Cr Leigh Dunscombe, Murrindindi Shire Mayor

Murrindindi Shire Council Mayor, Cr Leigh Dunscombe, says that the Coronavirus pandemic is frightening. He made the comments at the Council meeting held at the Yea Shire Hall.

“Times are tough and I think we all know that. This COVID-19 pandemic is taking us all on a very scary and dangerous ride and nobody knows where it will take us,” Cr Dunscombe said.

“The scale of this pandemic is like nothing we have ever seen before and it is that that makes it so scary, but we have been through scary things before and we have pulled through.

“I am in no doubt that we will do so again. The way we have got through it in the past is by working together, by supporting each other, and by doing the right thing.

“If we do that again we will prevail. We all need to make sacrifices, we all need to make changes and we all need to think differently, but most importantly, we all need to do it together.

“Unfortunately the term “Social Distancing” has been coined at a time when “Social Cohesion” could not be more important. “Physical Distancing” is perhaps a more appropriate term for the practices that we all need to employ while we think differently about how we can socially engage.

“There is a plethora of ways to socially connect that don’t require physical contact and if we all think outside the box I am sure we will come up with
many more.


“Now it’s hard to know what you can and can’t do, who to listen to, where you can go, what you need to buy, what help is available etc etc and there is so much confusing and conflicting advice going around, especially on Facebook.

“I am not going to add to that confusion here by adding my voice to that avalanche of advice except to say be careful o what you believe, get your information from official sources – State and Federal Government
websites and announcements or the DHHS website.

“At a local level, that is for things specific to the Murrindindi Shire we are very fortunate to have our CEO Craig Lloyd with his extensive experience in emergency management leading the organisation.

“Craig is providing daily updates via video, social media, radio on UGFM and
media releases, and all the up to date information is available on council’s website.

“As I said, we’re all in this together and we will all get through this together but most importantly, we all need to take it seriously,” Cr Dunscombe said.