Congratulations Martin Foley!

Well, another election has passed and another term of a Labor government is upon us. While a Labor government was probably not an unexpected outcome for many of us, the massive swing to Labor certainly caught us by surprise. While State and Federal Liberals will continue to blame each other for the outcome, I firmly believe Federal Liberal had a lot to do with the swing. In any case, from a Southbank perspective, the Liberal campaign was essentially finished the moment Mathew Guy announced he would be rolling back the C270 Built Form controls that were introduced by Labor. While Matthew Guy was planning minister in the previous government, Southbank residents have seen, and are living with, the results of his unfettered planning decisions. While C270 is certainly not perfect, at least it provides residents with some clarity of what might be happening in their neighbourhood. So, when you take this away, one can’t help but be suspicious with what Matthews Guy’s intentions were. Southbank residents need some certainty and clarity. I spoke with Martin Foley and conveyed the congratulations of Southbank Residents Association (SRA). I also spoke with Ogy Simic (Greens) and Andrew Bond (Liberal) and conveyed our commiserations. Considering both Ogy and Andrew are still Councillors with the City of Port Philip we are looking forward to continuing work with them. After all, a small section of Southbank falls within their Council. We are of course looking forward to continuing to work closely with Martin over the next four years. Martin has always made time for Southbank despite his gruelling workload owing to his many portfolios. We can only hope that in this term his party might pay more attention to what he has to say in regard Southbank. Recently I was fortunate to join the Lord Mayor Sally Capp and some council officers on a walk around Southbank. I certainly thank Sally for taking the time out of her busy schedule to see first-hand some of the Southbank issues and the affect construction is having on our amenity. I must admit, this is the first time in my five years as president that a Lord Mayor has taken such a personal interest. SRA commends the Lord Mayor for wanting to understand the issues in Southbank. This will certainly assist the Lord Mayor with putting into context our future submissions to council and the Future Melbourne Committee. Finally, from the entire SRA committee, we would like to wish all residents in Southbank a safe and joyous Christmas and a refreshed start to the New Year. I am looking forward to meeting our residents and hearing their concerns throughout the next year. Tony Penna - President