🟠 Tolls on teachers and bright businesses

WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

• COLDSTREAM — 07/11/25 to 24/12/25; WANDIN — 24/11/25 to 04/01/26, EXCLUDING CHRISTMAS DAY | Cherry Picking @ Cherry Hill Orchards

• FRIDAY 07/11/25, 6-7PM | Live at the Library - Zak Gully @ Belgrave Library

• FRIDAY 07/11/25, 8-10PM | Kutcha Edwards @ Burrinja Cultural Centre

• FRIDAY 07/11/25, 8.30-10.30PM | Slander Tongue @ The Railyard

• SATURDAY 08/11/25, 10AM-2PM | Elmwood Fair @ Elmwood Early Learning Childcare & Kindergarten

• SATURDAY 08/11/25, 8PM | Shannon Noll @ York on Lilydale

• SUNDAY 09/11/25, 10AM-4PM | Maroondah Festival @ Town Park, Croydon

• EVERY SUNDAY, 8AM-1PM | Mulgrave Farmers’ Market @ Mulgrave Primary School

📰 RECENT LOCAL HEADLINES

🌞 “A bit of a no-brainer”: Bayswater industrial businesses making the transition to solar

In a factory in Bayswater’s industrial estates, you can hear the whirring of saws and the humming of giant heaters making about 3,000 guitars a year for amateur and professionals across the world.

However, a new player has helped Cole Clark Guitars with their bottom line: around 400 solar panels on the roof of their Clare Street warehouse installed in 2020.

Cole Clark Guitars is just one of many companies in Bayswater’s more industrial areas that have installed solar panels.

Production manager and co-founder Bill Pizzey has been with Cole Clark Guitars since it started producing instruments in only one factory in 2001.

Now, the business covers three buildings across the various stages of guitar making.

While guitar making is a careful art, it is also an expensive one. Currently, the annual power bill is between $60,000 and $70,000 – a significant reduction from about $100,000 a year before Pizzey had installed the solar system.

Pizzey said most of that comes from the winter time, with the sun and the panels driving everything down close to zero.

“We've probably paid it off in about three years.”

Electronics manufacturer Dyne Industries managing director Justin Smit said the company installed solar panels on their roof on their factory in Barry Street in Bayswater – about 314 panels driving a 99.9-kilowatt system – in 2018.

Unlike other installations, Smit said he wanted the benefits to be two-fold: to create power the business could use in its operations and for the panels to block the roof from the sun and keep the factory cooler in summer. For this reason, panels now cover about 90 percent of the roof.

Smit said the benefits have been significant, cutting the factory’s power bill in heating and other things from $1,200 a month to about $1,000 a year.

“It's a bit of a no-brainer,” said Smit. “I sort of sit here and wonder why every decent sized building doesn't have solar panels on it.”

Earlier this month, the State Government announced the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program. It offers discounts for commercial and industrial businesses and community organisations to install solar systems between 30 and 200 kilowatts in size.

Businesses are also eligible for Commonwealth Government rebates on solar systems between 30 and 200 kilowatts size range - reducing up to a further $50,000 off the cost.

Smit said he was looking forward to the day when the State Government fully rolled out the Virtual Power Plant program, which will allow his business to share excess energy stored in batteries they would be soon acquiring to the homes of their employees or to the general community.

“If I can generate electricity and sell it off to other people, that's when you're going to find people really jumping on board,” said Smit.

Smit said he was currently working out quotes for the factory’s roof to be replaced and was also seeking a rebate through the new program to install about 240 solar panels to deliver the same output.

Pizzey said he was also advocating for the VPP system to be put into place, as the business pays about $10,000 in network charges annually to have the power created by the power panels in their front building sent to their back building.

Childcare wage fight continues as Knox Council says no to 15% boost

Knox Council will not apply for a federal funding scheme that would boost childcare worker wages by at least 15 percent, in a move that has angered unions and parents who say staff are being left behind.

As part of temporary support passed through Parliament last November, the Department of Education is delivering a Worker Retention Payment focused on early education for two years.

The government payment includes a wage increase of 15 percent above the modern award rates and a minimum additional 20 percent of funding for other eligible costs.

Eligible childcare workers include early childhood teachers, educators, cooks, co-ordinators, room leaders, support workers, trainees and apprentices.

Knox Council has now missed the deadline for requesting for payments to be backdated, meaning educators and staff members have lost the opportunity to receive potential payments dating back to December 2.

Applications still remain open for current payments until the end of September next year.

To ensure the cost of the wage increase is not passed on to families, providers who receive the payment must limit fee growth and set a cap of 4.2 percent until next August.

During Monday night’s council meeting, Knox Council director of Connected Communities, Judy Chalkley, dashed any hopes for the council to take on the funding, confirming it would not be applying for the grants as it already pays its educators “above the award rate” under the current Enterprise Agreement.

Chalkley said other factors leading to the decision included uncertainties of the funding model, the unequal application of funds, restrictions to fee growth and the temporary nature of the funding.

During the meeting, Knox Council formally received an online petition featuring 185 signatures from local parents, with the petition now at 200 signatures at the time of publication.

Knox Council operates two Knox Children and Family Centres - one in Wantirna South and one in Bayswater, with services including long day care for newborns to six-year-olds, kindergarten programs, a Maternal and Child Health Service and playgroups.

Representatives from the Victorian/Tasmanian branch of the Australian Services Union (ASU) have been advocating for Knox Council and other councils across the state to consider applying for the funding since last December.

The union organised two rallies outside the Knox Council offices – one on Monday September 8 and the other on Monday September 29.

Speaking to the Eastern Melburnian, ASU Victorian/Tasmanian branch secretary, Tash Wark, said the decision from the council not to take on the payments “beggars belief”.

“You can't have a good-faith discussion when one side says they're “looking into it” and the CEO then goes on leave for two months,” Wark said. “Because Knox Council has stalled and played games, our members have already lost thousands of dollars in backpay."

Local parent Sarah Jago spoke during the council meeting on behalf of the impacted educators.

“They are dedicated employees and are feeling exceedingly undervalued,” Jago said.

Speaking to the Eastern Melburnian on Friday, Jago said local parents and teachers “are pretty much at their wits end.”

“I know of more than one educator who's pretty much ready to leave and these educators have been with Knox for five, 10, 15 years,” Jago said.

In a statement sent to the Eastern Melburnian, Federal MP for Aston, Mary Doyle, said she has met with Knox Council representatives and written to them a number of times “to reinforce the importance of the Government's Worker Retention Payment and how vital it is to supporting this dedicated workforce.”

“It is disappointing to see that Knox City Council have missed the deadline for backpay, but I hope they will reconsider their position so these educators can receive their well-deserved pay rise,” said Doyle.

ASU representatives and parents will be meeting with Federal MP for Aston Mary Doyle in about a week’s time.

SEEN THIS WEEK 🤓

Will the Nationals abandoning Net Zero break up the Coalition?

Archie Milligan at The National Account took a quick look at the fallout from the Nationals’ bombshell announcement.

The Nationals’ decision to abandon Net Zero will be a real test for the Liberal Party, according to Environment Minister Murray Watt, who questioned how long Sussan Ley’s party will “continue being dictated to by a junior partner in their Coalition who doesn’t believe in climate change”.

Speaking to the ABC on Sunday, Watt said that just like the nuclear policy brought to the last election, this is another instance of the “tail wagging the dog in the coalition”.

“I mean, the idea that you would handover the climate and energy policy to the likes of Matt Canavan and the ghost of Barnaby Joyce is like handing Dracula the keys to the blood bank.”

Where to get your whole foods and health foods in Melbourne’s east

Contributor Justine de Jonge took a trek across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs recently to check out some of the best places specialising in whole foods and health foods.

Check out the video here.

The best kids’ attractions and events across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs in November

Do your youngsters love cuddling up with farm animals? Or maybe they have no fear when it comes to reptiles? The Lilydale and Yarra Valley Show could be the perfect place to take them. Running across Saturday November 15 and Sunday November 16, this year marks the 70th anniversary of this agriculture and horticulture-centric show.

Or maybe they want to show off their speed? They can race against a historic steam engine along a part of the Puffing Billy Railway as part of the Rotary Club of Emerald and District’s annual Kids Fun Run with Puffing Billy event on Sunday November 30.

To see our full list, click below.