Something old, something new, something bold for 2025
First, something old … the Southbank community came together with groundbreaking attendance to celebrate a third year of A Very Merry Friend-mas in December 2024.
The event was made possible through the tireless efforts of Southbank3006’s committee spearheaded by Jannine Pattison, community volunteers, and financial support from the City of Melbourne, MICM, MAPCo, Pineapple Net (DG Tek), Southgate and ESR Southbank.
Most importantly, the 1000 members of the community who attended across the day made the day one for the books.
Southbank3006’s outreach, advocacy and events since our inception three years ago have measurably elevated Southbank’s profile and importance to city, state and federal leadership.
Proof in point, Merry Friend-mas was attended by representatives from all levels of Government. Our Federal MP Josh Burns and Albert Park MP Nina Taylor spoke, and the event was opened by Lord Mayor Nick Reece supported by Deputy Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell and new Cr Rafael Camillo. Their involvement is critical to building first-hand knowledge in governments of the issues confronting Southbank residents.
Something new for 2025
Southbank3006 is actively focused on making certain the creation of passive and active open space in Southbank is front and center of the council’s new “Delivery Unit” that will target delivery of key policies and initiatives across Melbourne.
We are prioritising completion of our advocacy that initiated the ACCA Forecourt Redevelopment Project for which Nina Taylor secured state government funding and the Undercroft Active Recreation Project for which Josh Burns secured federal funding.
We will continue to collaborate with both the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor to see that both projects form part of the Delivery Unit’s remit. It is reassuring to see the council is committed to action and delivery of livability in Southbank
The new Council Plan will be released shortly for consultation. This is key for setting the council’s direction, its strategies and programs for the next four years. The last plan, tabled in 2021, had at its core “A City of Possibilities” but unfortunately outside that core it degenerated into a shopping list of 58 plans, 52 major initiatives, six strategic objectives, with nine service areas covering 31 services.
The outcome of this approach is a document that tries to be everything to everyone, lacking focus yet enabling anything to be justified as aligning with the plan.
With a new focus on delivery and a new executive team at the council we hope that the next plan will be one that provides a way ahead with deliverables focused on economic and social development outcomes against which progress can be assessed.
When the plan is released, it is essential that there is strong community participation in the feedback process to ensure it is fit for purpose.
A new Southbank3006 event program is being developed to work on key issues residents have identified. A feature of this will be working jointly with other community groups and agencies to enunciate and tackle priority issuers for Southbank.
The best way to follow along and participate in these initiatives is to join SB3006 at southbank3006.com.
Something bold for 2025
At the December 24 council meeting, the council agreed to develop a proposal from the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor that organises a summit to envisage Melbourne in 2050.
This is a bold initiative and pushes the council to think about not only what the city looks like in 2050, but the pathway there and challenges that need to be addressed along the way.
Such thinking requires scanning the future not stumbling from crisis to crisis so needs to be supported. Too little time is spent in government and communities thinking about what neighbourhoods like Southbank will look like. By 2050 many of the apartment buildings in Southbank will be 50-plus years old and most 30-plus. These metrics will impact the lives of residents and especially owners so planning what happens in our community is critical.
Similarly, by 2050, personal mobility will have changed, and level five autonomous vehicles will be a reality making car ownership redundant for many. So how do we repurpose on-street parking as well as off-street parking both public and private? The changes are endless.
The City of Melbourne is to be encouraged for thinking boldly, setting up a process to ask where we may be headed and how we might get there. It will probably be wrong but what the process will do is to encourage people to think, challenge conventional wisdom, and set in train adaptive processes inside the council itself.
We look forward to hearing more about the fantastic initiative in the February council meeting cycle and will report back to our membership in our monthly newsletter that goes out to free Southbank3006
membership. •

Livestock trial commences through Citylink tunnels
