Community kitchen on the chopping block as Latrobe Health Assembly forced to close
It prompted two Victorian government inquiries that resulted in a report containing 18 recommendations to help the community rebuild.
Now, a decade after the embers have cooled, one of the last institutions set up to manage the fire's legacy in the Latrobe Valley is closing its doors.
Established by the inquiry, the Latrobe Health Assembly has delivered more than 200 locally driven projects, such as programs for childhood development, chronic disease, and food insecurity.
These programs are now in doubt, as the assembly failed to receive the necessary investment from this year's state budget.
Latrobe Health Assembly chair Tanya Rong said the abrupt end to the assembly's work was devastating.
"It was a shock," she said.
The state government's 2014 Hazelwood mine fire inquiry found that a complex fire emergency and a serious public health emergency faced the Latrobe Valley.
The inquiry and its report made 18 recommendations on how to improve the health of the region, including tackling the higher rates of chronic illness and lifestyle disease.
The Latrobe Health Assembly was established in 2017 as part of the response and has worked to improve the health outcomes for the local community.
Ms Rong said having a community-led focus was a key aspect of the assembly's success.
"We really are the voice of the community," she said.
"We enable a platform for the community to have a voice over the decisions that affect them, certainly with health decisions, and we were given the budget to find new ways of improving the health and wellbeing in the Latrobe Valley."
The need for such programs is stark, with recent data showing the Latrobe Valley continues to be over-represented when it comes to chronic illness and disease.
Gippsland Primary Health Network data shows the region continues to experience higher rates of mental health conditions, avoidable deaths due to cancer and heart-related illnesses, and significant disadvantage compared to the rest of Victoria.
The assembly has delivered programs such as community health nurses in primary schools, the ABC youth program, and the wellbeing and emotional support cafe to improve mental health support for Valley residents.
It is now using its remaining cash reserves to wind up, which will take the assembly through to the end of December this year, with those core programs due to end.
"We have more than 25 projects currently running in the community, so it's a huge, significant impact that we are going to be withdrawing those," Ms Rong said.
One of the programs affected by the funding cuts is the People's Kitchen, run by Morwell Neighbourhood House.
The kitchen program has been running since 2023, tackling food insecurity by packaging up to 150 home-cooked, nutritious meals for people in need.
The program was able to significantly upscale its operations thanks to its partnership with the Latrobe Health Assembly.
The manager of Morwell Neighbourhood House, Tracie Lund, is also a community member of the health assembly, and said the abrupt termination of the assembly's funding meant the People's Kitchen was now in doubt.
Ms Lund said it came at a time when more residents were looking for support due to cost-of-living pressures.
"It means we won't be able to supply as many meals while we're doing that background work to resource more funding," she said.
A Victorian government spokesperson said the government acknowledged the assembly's work and was continuing to deliver ongoing investments across the region with the Gippsland Regional Local Public Health Unit.
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