An election is upon us!

Our recent meet the candidates event to meet our local candidates for the upcoming federal election was an overwhelming success.

We had candidates from the three major parties, Liberal, Labor and Greens.

The event was packed with about 100 people with a current reach of over 1000 on our live Facebook stream.

But who would have picked that the first question from the audience would have been about parties positions regarding Julian Assange – it certainly took me by surprise.

There were some really good questions covering a broad range of issues, many of which would have an impact on our suburb and our liveability.

The candidates were well prepared and answered all questions respectfully and directly.

We would like to extend a very special thank you to the moderator, Bernadene Voss, three-times City of Port Philip mayor and resident of the electorate for 20 years.

Bernadene certainly knows the issues of the electorate and kept the candidates focused on the questions.

It will be a very close contest, between three new candidates, so don’t forget to vote, as our seat is marginal and could easily go to any of the three major parties.

If you missed the event, and keen to know where all the candidates stand, then you can still see the whole event on our Southbank Residents’ Association Facebook page.

If you don’t already follow us there, then you may find our page useful.

On another note, I am becoming really concerned with the delays to Stage 1 of Southbank Boulevard.

I don’t know if you have noticed, but machinery is sitting idle on the site and rarely are workers seen around the area.

It seems from the latest City of Melbourne update that this development is several months behind schedule.

Delays no doubt come at a cost, especially when machinery is sitting idle.

I wonder how much this delay is costing the city and where the money will be coming from.

I will try to get some further answers to this.

The end of financial year is quickly approaching, therefore so is our annual general meeting.

It is at that time where we appoint a new committee.

May 20-26 is National Volunteer Week and our committee members are all volunteers.

On behalf of our community I wish to say a big thank you to our committee of volunteers who keeps our association active and relevant, and to also extend that to the wider community of volunteers who all do a tremendous job.

If you would like to be active in your Southbank community and also volunteer to assist our organisation, I encourage you to reach out and see if we can provide what you are looking for.

If you are interested please send me an email to [email protected], we would love to hear from you.

Happy voting!

Tony Penna - President