The community were told that due to a technical difficulty we - the community - would be unable to observe the meeting, however it would be downloaded immediately the meeting concluded - strange indeed.

It would have been reasonable to at least arrange for the media to join in the Zoom meeting so that they could report on what occurred.

Why was this not done?

Surely the acting general manager should have seen that this was done - so much for transparency.

Perhaps I am cynical but it seemed odd to me that (a) whatever the difficulty there was no-one on the staff who could fix this; (b) if it was unable to be watched then how could it be seen immediately after the meeting? Not good enough, Mr Mayor.

There were three particular matters of interest to the community:

There was the usual split of votes - Gair, Nelson, Andrews and McLaughlin opposing Scandrett, Halstead, Turland and Whipper.

On every occasion the mayor used his casting vote to oppose whatever it was that the four opponents voted for.

It has now been some months since Councillor Markwart resigned and the reason given for not having a by-election was that it was too close to the local government elections.

How convenient for Gair.

The most contentious issue was the removal of the significant pin oaks from Station Street.

A motion had been put by Councillors Scandrett and Turland asking that two weeks notice be given before any work commenced - one reason being that this would cause significant disruption to traffic.

The acting GM addressed the meeting and advised that there would be no disruption as "the work would be done late at night and by the morning it would all be clear".

No problem!!

The mayor stated categorically that he would absolutely follow the letter of the law - but then declined to elaborate.

There is still no Review of Environmental Factors, which is a requirement before any work commences.

This council cannot be trusted.

I beg you to remember all this when it comes time to vote for the next council.

Digital technology kept all the schools in Victoria working throughout the lockdown. Students continued to learn. Teachers continued to teach. Why then, is digital technology treated like an after-thought in schools around Australia?

Most schools dedicate one lesson per week at the year 7 or 8 level to teaching how computers work, and how to use them. Kids need to learn digital technology now more than ever. The touch-screen generation is being left behind. A few nerdy types will rise to the challenge to learn coding, but not if there is no teacher to teach them. Over the past ten years the number of graduating teachers with digital technology qualifications, skills or interests has fallen remarkably. Since 2007 the demand and supply of digital technology teacher numbers across the country are in sharp decline.

Over the past five years I have been publishing all my teaching notes online for free to support other IT teachers. With no text book to support the Australian curriculum, I decided to put together a textbook, that not only covers the curriculum but painstakingly provides step by step skills. The website for orders is - vicfarrell.com.au.