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The importance of participation

The importance of participation

It’s up to each of us to participate in any way we can to improve our suburb or city and add our input where it counts. There are a couple of important ways we encourage Southbankers to participate this month. June means lots of work on Southbank’s first composting hub, and the City of Melbourne’s first open communal composting hub. We welcome Southbankers who want to be part of delivering this project, regardless of knowledge or experience. The City of Melbourne’s 2021-22 Draft Budget has also been released and is open for community input. It’s important for all of us to add our input for our voices to be heard by our city’s decision-makers and have a say on Southbank’s future where it matters. Composting hub The short lockdown may have delayed assembling the volunteer team that will help deliver this important project, but we are still moving in full speed to establish the hub behind the Boyd Community Hub and reduce Southbank’s organic waste while educating residents and businesses on composting. It will also help to fully close the loop of our community garden’s waste. The City of Melbourne has kindly offered a couple of workshops on composting with its waste education officer, to raise our group’s composting knowledge and skills in the meantime. If you are interested in getting involved this would be the perfect time, as the beginner’s workshop on composting will be coming up very soon and it will be open to Southbank Sustainability Group members only. Draft Budget 2021-22 – Southbank & climate action highlighted A more important and easy way Southbankers can contribute to improving our environmental impact, is by adding a submission to City of Melbourne’s draft budget 2021-22, before Tuesday, June 15. After community input is considered, a final version will go before the council for a vote on June 29. Whether you want to highlight parts of the budget that are important to you, or parts you would like to see more investment towards, adding your voice on Participate Melbourne will play a big role in how our council makes decisions moving forward on various important matters. It will also determine which areas our city will invest and develop during the next one to five years. The submission process has been greatly simplified this year and can be accessed on participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/budget-2021-22. It’s a simple 12-step survey with a 3000-character text box to add your input. Alternatively, you can email [email protected] directly with your feedback. We were happy to see “Climate and Biodiversity Emergency Action” added as a strategic goal in this year’s budget, along with $20 million allocated to a new Southbank Green Space Plan and Southbank in general being a priority area to improve. All of which we have been strongly advocating our council on all levels these past five years. Now it’s time for you to add your individual support or input on these important investments for our suburb and our overall environmental footprint. If you’re unable to go through the budget document and are looking for some guidance, we’ll soon post on our Facebook page a short summary on environmental action and Southbank plans included in the budget, along with how to navigate the budget document, while forming your submission. The more submissions our new council receives on its investment in climate action and greening Southbank, the more it will ensure these projects are prioritised and delivered on time. There are four big projects in the draft budget that focus on Southbank: The Southbank Structure Plan Southbank Urban Forest Precinct Plan City Road Master Plan Southbank Boulevard and Dodds St concept plan. More specifically, it includes a $42.5 million spend on Southbank priority projects, with $20 million of that allocated for a new Southbank Open Green Space Reserve and the other $22.5 million going towards a Dodds Street Linear Park, Southbank Boulevard greenscaping, pocket parks and new climate adaptation urban landscapes. Plus, an additional $9 million allocated to the City Road Master Plan and another $5 million allocated for new metro bike lanes, connecting suburbs and making biking across our city easier and safer. This noticeable highlight and urgency in addressing Southbank’s green space needs in this budget plan, is undoubtedly in part the result of all the submissions 128 of you made in protest of the Boyd Park development in December 2020. Submissions which were greatly driven by our group and showed our new council Southbank’s urgent green space needs. A great amount and focus are also included on a Waste and Resource Recovery Hub Expansion Program. Worth mentioning is also a major initiative under the “Economy of the Future” strategic objective. That is, to embed the Sustainable Development Goals in the way the City of Melbourne plans, prioritises its investments, reports and benchmarks against other cities, meaning that all economic decisions which the council takes, will have an element of environmental impact evaluation. It’s worth taking a look at page 19 of the budget plan and the major initiatives under the “Climate and Biodiversity Emergency” strategic objective. It highlights how during the next four years, the council will “prioritise our environment and take urgent action to reduce emissions and waste in order to protect public health, strengthen the economy and create a city that mitigates and adapts to climate change.” Basically, putting action behind our council’s declaration of a climate and biodiversity emergency in 2019, some of former Cr Cathy Oke’s past great work (with the relevant council teams) to ensure this declaration didn’t become a symbolic gesture. Climate Action as a standout strategic goal, means future agenda items that come before the council for a vote in the next four years, will have to reflect a stronger environmental action and will give an opportunity for community members to add their feedback or questions for agenda items that don’t reflect this goal. Melbourne Awards 2021 On May 19, we were invited to participate in the first Melbourne Awards Alumni breakfast, a new Lord Mayor initiative to connect and celebrate Melburnians recognised for doing extraordinary work across our city. We enjoyed meeting some humble, everyday, yet exceptional Melburnians and got inspired by all the amazing work done all around our city. The 2021 Melbourne Awards submissions are now open, and nominating people doing exceptional community or sustainability work is highly encouraged. Registrations close on June 11 and full submissions are due by July 9. Search for “Melbourne Awards” on melbourne.vic.gov.au to nominate someone or to learn more. Next meetups Our next group meetups (focused on sustainability initiatives & gardening) are on Saturdays June 12 and 26, 10am to 12pm at Boyd. Reach us at: [email protected] or facebook.com/SouthbankSustainabilityGroup •

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