Moore Catchment team and our response to COVID-19 in 2020

Our commitment towards the health and well-being of our community, our members, our environment and our team is at the heart of everything we do; even more in these challenging times.
In light of the unprecedented global public health and economic crisis, we want to keep you informed of our response and what is happening about the activities that we have planned in order to continue the delivery of projects, and keep our staff and community safe in this rapidly changing world.
As of Tuesday 31st March, Rachel and Helen will now be working from home whenever possible. The office at Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) will be closed in accordance to the DPIRD directive that DPIRD Moora office site will be closed from this Wednesday 31st March 2020 and all non-essential staff will be working from home. Rachel and Helen can still be contacted by either email or mobile phone.

MCC has moved quickly to postpone until further notice the Healthy soils and Permaculture that were planned for March/April 2020 (Perenjori 31.03, Moora 01.04 & 02.04, Guilderton 03.04) as well as the Heavenly Hectares, April 2020 (Woodridge).

At this stage all on-ground activities – fencing and seeding plantings will go ahead on private property. Community plantings will need to be addressed separately as the government has now enacted the 2 persons rule for social engagement. We will be talking to the communities involved with community planting days to see how it is best to move forward as the seedlings will need to be planted this season or re-potted for next season.

The Last Stand sub-committee is still working towards holding The Last Stand 2 event planned for early September, but there is a strong possibility that the event could be deferred until a more suitable date if the COVID-19 situation doesn’t improve as early as hoped. The staff are working with the Stakeholders on the delivery of existing projects and looking at different ways to deliver these projects that achieves objectives but doesn’t contravene with COVID-19 health and safety recommendations. As further information and negotiations come to hand our members will be advised. The state NRM Office has issued a statement the following statement

As a result of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), some of you may have queries about how to respond to potential changes to your project.

The State NRM Office would like to reassure everyone that the health and safety of your staff, volunteers and community is our highest priority.

We would like to verify that changes to your State NRM-funded projects or necessary closure of your organisation over this period of time will not impact your contract with us.

If you do need to make changes to your project deliverables or payment schedules due to COVID-19 please contact us to arrange a variation to your Project Schedule.

In particular, if you have activities or events in your Project Schedule that involve getting large groups of people together, we would encourage you to consider postponing these activities and will be very supportive of this need.

State Government have provided advice on how agencies should deal with COVID-19 and employee flexibility. The COVID-19 may impact on our service delivery and we will keep you informed if we have to alter our service based on staffing availability.

The Staff at the MCC will be looking at additional sources of income to keep staff employed during this time as per some of the government initiatives, and potential philanthropic funding that is coming available.

Stay Safe, Stay at home – Helen, Rachel and the MCC Committee