Hume Meadow Valley Ward councillor Naim Kurt has shared his hopes for the 2022 year.
“It’s been an incredible honour to have served the Hume community over the past 12 months as an elected councillor and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support,” he said.
“Having reached the end of the festive season and the start of another New Year, I believe it’s important to take time to reflect on everything we’ve achieved and to acknowledge that although times were tough, we can all hold our heads high and be proud of the courage we’ve shown as a community.
“In our darkest days, through every lockdown and mandate, my heart was buoyed by the incredible kindness I witnessed as neighbours helped neighbours, friends reached out to friends, and as a community the experience we shared made us more united than ever.
“Throughout the past 12 months, my priority has been on ensuring our community wasn’t left behind and that vulnerable voices were heard and listened too by the authorities, during this pandemic.
“After Melbourne entered its sixth lockdown in August, I spoke out as a Type 1 diabetic at the difficulty priority needs groups were facing in getting access to Pfizer locally and later in September, I lent my signature to a letter signed by 34 community and health leaders, calling on the federal and state governments to provide more access and a targeted vaccine program for communities in Melbourne’s north.
“Together, we helped achieve this and took our municipality from one of the lowest vaccinated, to the highest in the state and challenged the media narrative that shone a negative light on Hume’s response to the coronavirus.
“As the pandemic tightened, I helped to speak out about the removal of JobKeeper payments and supported calls for a real and meaningful increase to JobSeeker, after three of the five highest areas for JobSeeker payments in Victoria were found to be from postcodes in Hume.
“Through Council, I helped to establish a one million dollar Hume Business Employment Grants Programme and the rollout of a Small Business Grants Program to help our community to find work and support small business during the pandemic.
“With more time being spent locally, we pushed for a renewed focus on the enhancement of our shopping strips, play spaces and parks, through launching the Mural Arts Program, securing funding for fairy lights in our shopping precincts and pushing for destination play spaces, water parks and shaded playgrounds to be prioritised in future play-space upgrades.
“We also moved to tackle the issue of affordable housing for the first time, through a new policy which will unlock housing for some of our lowest income earners and implemented a blitz on dumping hotspots which has resulted in a 32% increase in dumped rubbish reports and a 50% increase in the usage of Council’s free hard rubbish collection service.
“As 2022 begins, I’m optimistic that this year will be one of great opportunity for our community. With federal and state elections looming and new political seats being created in the North and West of Hume due to population growth, I’m hopeful this will finally provide impetus for the reprioritisation of funding for vital infrastructure and services from both levels of government for Hume.
“As always, I’m so thankful to be part of the Hume community. We’re a resilient, courageous and generous bunch and when the chips were down we stood up and were counted when we needed too. I wish you all a very positive, prosperous and healthy start to the New Year and if there’s any way I can assist with a local matter, please don’t hesitate to reach out via phone (0484 602 352) or send me an email via naimk@hume.vic.gov.au.“
