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Marvellous Merry Morwell Festival

With thousands of people coming out to enjoy the fine weather and share in the spirit of the season, there was a tremendous community response to Advance Morwell’s inaugural Merry Morwell Festival, held at the Town Common in December.

In addition to Santa’s arrival on the Morwell CFA fire truck, the event included St Vincent’s Primary School students and local choirs performing, arts and crafts market stalls, face painting, food trucks and BBQ’s, and a display of around 100 classic cars.

Advance Morwell received many positive comments from community members during the event, saying it was the best community event Morwell has seen in many years.

We need to give a huge thanks to David McInnes, Alfi Prestipino, Tony Salvatore, Zane Corbett and Graham Lougheed, who played key roles in staging such a successful and well received event for the Morwell community.  We could not have delivered this without great support from Latrobe City and our many sponsors, performers, stall holders and vendors, whose contribution is greatly appreciated.

It was wonderful to get such great feedback about the event, but also to hear people say that they loved Morwell and having the opportunity to come together as a community.

With the success of this year’s event, Advance Morwell is planning to hold a similar event next year.

Advance Morwell Member Australia Day Recognition 2025 Citizen of the Year Nominee David McInnes

Advance Morwell’s David McInnes was a nominee for the 2025 Latrobe City Citizen of the Year Award.  The longest serving member of the Advance Morwell Committee (current Deputy Chair), David has demonstrated immense support for Advance Morwell, being an active participant in all we do, selflessly offering his time and involvement. 

David is unwavering in his commitment to Morwell.  He is involved in and supports many organisations, including the Morwell Rotary Club, Morwell Historical Society and Neighbourhood House.  He has a quiet, can-do attitude, and gets things done.  

David’s selflessness and dedication make him a role model for others and a true asset to our community.

Anti-social behaviour

Advance Morwell recently met with both the Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron and the CEO, Mayor and Latrobe City Councillors to seek action to address the escalating levels of anti-social behaviour in the CBD. 

We provided detailed examples of the behaviours being exhibited in the CBD and the negative and significant impact that this is having on traders and residents.  The communities desire for immediate action to address this problem was clearly communicated. 

Martin will be raising this concern in Parliament and Council are looking to address the issue with initial actions including the removal of seating from the Commercial Road/Tarwin Street intersection.

Advance Morwell has also gained the support of Committee for Gippsland who have written to the Minister for Police, Community Safety, Victims and Racing, to seek support in dealing with anti-social behaviour and increase community safety by:

• Increasing enforcement, more additional local laws officers and policing resources
• Expanding CCTV coverage in key areas to improve public safety and assist law enforcement
• Providing greater social outreach support, particularly in response to changes to public drunkenness laws, ensuring those in need receive appropriate care while maintaining community safety.

Advance Morwell will shortly launch a community safety survey to assess how safe people feel in Morwell, what they see as safety issues and what they would like done to address these.

High Profile Court Case in Morwell

With crowds of photographers, camera crews, and crime reporters converging in town, the Erin Patterson murder trial is to be held in Morwell for up to six weeks from April 28, putting us on the world stage.  

Recognising that this will have a big impact on Morwell’s reputation, Advance Morwell wants our town to look its best.   We have written to Latrobe City asking them to action a range of civic maintenance items.

As this trial is a unique opportunity to promote Morwell positively, we remind our business members that we are all in the tourism business and the presentation of your businesses and the service you provide is critical in shaping how we are perceived. 

AGM Update

Our AGM was held on 2 December 2024, with little change to the committee of David Burt, Alfi Prestipino, Graham Lougheed, Tony Salvatore, and Yousef Ibrahim.  Officer bearers are: Chair: Graeme Sennett, Deputy Chair: David McInnes, Treasurer: Shashi Bhatti, Membership Officer: Howard Williams

Lobbying for Morwell

In addition to anti-social behaviour issues, Advance Morwell continues to lobby for Morwell, having written to and met with Council Officers to seek CPI increases for the annual Christmas Grant, improvements in Christmas decorations and improvements in garden maintenance and litter collection

Franchise of the Year Winner Morwell’s Hip Pocket Workwear and Safety

At the 2024 Hip Pocket National Conference Morwell’s Hip Pocket Latrobe Valley, not only took out the Victorian State Award, they also won the National Franchise of the Year! 

The awards were judged over 12 months based on criteria such as Compliance, Professional Brand, Store Performance and Presentation, Supplier Support, Group Engagement and Local Area Marketing.  This award shows that, with strong leadership, hard work and a great team Morwell business can be the best in Australia.  Congratulations!!

Your feedback is important

As your voice and advocate, it is important that we are aware of opportunities to progress Morwell or those that are negatively impacting our town.   Contact us and let us know about any issues that you believe are holding Morwell back and need to be addressed.

Contact us at admin@advancemorwell.org.au

Your ongoing support is highly valued, as we continue to represent Morwell