A new council, but will there be any changes?

A new council, but will there be any changes?
Tony Penna

Firstly, welcome to 2025. I trust the holiday season was a time for our community to relax and reflect on the year gone and the year ahead.

Southbank Residents’ Association (SRA) will have several big announcements this year aiming to make our community more connected, so watch this space.

We often look for a refresh when there is a change of government, and I think that is just as relevant with local government.

While there are a few councillors who served on the previous council, I would hope this is no reason, for them at least, to think to retain the status quo.

I am especially mindful of the rubbish situation in Southbank. I have raised with council, countless times during the last term, the overflowing rubbish bins around our community, especially along the promenade during special events.

At one point in 2023 I took more than 100 photos of overflowing rubbish bins and noted the time of day. I collected them together by location with the timeline to highlight which bins were a particular problem and by what time. I presented this to a Future Melbourne Committee meeting. 

I received an official response from a council officer trying to tell me the rubbish bins were being filled, not by pedestrian waste, but household waste. The council officer produced no evidence to support their assertion. In fact, I took insult to their reply as someone who walks on average 15km a day around Southbank, I certainly knew our rubbish bins and what was, or wasn’t, going into them or who was putting it in them. 

The overflowing rubbish bins along the promenade were essentially a failure by officers to schedule more frequent empties during special events. A problem which happens year in, year out. I have called out their planning for the Moomba long weekend almost every year for at least the past five years.

I also question the involvement of the workers who are tasked with emptying these rubbish bins overnight. Surely, they could be reporting which bins are consistently full and overflowing. I have no confidence they feel they have any ownership of our community, but I suppose why should they. 

At the end of September 2024, I noted a loose door on a rubbish bin on the corner of Queensbridge and Power streets opposite the casino. The door was hanging by one hinge and wouldn’t close. The workers would have noted this every night they emptied the bin. 

I watched this bin with curiosity to see how long it will take to be reported to get fixed, assuming the workers would report it. 

Sadly, by the end of December it had come off that hinge and the door was laying against the bin for at least an additional four weeks until mid-January when it was repaired. I suspect it was only repaired because someone in the community reported it.

However, Southbank, don’t be alarmed as we are not the only community in the municipality with this problem. It is particularly prevalent in the CBD too. 

One time at around 8pm on a Sunday evening I walked the length of Swanston St and nearly every “big belly” bin was overflowing onto the street. That night I took a photo of each overflowing rubbish bin and sent an SMS directly to the then deputy Lord Mayor Nick Reece to highlight this problem. 

Council officers have previously spruiked how these “high-tech” bins have sensors which alert to its fullness so it can be emptied promptly. I asked Nick what happened to the technological benefits these bins were supposed to bring the community when they are all overflowing – likewise for the same “high-tech” bins which were installed on the promenade. I am not convinced the council got bang for its buck when it committed to change to these bins throughout the community.

I am looking forward to a cleaner Southbank.

SRA will be holding its AGM in the not-too-distant future. If you have a desire to be a part of shaping your community then please reach out as our committee will be looking forward to inviting new faces to join us. Reach us at [email protected]. •

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