Big wins for Southbank3006

More than 16 months ago, people with common concerns and hopes for the future of Southbank joined together to form Southbank3006.

After much hard work, we have engaged with hundreds of Southbankers at dozens of events. We hosted the neighbourhood’s first A Very Merry Friend-mas community celebration, state and federal political candidate debates and a forum on the Arts Precinct Transformation.

We’ve presented monthly forums on a range of issues including traffic and pedestrian safety, strata reform, intrusive artificial light, bicycle and scooter safety, among others.

Representatives from our committee met with state and federal leaders on a range of issues, attended countless City of Melbourne (CoM) council and Future Melbourne Committee meetings – submitting and presenting comments on critical issues including traffic management, pedestrian safety, low traffic neighbourhoods, increased green space, and noise and light pollution.

We’ve spent one-on-one time with leaders, walking them through Southbank to demonstrate what Southbankers care about. Time spent with Lord Mayor Sally Capp helped to advocate for the completion of road crossings across Balston and Kavanagh streets to Boyd Community Hub and the Power St/City Rd upgrade.

Meetings with federal MP Josh Burns better connected him with the needs of Southbank, something that helped drive his work to provide Southbankers with access to a neighbourhood battery.

Conversations with Deputy Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece and our State MP Nina Taylor, who lives in Southbank, contributed to the recently-budgeted ACCA Forecourt Renewal project and we’ve briefed CoM neighbourhood partner Ash Lee on initiatives Southbank3006 is pursuing on behalf of residents.

We attended Victoria Police Local Safety Committee Meetings and a Safety Summit hosted by the Lord Mayor, advocating for more boots on the ground in the heart of Southbank – not just along the promenade on Friday and Saturday nights.

The quality of our events, solutions-focused outreach and unwavering advocacy for Southbank has contributed to successful grant applications with the City of Melbourne and attracted our largest private donor, DGtek fibre optic network – providing us with a significant show of monetary support critical to underwriting community events and operating costs.

Look out for our series of upcoming events which are celebrating the diversity of Southbank including understanding the rich history of First Nations People with a NAIDOC week event, a Southbank Cultural Diversity Celebration, a walking tour of Southbank exploring First Nations history and some exciting surprises.

All of this progress in just over a year reminds me of a quote from American ethnobotanist Terence McKenna:

“Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up.”

The way to join our dream of making Southbank the very best place to live and to get updates about events is by registering at southbank3006.com. We hope to see you at a Southbank3006 event soon. •