October 3, 2023
In this update you’ll find:
- 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.
- In July, community group Southbank3006 organised an event ‘Understanding Aboriginality and Identity’ to celebrate NAIDOC week. The event was presented by Koorie Heritage Trust and supported by our Inclusive Community Grants.
- Our libraries provided a safe and welcoming space for all community members, through programs such as storytime for children, book clubs, talks and a writing group.
- We're exploring ways to improve opportunities for women, girls and others to participate in community sport and recreation within City of Melbourne. To achieve this, we are carrying out a Fair Access project. 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.
- A trial community noticeboard has been set up in the mini skateboard space at the tram stop near City Road and Moray Street intersection. Community events and programs are advertised on the noticeboard.
- The Boyd Village Development is underway. The new building will accommodate mixed-use development including residential and affordable housing. It will also include community facilities across two levels, which will be owned and managed by the City of Melbourne once it’s complete.
- We continued our tree planting program with 2554 trees planted this year. There are over 80,000 trees in the City of Melbourne and our canopy cover was mapped at 25 per cent this year.
- Freshwater Place residential building received a Connected Neighbourhood Small Grant to organise social activities around their community garden. The residents will get together to green the communal space.
- We developed a new resource (Greening information for residential buildings) to support apartment building residents to participate in our greening initiative.
- 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.
- Community Resilience Assessments were carried out to understand better and respond to the physical and social vulnerabilities that communities face before, during, and after a disaster. We piloted assessments in Southbank, Kensington, and Carlton.
- Southbank Sustainability Group continues fortnightly gardening at Boyd Community Hub. The group is also delivering a series of free sustainability workshops: Planting for Small Spaces, Zero Waste Living, and Indoor Plant Propagation. Boyd library supports the workshops by curating relevant books for display. The series is supported by our Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund small grant.
- More residential apartment buildings are providing platforms for residents to communicate and exchange second-hand items. Some buildings offer digital platforms, some set up physical noticeboards, and others have updated their policy so people can utilise noticeboards in the mailrooms.
- 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 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.
- Re-love Festival will take place in November for locals to participate in a second-hand market.
- The St Kilda Road protected bike lanes from St Kilda to Southbank Boulevard were completed during 2022–23, delivering vital connection for people travelling to the city by bike and e-scooter. Major Roads Projects Victoria delivered the project, and we provided significant design input and transport engineering advice.
- Southbank3006 organised a community forum in February to raise awareness around bike safety. Victoria Police spoke about theft prevention, and the City of Melbourne discussed transport strategy.
- 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.
- We are working closely with community stakeholders to keep bike lanes clear of bins and parked vehicles.
- We’re supporting the Yarra River Business Association with funding for business development initiatives, consumer advertising, marketing and promotion campaigns and local activations that promote the Southbank trader area to visitors.
- Yarra River Business Association carried out market research to support local traders to meet residents' needs. The results will be shared via workshops and the quarterly lunch in November.
- 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 by increasing the occupancy rate of shopfronts across the municipality.
- Our Business Concierge team had 8089 contacts with business across the City of Melbourne between February and September.
- Opportunities for acquiring land for public open space in Southbank and urban renewal areas continued to be investigated.
- An additional 0.44 ha has become permanent open space in Southbank. This figure includes four areas along Southbank Boulevard from Sturt Street to Fawkner Street, including the newly completed and popular play space.
- A review and update of the Open Space Strategy and Open Space Contributions Framework started this year, to guide which areas in the municipality most need new public open space.
- Dodds Street Linear Park is under construction. The new park will create 1300 square metres of native grassland planting and 35 new trees set amongst paved bluestone pathways and gathering spaces. Landscape works started in January and are anticipated to be complete by the end of December.
- ’Transforming Southbank Boulevard’ received the Victorian Civic Landscape Award of Excellence.
- We installed a pedestrian crossing at Balston Street, City Road, and Balston Street, Kavanagh Street.
- In March and April this year, we asked the Southbank community to identify pedestrian and road safety issues they have experienced in the neighbourhood and possible safety improvements. The consultation took place online through Participate Melbourne where the community was asked to mark their pedestrian and road safety issues on a map of Southbank. A total of 1160 comments were received on the map. The transport engineering consultants used these community comments alongside historical community feedback, crash statistics, and vehicle speed and volume data to come up with a list proposed pedestrian improvement projects for the neighbourhood. The details of these projects will be shared with the community at two information sessions in October and November. The sessions will be co-hosted with resident groups (Southbank Residents Association and Southbank3006).
- Our librarians curated a reading list for people who want to learn more about transport. The ’People Friendly Street’ has 30 items with a mix of fiction and non-fiction, digital and physical books.
- Victoria Police distributed two posters to encourage people to report poor cycling and e-scooter behaviour and report an incident or collision with a cyclist or e-scooter rider
- The City Road and Power Street intersection upgrade has been completed to improve safety for pedestrians and drivers.
- 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. Results showed there was 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. We are anticipating Southbank consultation in November.
- We are working closely with community stakeholders to improve local traffic. These works include changing parking spaces and rules to improve sight lines and access, and making it easy to report issues.
- The City Road and Power Street intersection upgrade has been completed to improve safety for pedestrians and drivers.
- Southbank Safety and Security Committee (SSSC) meets quarterly to discuss safety issues. In the April meeting, committee members visited the Safe City Cameras Control Room in Melbourne Town Hall. The June meeting covered emergency preparedness in high-rise buildings, while the September meeting covered bikes and e-scooters on Southbank Promenade. Security professionals and representatives of Owners Corporations are welcome to attend the meetings.
- A ‘drug safety in the city’ flyer was produced and distributed to key stakeholders and businesses.
- Our library social worker outreach program continues to support community members through outreach and connection to social services.
- 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.
- Southbank Library and Boyd Community Hub programmes included storytime, youth programs, book clubs, conversation clubs and employment support workshops.
- Southbank Sustainability Group continues fortnightly gardening at Boyd Community Hub. The group is also delivering a series of free sustainability workshops: Planting for Small Spaces, Zero Waste Living, and Indoor Plant Propagation. Boyd library supports the workshops by curating relevant books for display. The series is supported by our Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund small grant.
- Southbank Residents Association (SRA) hosted community events with topics including New to Southbank’, local history, and strata living.
- Southbank3006 hosted community events with topics including bike safety, light pollution, strata reform, and Aboriginal cultural heritage.
- 4 groups in Southbank received Connected Neighbourhood Small Grant to strengthen community connections. With the grant, Freshwater Place residential building will organise activities around the existing community garden, Gallery Tower residential building will engage with an Aboriginal artist for an art project, and Rozi Flower Fairies will offer a “Flower Fairies & The Miracle Question” project where participants can craft flower-fairies with introduction to visioning thoughts. FilmLab hosted a successful event “Table Read”, an organised reading of a movie script.
- There are other ongoing community events at Boyd Community Hub including weekly Tai Chi, monthly board games, and monthly community tea and hangout sessions.
- 16 community members and businesses joined Imagination Southbank. In this 5-day workshop, participants imagined the future of Southbank and how they might create these futures. Imagination Southbank is a collaborative project between Centre for Public Impact, Hinterland Lab, and City of Melbourne.
Lily Bednikov has always had a good understanding of what makes people feel connected to their community. But after two decades living in Southbank, it wasn't until joining a group of guerrilla gardeners that she really felt at home. This is Lily's story.
While Seema Misra Thakur has lived much of her life in India, the Southbank resident says her neighbourhood is a home away from home. Now, when she goes away she misses the 'family' she has made within the Southbank community. This is her story.
Faye McDonald moved to a high-rise in Southbank 27 years ago. She believes having strong connections to the community and being part of Southbank Sustainability Group, is what makes her urban neighbourhood so special. This is her story.
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, Southbank
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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.
