October 3, 2023
In this update you’ll find:
- A new library will be opening in the CBD at the end of November. It has been previously known as the ‘Munro Library’ but following consultation with Wurundjeri Elders will be named narrm ngarrgu Library and Family Services. The new name, which is in Woi-wurrung (Wurundjeri) language, is being gazetted and will come into effect once that statutory process is complete and registered with VICNAMES.
- On 21 March, Melbourne City Council endorsed a motion in support of the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, and the ‘yes’ campaign for the Constitutional Recognition of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament. As part of our ongoing commitment to truth-telling, we have compiled a set of resources about the Voice to Parliament, the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, and the upcoming referendum. We will continue updating these resources as the referendum approaches, including information in multiple languages. We encourage you to bookmark this page to stay up to date.
Authorised by Sally Capp in Melbourne on behalf of Melbourne City Council.
- In May, Yirramboi festival brought us an incredible program of First Nations creative exploration for community to experience across the city. In May and June as part of National Reconciliation Week, we hosted a range of events to promote truth-telling, learning, healing and change, including an oration by 2022 Melbournian of the Year, Anotinette Braybrook which is available to view. In July we celebrated National NAIDOC Week and offered a range of activities to embrace and deepen understanding of our Aboriginal history and culture including a Deadly Books Giveaway, NAIDOC in the City event, Finders Keepers Market and more.
Apartment living
- We will encourage short-term accommodation operators to shift their properties onto the long-term rental market to deliver more homes for people wanting to live in Melbourne. At the 29 August Council meeting, Councillors voted to begin consultation to inform the development of new local laws that are designed to encourage the flip of short-term accommodation into long-term rentals. Consultation opened in September for feedback. New regulation is likely to be introduced in February 2024.
- We are running a People’s Panel on Affordable Housing in October and November. This panel will include 40 people who are representative of our resident community, to hear from the experts, learn about affordable housing in the community and explore new and innovative ways to truly make Melbourne a city that everyone can call home. Recruitment has begun and randomly selected people who receive an invite will be eligible to register for the panel. Outcomes will be shared to Council and the general public.
- Inclusive employment program Game Changers, supported eight young people to gain employment at our recreation facilities. This program, delivered in partnership by The Huddle and YMCA, provides free support to young people seeking employment, including resume writing, interview practice, and career planning and goal setting. The program has helped improve diversity in the recreation facilities’ workforce with 26 per cent living in the City of Melbourne, 25 per cent born overseas, 15 per cent identifying as being part of the LGBTQI+ community, and 9 per cent with a disability.
- TalktoMe was an application developed by St Vincent’s hospital and funded by us to facilitate brief, sentence-based, non-clinical information in multiple languages when communicating about day-to-day topics relating to healthcare.
- Our Family Services team has created an inclusion and access officer role to provide inclusive and responsive support for families. The officer will help families from culturally diverse backgrounds access support and services.
- We received a High Commendation award at the Victorian Multicultural Awards for Excellence, for the holistic organisational approach to supporting international students during COVID-19, and newly arrived refugees evacuated from Kabul.
- Support for local young people continued through our partnership with The Drum, which provides inclusive services and programs for young people from all genders, religions, cultural and identity backgrounds. This partnership also supported Queerspace Youth, a peer-led program for queer, trans, intersex, gender diverse or questioning people aged 16-25 years old.
- Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Training was completed by 518 volunteers, and 74 staff members. This training helps volunteers and staff to support people living with non-visible disabilities. Hidden Disabilities Sunflower ‘Can I help you?’ badges were worn by 332 volunteers at major events and products were distributed at Moomba, Firelight, Melbourne Fashion Week and libraries.
- Laneway Learning hosted over 40 ‘Queer Social Sessions’ for LGBTIQ+ people struggling with isolation and loneliness. These sessions were a place to learn new skills, be creative and connect with peers and friends.
- The Lord Mayor’s Iftar dinner was hosted at the Queen Victoria Market. This event strengthened connection amongst the Muslim community and demonstrated Council’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. A social enterprise that employs migrant and refugee women, Meals with Impact, provided the catering. With 80 guests, this year was the largest Lord Mayor’s Iftar dinner to date.
- Through a community grant, RMIT held workshops with multicultural LGBTIQ+ people to create a glossary of LGBTIQ+ terms, concepts and services in different languages. These multilingual resources will be shared for community members, organisations, and translators to use when working in LGBTIQ+ contexts.
- We partnered with all tiers of government through the Inner Metropolitan Partnership to promote food security and social cohesion. We have distributed food vouchers through our childcare centres, family services, Ageing and Inclusion programs, Multicultural Hub, neighbourhood centres and libraries.
- We undertook a review of 20km/h shared zones in the Hoddle Grid. State Government has approved permanent 20km/h speed limits in these areas.
- We’re continuing to work with the Department of Transport and Planning to monitor and evaluate the trial of shared e-scooters. The trial has been extended until 5 October. To date, there have been 5.4 million e-scooter trips made since the beginning of the trial in February 2022. In August, the Future Melbourne Committee voted on the future of commercial e-scooter operations. The rollout of in-app designated parking across the municipality is being looked at as part of this. We are also talking to Victoria Police and the Minister for Roads and Road Safety to ensure they can provide adequate infrastructure and enforcement of the road rules for e-scooters. We are currently working with e-scooter operators to rollout designated parking, focussing first on the Hoddle Grid, before moving to other high activity locations such as Southbank, Docklands and Carlton. By October we should have transitioned Flinders Street, Swanston Street, Elizabeth Street to fully designated parking. E-scooter operators are trialling technology to improve the safety of e-scooters, particularly targeting illegal activity such as footpath riding and riding with a passenger.
- We launched Biketober 2023, a bike encouragement program, in collaboration with RACV, Banyule, Glen Eira, Bendigo and Ballarat. Biketober will run through October and is open to businesses and community members for free.
- We are working through the M9 Active Transport Behaviour Change Working Group, made up of other inner-Melbourne councils, to support collaboration on sustainable transport behaviour change initiatives. This work has seen Open Streets and e-Bike subsidy schemes expand across multiple areas.
- The draft Franklin St linear park concept design has been prepared for consultation in 2023-2024.
- We continued our tree planting program with 2554 trees planted this year. There are more than 80,000 trees planted in the City of Melbourne, and our canopy cover was mapped at 25 per cent this year. We renewed our Urban Forest Precinct Plans and engaged the community about priorities across four neighbourhoods including the Melbourne CBD.
- Little Lonsdale Street, CBD: 15 blueberry ash trees were planted in new plots between Queen Street and Elizabeth Street.
- We released our new Greening Melbourne permit system which enables community-led greening on council-owned footpaths. Visit Greening Melbourne to read more about this initiative.
- We’re committed to reducing the threat of extreme urban heat for all, particularly vulnerable people. We are working to create a ‘heat safe city’ with our goal that the city provides places of respite for residents, workers and visitors during extreme heat events. Earlier in the year we consulted with community on heat health priorities and ways we can create a heat safe city. This feedback is helping us develop heat safe city principles and advocacy positions which will guide actions for future summers, such as design of streetscapes and open space, location of shading and services to support vulnerable community members. Keep an eye on the Heat Safe City page for further updates.
- Our Power Melbourne project will install a network of neighbourhood batteries around the city to help renters, people living in apartments, and those running small businesses access more affordable renewable energy. Last year we consulted with community on where the first batteries could be installed, and the first three locations were approved by Council: Library at the Dock in Docklands, Boyd Community Hub in Southbank, and Council House 2 in CBD.
- We identified further areas for future neighbourhood batteries and ran a city-wide online survey and pop-ups in Carlton, North Melbourne, Kensington, South Yarra and East Melbourne. A team of Community Champions also explored the topic with their personal and professional networks. This helped us understand how people feel about potentially having a neighbourhood battery in their area, the kinds of benefits they want to see, and their location ideas. Follow the Power Melbourne page for updates including the report on this phase of engagement.
- All residential single-unit dwellings and low-rise multi-unit dwellings in the City of Melbourne had access to a food waste recycling service in 2022-23. This has resulted in more than 5600 tonnes of food waste being diverted from landfill and recycled into compost.
- Works have progressed so remaining households can access food waste recycling, including trialling options for recycling within high-rise buildings, which includes food waste dehydrator technology. This program diverts organic waste from landfill while minimising waste truck movement within the city.
- Programs to minimise waste from businesses within the city have also started, including educating small to medium businesses about the benefits of minimising waste and opting for reusable and recyclable packaging and products.
- Food waste recycling has also expanded within the city for businesses, utilising electric bikes to collect and divert over 146.59 tonnes of food waste.
- In the Therry Street streetscape renewal, we reduced the use of embodied carbon (carbon emitted during the extraction, transport and processing of raw materials into construction materials). By incorporating recycled material in the concrete and asphalt, we reduced the project's carbon by 22,000 kg.
- Since the Shopfront Activation Program began in September 2021, there have been 66 activations across Carlton, the Melbourne CBD and Docklands.
- The Gurrowa Place development partner was announced. It will feature build-to-rent apartments, student accommodation, underground car parks and office space.
- The Munro Library, following consultation with Wurundjeri Elders, has been named narrm ngarrgu Library and Family Services. The library will open at the end of November.
- We’re funding City Precinct, Collins Street Precinct Group, Greek Precinct Association, Melbourne Chinatown Association and Melbourne City North Business Association for business development initiatives, consumer advertising, marketing and promotion campaigns and local activations that promote the CBD trader areas to visitors.
- Our small business grants program supports new businesses to get started and existing businesses to expand and grow. This year we have a special focus on supporting small businesses that enhance the city’s vitality and increase the occupancy rate of shopfronts across the municipality.
- Since our Shopfront Activation Program began in September 2021, there have been a total of 67 improvements across Carlton, CBD and Docklands.
- Our Business Concierge team had 8089 contacts with business across the City of Melbourne between February and September.
- We are delivering the Munro library and community hub, renamed narrm ngarrgu Library and Family Services as part of the Queen Victoria Market precinct improvements. Development of the library and family services spaces is underway with plans to open at the end of November. Community, stakeholder and creative engagement informed the designs.
- The library will offer innovative programming, study and gathering spaces and state-of-the-art creative technology and community rooms. It will also attract residents, market visitors, international students, families, creatives and city workers.
- In June, Council considered a report called ‘Improve internet access in City of Melbourne's community facilities and for hard to reach groups’ and agreed to develop a Digital Inclusion Plan. This will include establishing a standard for Wi-Fi at Council facilities and looking at a model for the City of Melbourne to support a device donation scheme, allowing hard to reach groups access to devices.
- Each month City of Melbourne Libraries induct new people to access library makerspaces. These makerspaces provided access to technology, creative infrastructure and programs that support digital literacy and skill development. Libraries deliver specific Digital Literacy workshops to support employment, financial and wellbeing needs. Individuals can also Book a Librarian for a one-on-one digital literacy support program that is tailored to user’s needs. The Mel-Van outreach continues to visit community centres and festivals with community Wi-Fi and digital literacy resources.
- Progress continued this year on the Queen Victoria Market precinct renewal, protecting its iconic open-air characteristics and delivering on the vision of a world-class market. The renewal works included the construction of the new food hall. The final stage of the Heritage Shed restoration began in Sheds H and I and a builder was appointed for the new trader shed.
- Melbourne’s heritage is a rich tapestry of Aboriginal and much later colonial and contemporary stories. We are celebrating all things heritage across the city and invite you to join us. Share your stories, photos and videos celebrating #timelessmelbourne. There are plenty of ways to get involved including self-guided walking tours, learning about history of neighbourhoods and exploring the arts and heritage collection.
- We provided accessible and affordable arts and cultural activities through our creative programs at ArtPlay at Birrarung Marr and Signal at Northbank. Each venue offered low-cost and free programs. We provided translations of texts and marketing material, audio descriptions, Auslan performances and alcohol-free events.
- Pop-up libraries were established at four CBD locations including Elizabeth St pop-up library with a Make*it Space, Bourke Street Lounge, Children’s Library at Federation Square and Micro-Labs. Programs included storytimes, youth programs, book clubs, conversation clubs and employment support workshops.
- We delivered the Collins Street Studio, a leasing roadmap and the Creative Spaces website to support the creative sector.
- We secured an agreement with the National Gallery of Victoria for the 2023 Triennial Partnership Commission. Artwork will be launched as part of the Triennial in December. Work on the development of the ACMI Partnership Commission progressed, and the artwork will be installed in mid-2024. Two Hero Apartment Building Billboard commissions were installed, and we ran two test sites programs, supporting 20 artists to undertake work in public spaces.
- We’re also supporting our talented creative community through the Annual Arts Grants Program. The 2024 funding will celebrate 102 excellent one-off projects that will employ over 1,000 artists and attract 360,000 people. All art forms have been supported with an investment of $950,000 by Council. During September we opened grants for our 2024 Aboriginal Arts program and quick response arts grants that will seed small scale projects and help artists to test and develop new creative ideas. We look forward to these being visible over the next 4 months after approval in November.
- A new destination marketing brand platform, Only in the City, was launched in October 2022. It promotes the collective experience of original world-class events, arts and culture, bars and restaurants, retail, and unique destinations that make up the fabric of our city. The platform helps us build long-term positioning as Australia’s most creative, unique, vibrant and innovative city.
- The visitor services transformation commercial re-set was completed through new curated hyper-local and bespoke retail offerings to stimulate visitor spend and support small business. Delivery of more than 10 new tourism and events initiatives including development of the Now or Never Festival and the Tourism Accessibility and Inclusion Plan, including content development and marketing. Destination Management Plan stakeholder engagement was completed and an advisory committee established.
- The Connected Neighbourhoods Small Grants program was introduced, providing small grants to support connection and community-led responses to the neighbourhood priorities. There were 46 community-led projects that were funded in the first year.
Other partnerships to support community-led action include:
- A ‘City drug support services’ flyer was produced and distributed to key stakeholders and businesses.
- A Local Safety Committee Meeting was held in June, which covered the Melbourne West local area, which includes the western part of the CBD, North Melbourne, Docklands, Parkville and Carlton. Representatives from each of these neighbourhoods were present.
- We hosted the Melbourne Licensees Forum in June, where licensed venues shared information and discussed matters impacting them. This forum shared learnings and information about the late night liquor license freeze and public intoxication law reform.
- In partnership with Living Room in Hosier Lane, the Homelessness Support Hub went live, with storage and locker services provided for people experiencing homelessness. The Homelessness Support Hub pilot at Salvation Army Melbourne Project 614 was also launched.
- As a part of the Make Room project, we began converting a Council-owned building at 602 Little Bourke Street into secure, safe, and supported accommodation for people experiencing homelessness and sleeping rough.
- 'What you need to know to survive on the streets’ is a short information booklet produced every two months by a group of people experiencing or with lived experience of homelessness, published by us in partnership with Cohealth. Participants have also been supported to learn and care for each other and the community – building social, emotional, and practical skills.
- We continued working closely with Victoria Police, including joint outreach patrols to engage with people experiencing homelessness to ensure they are supported and businesses are not negatively affected. Our library social worker outreach program continues to support community members through outreach and connection to social services.
- We continue to expand our Rapid Response Clean Team to fast-track graffiti removal, dumped rubbish, cigarettes, street sweeping and syringe collection across the city. Residents, workers and visitors continue to play an important role in reporting graffiti and rubbish across the city using Council’s QR code reporting system. From January to August this year we received 25,549 requests to respond to graffiti and cleaned from more than 70,000 square metres of graffiti.
- Community consultation on the Parking and Kerbside Management Plan took place from March to April. Overall, there was a high level of support for the direction of the draft plan. There was also strong support for a strategic and data-led approach to kerbside management and equitable and inclusive access to kerbside space. Council endorsed the plan in May and we're currently implementing parking improvements in the CBD. We'll shortly be engaging with residents and businesses, and improving parking across our neighbourhoods.
- The Metro Tunnel Project is progressing. At Town Hall Station the installation of 8 concrete and steel columns on the concourse level under City Square now complete. Work on the underground walkway that will link the new station to Flinders Street Station and City Loop services is continuing. At the State Library Station, platform screen doors have been installed, while the installation of escalators is underway. Work is continuing on the pedestrian underpass that will link the new station to Melbourne Central Station and City Loop Services.
- City Swimm(h)er, a partnership between us, Islamic Council of Victoria and Australian Muslim Social Services Association, received external funding to pilot women’s only open swim sessions every Saturday afternoon, as well as structured swimming lessons at Melbourne City Baths.
- We're exploring ways to improve opportunities for women, girls and others who experience barriers to participation in community sport and recreation. To achieve this, we’re developing a Fair Access Policy. Public consultation was also carried out during September and October to better understand the barriers, as well as enablers to inclusion. Find out more about this work and how to get involved.
- The Excellent City Series of forums explored what design excellence means if you live in, work in, learn in or visit Melbourne. A key objective of these forums was to engage directly with the community to hear their perspectives, to inform and improve outcomes in the built environment.
- The Lord Mayor's Student Welcome event was held at QVM's Summer Night Market in March with more than 1500 international students registered.
Gig workers across the city now have a dedicated communal space to take a break and meet others. In time, the program aims to provide a series of permanent staff rooms for gig workers across the CBD. Gig Workers Hub currently operates out of Micro-Labs on Bourke Street, every Thursday and Sunday from 2-5pm.
In 1983, a group of Melburnian women shared an ambition to empower women with information, resources and education to help them lead their best lives. Their vision became the Women’s Information and Referral Exchange (WIRE). Now, you can access confidential and anonymous support through its phone line, web chat or in person at WIRE'S Walk In Centre on Bourke Street.
Grants of up to $2000 are available to increase community participation, connection, equity, diversity and inclusion through our new Connected Neighbourhoods Small Grants. Applications are open all year until the budget has been fully allocated.
Check out other grant opportunities on the Community Noticeboard.
Neighbourhood Partner, Melbourne CBD
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Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners
The City of Melbourne respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land we govern, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin and pays respect to their Elders past and present. We acknowledge and honour the unbroken spiritual, cultural and political connection they have maintained to this unique place for more than 2000 generations.
We accept the invitation in the Uluru Statement from the Heart and are committed to walking together to build a better future.
