Walk the track. Lara RSL's Kokoda Walk is back.
Honour the men of 1942, raise money for veteran welfare, and walk the You Yangs with your town.
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The $40 pothole and the $4,000 pothole.
Why fixing a road early costs a fraction of fixing it late, how Greater Geelong's renewal backlog compounds, and which You Yangs Ward roads are in the expensive zone..
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Lara station at 7:12am.
An honest audit of the daily commute from Lara.
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What council did with your 2024 vote.
Two years into the 2024–28 Greater Geelong council term: what was promised for the You Yangs Ward, what's delivered, what's stalled, and how to check for yourself..
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Dogs, footy ovals and the 6pm problem.
Off-leash areas, oval booking pressure, shade and lighting.
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The Tuesday night you should be at.
How a Greater Geelong council meeting actually works.
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Fifty years of Lara, in pictures.
Ten corners of Lara, then and now.
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What's actually being built in the You Yangs Ward.
Every major project — under construction, approved, awaiting a decision — and the private money behind it.
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Six Ways — the roundabout a generation will never know.
The $16m upgrade, eight years of timeline, what's being relocated — and the nickname about to become history.
Read the article →Every voter should be able to cast their ballot with confidence.
Should every candidate publish a police check before nominations close? The case for mandatory background checks — and mine, redacted.
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The Lara West developer fund.
$37 million promised in 2014 for roads, community infrastructure and sporting grounds. Where the money comes from, where it's going, and the six questions council should answer publicly.
Read the investigation →Housing in the You Yangs Ward.
Growth, land supply, and what actually gets built.
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School capacity in a growing ward.
Classroom crowding, who funds new schools, and what needs to happen.
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Health services in a ward that's outgrown them.
GP access, aged care and mental health — where the gaps genuinely are.
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What actually happens to your bin.
Where each bin goes, why FOGO was introduced, and what it costs.
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Supporting Lara's township businesses.
What genuinely helps a small local business survive and grow.
Read the guide →How to actually vote in the 2028 council election.
Enrolment deadlines, postal voting, and who's eligible.
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Heritage in Lara — what's protected, and what isn't.
What a heritage overlay does, and how to nominate a building.
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The You Yangs and Wadawurrung country.
Cultural significance, before and since.
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The You Yangs Ward, by the numbers.
A demographic snapshot, and where to find exact figures.
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Every club and community group in the You Yangs Ward.
A pin-point map and directory of sporting clubs, arts groups, walking groups, seniors clubs, RSL sub-branches and how to get involved in each.
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One road in, one road out.
The proposed You Yangs battery farm sits on a single unsealed access road — what that means for residents, a quarry, local farms and emergency responders.
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The level crossing that cuts Lara in half.
Long boom-gate delays, gridlocked roundabouts, and emergency services stuck waiting. What's been promised, and what actually fixes it.
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The two-centimetre test: what 20mm off a footpath could fund.
A worked example on Geelong's footpath standard, Victorian precedent, and what real value engineering could do to a $765m capital program.
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Avalon Beach — the quietest walk in the ward.
Flat causeway paths across saltmarsh, internationally significant birdlife, and the best view of the You Yangs anywhere in Greater Geelong.
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The spray paint vandal — and a smarter way to pay for cameras.
Dozens of cars hit across Geelong. Half a million dollars buys about eight council camera poles — or thousands of subsidised cameras where it's actually happening.
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Serendip Sanctuary — the practical visitor guide.
What you'll actually see, which trail suits your group, the best time of day to go, and how to give yourself the best chance of a brolga.
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Silence is not weakness.
On restraint, resilience and public life — why choosing not to respond isn't an admission, and what resilience actually looks like day to day.
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How reliable are polls, really?
Margin of error, self-selection, and the Australian elections where polling got it badly wrong — and right.
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Nobody replied. Now what?
No answer from your councillor or MP? The escalation ladder that works — reasonable timeframes, public question time, and the formal avenues that exist.
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Every walking track in the You Yangs.
Filter eight tracks by grade, time and access — realistic walk times, the views worth the climb, busy times, and a packing list you can tick off.
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Where your rates actually go.
Two budgets, the order of claims, the renewal gap, and how little of a council budget is genuinely discretionary.
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How to get something fixed.
The escalation ladder that actually works — from a first request with a reference number through to the Ombudsman.
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Starting a community group — the order to do things in.
Incorporation versus auspicing, insurance, land tenure, banking and committee roles — in the sequence that avoids year-one failure.
Read the guide →Winning a grant — what assessors are actually looking for.
Eligibility thresholds, writing to the criteria, budgets that read as credible, and acquitting well enough to be funded again.
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Public transport in the north — the honest picture.
Frequency, span of hours, connection quality and the last kilometre — and who gets left behind when a network assumes everyone drives.
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Why your street floods.
Stormwater, sewerage and waterways are three systems with three owners. Knowing which is which is how you get it fixed.
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What Geelong’s teenagers don’t have.
Well served if you play sport and have a parent who can drive. Change either condition and the provision thins out fast.
Read the guide →Volunteering in Geelong — where you’re actually needed.
The roles organisations are genuinely short of (it isn’t what you’d guess), and how to volunteer in a way that lasts.
Read the guide →Fifteen years of CentreStage — what it actually taught me.
Almost nothing I learned was about theatre. It was about governance, money, volunteers and being accountable to people who can leave.
Read the guide →The missing link — Lara’s case for a safe route south.
No continuous protected route from Lara toward Geelong. What that costs the community, and the staged way to close it.
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Geelong's one post-premiership election produced its biggest political change.
Forty years of Grand Finals matched to the first council election that followed each one — and a result that runs the opposite way to the international research.
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How to object to a planning permit — and make it count.
What counts as a valid planning ground, what doesn't, how to structure a submission, and what happens at VCAT.
Read the guide →Bushfire ready — what living near the You Yangs actually requires.
Grassfire behaviour, deciding your trigger to leave, property preparation, and where to get official warnings.
Read the guide →Eleven wards, eleven councillors — and why the mayoralty should rotate.
Who represents your ward, how to contact them, what each ward has been fighting for, and the arithmetic behind rotating the chair.
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The rates cap, explained — and what ten years of it has done.
Every cap since 2016 in one chart, what it does and doesn't cover, and why your bill can rise by more than the cap.
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Avalon is growing again. The question is who benefits.
International flights, a thousand new terminal seats and an employment precinct fifteen minutes from Lara — and the questions still unanswered.
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The garden is the easy part. The paperwork is what breaks people.
What community gardens actually deliver, and an honest map of the funding they can and cannot reach.
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Geelong by bike — every major path, and how to ride it safely.
An interactive map of the region's shared trails, with distances, surfaces and the road rules that actually apply.
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One small Census question could matter more than you think.
Why accurately describing your occupation on 11 August matters for regional investment, workforce planning and future policy.
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What are we actually voting for?
Councils, parliaments, upper houses, lower houses — and what your vote actually changes. A non-partisan guide, with diagrams.
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When a councillor seeks state office: what it could mean for Lara.
Council vacancies, You Yangs Ward by-elections, the mayoral vote, and whether political competition really delivers better funding.
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A school in rural Staughton Vale: what is proposed and what should be considered?
An impartial explainer on planning application PA2604229 — the proposal, the competing arguments, and what the evidence must answer.
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Dhilpamarna Auditorium — a proud moment for our north.
The naming ceremony at Norlane ARC for a venue named with Wadawurrung Traditional Owners — Dhilpamarna, "to clap your hands".
Read the story →Honoured with an OAM for services to the performing arts and to business.
Named in the Australia Day 2024 honours list alongside ten Greater Geelong residents.
Read the story →Geelong Chamber names Greenwood OAM Youth Entrepreneur of the Year.
Recognised for dynamic leadership across CentreStage and Elevate Technology Solutions.
Read the story →Growing Lara — community workshop with local residents.
Locals, councillors, Bendigo Bank Lara and Catriona Rowntree gathered for the briefing. Notes from the night.
Read the story →CentreStage's four-year sweep at the Geelong Business Excellence Awards.
From the Edith Harrhy Award to the Hall of Fame — the awards trail behind CentreStage Performing Arts Academy.
Read the story →Geelong Independent: ten honoured with OAMs in Australia Day 2024 list.
David Greenwood named alongside nine other Greater Geelong residents for community service.
Read the coverage →Lara community briefing — what we covered.
Findings from the recent listening session: footpaths, the crossing on Patullos Lane, and the school precinct.
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Less than 1%. That is what the You Yangs Ward received.
$171.6 million in capital works across Greater Geelong. Approximately $1.27 million identified for Lara and the You Yangs Ward.
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Save Serendip — a petition, a lost submission, and an $11 million question.
1,000+ signatures asking one thing: a clear account of how $11 million is being spent. Including the month our motion vanished inside council’s own system.
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I’ve written to Council about the Northern Aquatic Centre.
Repeated closures of children’s areas, reduced staffing and limited accessibility. The letter published in full.
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The Lara community hubs — designed with locals, not for them.
What’s proposed for Lara East and Lara West, and why I’m pushing for a Community Liaison Reference Group and clearer developer contribution reporting.
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Imagine world-class facilities right here in the You Yangs Ward.
I helped make the funding case for the Norlane hub and stayed through construction. Now imagine that applied to Lara Pool and the Lara Giants.
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Lara Caravan Park approved — and it matters more than it sounds.
Dozens of local jobs, a fair share of tourism, and the accommodation gap that stops the north capturing the visitors it generates.
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One hundred locals, one question — the Lara incinerator meeting.
No Environment Effects Statement. No business case. Engineering design incomplete. An EPA licence issued regardless.
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The Botanic Gardens lights — and the version that nearly was.
I pitched this concept to the City two years earlier with international backing. It took a different path, and the local version was better for it.
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Nominating Daniel — and why local recognition matters.
I nominated a local legend among thousands of entries. He won. Why recognising young people properly changes trajectories.
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Farewell to Annie the guide puppy.
A year of training, a thousand ordinary outings as curriculum, and one very good dog moving on to the next stage.
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Back to Joey’s — speaking where it all began.
Returning to St Joseph’s College to speak to the Year 12s, with the full speech: don’t wait for the badge to tell you you’re a leader.
Read the story →More articles will be added as they're published. If you've covered David or his work and would like to be linked here, get in touch.