Environmental Health Australia (SA) Inc

Murraylands & Regional SIG Meeting Minutes Location: Coonalpyn Hall, 53-55 Dukes Highway, Coonalpyn Date: Friday 6th September 2019 Time: 10.30am 1. Welcome Meeting opened at 10:46am and all SIG members welcomed by Caroline Thomas Chairperson: Caroline Thomas/Rebecca Burton Minutes: Caroline Thomas/Rebecca Burton

2. Confirmation of previous minutes The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed as a true and correct record

Moved: Deirdre Reimann (Town of Gawler) Seconded: Katina Nikas ()

3. Present: Julie Savill (Rural City of Murray Bridge), Emily Smith (Rural City of Murray Bridge), Tom McKellar (), Melinda Coleshill (Town of Gawler), Deirdre Reiman (Town of Gawler), Caroline Thomas (Rural City of Murray Bridge), Katina Nikas (Renmark Paringa Council), Nicole Dodds (City of Mt Gambier), Heather Reilly (City of Mt Gambier), Dara Frankel (District Council of Loxton Waikerie) arrived 11:00, Rebecca Burton () arrived 11:00.

4. Apologies: Aaron Price (District Council of Grant), Catarina Santos (), Alison Koerner ()

5. Guest presenters 5.1 Nil

6. Items for Discussion 6.1 Applying for Warrants Under the SA Public Health Act

Heather shared her experience with an ongoing hoarding and squalor case. This included a warrant being sought, and a notice served on the property, and involvement from a range of stakeholders including police to undertake the required clean up.

The Older Persons Mental Health Service may be a useful organisation to assist with hoarding and squalor cases, but may be metro based.

6.2 Securing compliance with Wastewater Regulations, Regulation 9

Thomas shared information regarding issuing a Notice requiring a property to connect to CWMS. Discussed options of requiring a property to be unoccupied until connected, or requiring ongoing desludging of the existing system until connection to CWMS.

Thomas also shared information regarding a case where a properties sanitary pipework had been connected into the town storm water system. Although the property is serviced by SA Water sewer, it was Council’s responsibility to require the owner to connect to SA Water’s sewer.

6.3 Bee keeping in townships

Caroline shared concerns regarding the keeping of bees in town and potential impact under the Local Nuisance and Litter Control Act.

A Food Business Notification was received for the sale of honey from hives located in a residential back yard.

Contact was made with PIRSA. They provided information on requirements for registering hives and maintaining general welfare. There are no planning restrictions relating to beekeeping in a township however some Councils have By-laws and policies.

Discussion was held as to whether bees constitute a nuisance under the Local Nuisance and Litter Control Act.

6.4 Public Health and Food Safety Resources

The City of Mt Gambier has developed a range of resources for their food businesses and beauty/skin penetration premises.

These resources are available on line. They are also investigating interest from other Councils who may wish to purchase hard copy resources in the future.

The issue of dry needing was raised and advice from the group was that there was no requirement for operators to notify Councils. This discussion then led on to the importance of basing inspection schedules on a risk based approach.

6.5 Safe Drinking Water Act Training

A question was raised whether there is a need for additional Safe Drinking training for EHOs. The group responded that the SA Health online fact sheets are a useful tool. Some Councils have found value in attending SA Health audits, when audits are conducted in your own Council area.

6.6 IT options for Regional SIGs

The group identified value in establishing video conferencing facilities to enable an improved access for EHOs to attend these meetings and for general communication, particularly in regional and remote areas.

It is hoped this flexible option will provide better support the EH profession in skills and knowledge development and creating networks.

ACTION: Individual EHOs to discuss with IT department what communication software they have available and provide this information to the chairperson.

7. Business Arising from Previous Minutes

7.1 Refer to action list

8. Standing Items

8.1 2020 Conference Tailem Bend Committee  Caroline Thomas (RCMB & Coorong)  Julie Savill (RCMB)  Emily Smith (RCMB)  Jeremy Byrnes (RCMB)  Deirdre Reiman (Gawler)  Melinda Coleshill (Gawler)  Katina Nikas (Renmark)  Tom McKellar (Mid Murray)  Roxanne Member Support Officer, EHA (SA)

Caroline will send an invite next week to organize initial meeting.

8.2 Mosquito surveillance & control program

General discussion took place between River Murray Councils regarding the changes to subsidy funding from SA Health and the subsequent review of individual Council mosquito management programs.

8.3 Act & Regulations Review

EHA Board Members have been asked to give evidence to the Social Development Committee re: review of the Public Health Act

8.4 Public Health, Food & Wastewater SIGs

Members who attended recent SIGs provided the group with a brief overview. Refer to SIG minutes for further information.

ACTION: Contact Karen Ferres, SA Health, if interested in food business risk classification training

8.5 Future training opportunities & guest presenters - Refer to list

Also discussed -  Plumbing awareness course for EHOs, TAFE SA – 14-17 October  Mosquito training, available in VIC & WA from time to time  Land capability on site wastewater training – Centre for Environmental Training, Melbourne  HRMWS training – RCMB investigating  Shane Ince, Aquatics Info - has attend inspections with EHOs in the past

9. Other Business 9.1 SA Health – Food allergen training A session will be held at Cambrai Council office. Date to be advised.

9.2 Changes to SA Public Health Act – Kelledy Jones Circular As notified through the Kelledy Jones Circular, recent changes to the Public Health Act means that appeals will be heard through SACAT.

9.3 Regional SIG/Q & A session at Banrock Station - ACTION: Dara to email Roxanne with a thankyou on behalf of the SIG.

9.4 Community Halls Question raised re: who undertakes inspections of them and what is assessed. Some inspect, but only for structural suitability, i.e. fit for purpose.

9.5 TAFE SA Food Safety training Discussion amongst Councils who provide this training. Some Councils were keeping the training running and find it useful especially given the regional subsidy funding.

9.6 Plumbing eCOCs – general consensus from EHOs that plumbing eCOCs are still not being received due to design issues with online submission form. This issue has been raised with Office of the Technical Regulator by several EHOs on several occasion s, but the issue has not been resolved.

ACTION: Dara to contact LGA on behalf of member councils to discuss the issue and seek assistance.

10. Future Projects 10.1 Refer to attached list

11. Next Meeting

TBC Friday 13th December 2019 – Waikerie Council Chambers Meeting closed at 1.05pm

Action List Responsible Number Action Updates/Outcomes Officer Caroline 1 HRMWS training RCMB to investigate locations and Thomas people for training.

Future Guest Speakers Suggested Number Who/Topic Updates/Outcomes by Deirdre 1 Mould Reiman Sharyn Gaskin - Uni Email: [email protected]