Rotary Club of Mount Gambier Lakes member Ian McKay has been inducted as Rotary District Governor for 2023-24.

Mr McKay was inducted at a changeover luncheon held at Thyme at the Lakes, attended by around 100 Rotarians and friends from across the Rotary district.

Rotary District 9780 extends from Millicent to Bordertown, to Swan Hill and Lara and the Bellarine Peninsula and there are 52 clubs with almost 1400 Rotarians in the district.

Mr McKay accepted responsibility for the leadership of the Rotary district on Saturday for the coming 12 months.

The Rotary theme for the year is ‘Create Hope in the World,’ selected by Rotary International president, Gordon McInally from Scotland, who visited Mount Gambier for two days in June.

Mr McInally has asked clubs across the world to shine a light on mental health, finish the job with eradicating polio and take initiatives to support peace.

Mr McKay has joined with other incoming District Governors throughout Australia and New Zealand to develop an awareness campaign to ‘Say No to Domestic and Family Violence.’

“Family violence is such a dreadful burden for our communities, for individuals affected and children impacted,” Mr McKay said.

“Rotarians across Australia want to support increasing awareness as part of encouraging people to say no and not accept domestic and family violence.”

Mr McKay also plans to establish a Polio Plus Society in the Rotary district where Rotarians and others will pledge to donate $100 annually until polio is finally eradicated.

There have been just four confirmed cases of polio this year in the world in small pockets of Pakistan and Afghanistan, down from more than 1000 cases each day when Rotary first became involved in a project to end polio.

However, Mr McKay said people cannot relax until polio is eliminated as the disease remains only a plane flight away from new infections occurring in Australia and other countries with potential dreadful outcomes for the next generation.

During his year as governor, Mr McKay and his wife, Sherril, also want to ask Rotarians and clubs to support Australian Rotary Health.

Australian Rotary Health has been a leading funder of research in Australia for more than 40 years with a current focus on mental health research for 0-12 years of age.

Past achievements of Australian Rotary Health include funding research that substantially reduced the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and funding the development of the well-known Mental Health First Aid courses.