organic fresh fruits and
vegetables to all community members. The development of the Belmont
Community Garden has the potential to provide beneficial physical activity
opportunities via passive exercise of tending to the garden plots, as well as
accessing them via the nearby bicycle path. Healthy eating and community
cohesion benefits can also be anticipated to be results of this project.
 We suggest the Council offer residents courses in home composting, food
gardening, edible tree care and preserving and pickling while also supporting
local Transition Town programs in this area. Transition South Barwon and
Transition Bell's permablitzes and wood-fired oven and slow-food workshops
are examples community-led projects that are already working towards this
goal. Council support of such projects could increase their capacity to deliver
benefit to the community. Local food swaps, or backyard farmers' markets, to
allow residents to share inevitable surpluses while also building neighbourhood
connections should also be promoted.
Conclusion
The recommendations put forward by Transition South Barwon are intended to enable
Council to foster a positive community initiative promoting healthy and affordable
local food supply with in-built resilience against external fuel supply factors. Local
food production is an inherently active and healthy pursuit.
Assembled on behalf of the Steering Party of Transition South Barwon,
Doug Rolfe
Goshen Watts
Miriam Fathalla
Additional general information is available on the Transition concept and Transition
initiatives at transitiontowns.org
We strongly recommend referral to the following excellent document;
Fishman E., Hart P., Hurley J., 2009, Maribyrnong Peak Oil Contingency Plan, Institute
for Sensible Transport, for Maribyrnong City Council, Melbourne.
www.sensibletransport.org.au/project/maribyrnong-peak-oil-contingency-plan
References
1) www.aspo-usa.com
2) www.foodprocessing.com.au/articles/27607-The-food-industry-and-the-next-pandemic
3) www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=2099
4) http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/places/heritage/20490
5) http://www.psychology.org.au/publications/tip_sheets/climate/