By Five executive officer Jo Martin said the event’s strong community support demonstrated to the State Government the importance of improving outcomes for children across the Wimmera southern-Mallee.
“We’ll be watching the May 20 Budget with anticipation because there’s not much more we can do now,” she said.
“We’ve requested meetings with a number of ministers, but we haven’t had any luck to date, so we’re just hoping they can hear it through community voices, media and all of our partners that this is an important issue for us.”
By Five chair and event host Ash Brooks said the initiative was born out of foresight of regional leaders after they were presented with data showing the divide between Wimmera southern-Mallee children and those in urban areas.
“The divide was incredibly stark – it was clear our children were being left behind,” she said.
“In fact, if you compared all of the states across Australia, from the worst to the best performing, the Wimmera-southern Mallee children came in second after the Northern Territory.” Initial efforts commenced in 2017, with the support of several hundred community members, service providers and leaders from across the region.
In 2021, a four-year funding commitment from the Victorian Department of Education was made.
Former Regional Partnerships chair David Jochinke was instrumental in the establishment of By Five; he was among those who originally met with then-premier Daniel Andrews to bring health and education together.
“Mr Andrews simply said, ‘well, if you’ve got some guts, get on with it’,” Mr Jochinke said.
“It wasn’t what we were expecting – we sent a press release out the next day to lock it in so he couldn’t turn back on it.
“We then went on the merry journey of going to everybody in both the Department of Health and Department of Education to say you’ve got to put your heads together and find some funding to make it work.
“This program doesn’t actually fit in either of those spheres, but it’s mutually beneficial to both, and that’s the real point here.”
Mr Jochinke said the five-location pilot program became five clusters before becoming a network of co-designed and alternative service access models.
“If we can’t see a pathway to continue this program it would be absolutely devastating, not just for the people involved, but for the people who need it the most, and they’re the ones who haven’t got a voice yet,” he said.
“They’re the ones who need it the most.”
The event is available to watch at youtube.com/watch?v=WAjkE4ARrlw&t=10s.
Ms Brooks said she hoped By Five’s journey continues.
“By Five’s important work is making a difference for our children who are our most precious asset and the future of our region,” she said.
“Let’s keep going, and finish what we started.”
• For more on By Five, see next week’s The Weekly Advertiser.
The entire April 23, 2025 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!
