good evening everyone and welcome to the
council meeting for Tuesday the 12th of
March
2024 Yarra City Council acknowledges the
Wurundjeri Woi Wurrang people as the traditional
owners and true sovereigns of the land
now known as Yarra we acknowledge their
creative spirit their ancestors and
their Elders we acknowledge the
strengths and resilience of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung
who have never ceded some
sovereignity and retain their strong
connection to family clan and country
despite the impacts of European
invasion we also acknowledge the
significant contributions made by other
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people to life in Yarra we pay our
respects to Elders from all nations
here today and to their Elders past
present and
future in attendance this evening we
have councilor Jolly councilor Glynatsis
councilor Nguyen councilor Mohamud
myself councilor Crossland uh we've got
councilor Landes councilor Wade
councilor Stone and councelor
O'Brien counselors I will now ask each
of you to make a conflict of interest
declaration you may respond with I do to
the following question do you declare
you have you have formalized yourself
with the matters being presented to this
meeting and that you do not have a
conflict of interest councelor
Jolly councelor
gatas councelor
Nguyen I have a conflict for item 7.2 and
8.2 it's a general conflict of interest
due to my employment at another
workplace thank you and noted councilor
Mohamud no conflict I too have no
conflict Council Landes no
conflict councilor Wade no conflict Councilor
Stone Councilor O'Brien I
do to which item would that be I do not
have any oh conflict of interest which
is what you asked us to say thank
you confirmation of minutes uh that the
minutes of the council meeting had on
Tuesday the 13th of February 2024 be
confirmed I will now call for a vote
with a division all those in favor if
you could please raise your
hand need to move in a second okay I'll
call for a mover councilor Stone as
second councilor Mohamud all those in
favor and it is unanimous it's councilor
O'Brien Councilor Stone councilor Wade
councilor Landes CouncilOR Crossland
councilor Mohamud councilor Glynatsis
councilor Jolly thank you mayor sorry to
interrupt can I just ask about the
filming that's underway is that Council
or is that
otherwise and has it been
authorized just
checking might be entertaining to some
councilors but I have a right to ask
sorry I couldn't quite get the question
the filming that's underway is that
Council filming is it otherwise no
that's a media outlet and it's okay yes
it is good thank you
that brings us to question
time it's now the time where questions
from members of the public can be asked
I will invite everyone who has
registered to ask a question at this
meeting in the order of
registration when your turn comes please
come forward to the microphone switch it
on and state your name and the suburb
you live in for the record if you here
on behalf of a group explain the nature
of the group and how you're able to
speak on their
behalf I ask that you please direct your
questions to myself ask the questions
that you have previously registered
including any background or context to
the
question please don't engage in debate
and please take your seat after asking
your question you have 3 minutes to ask
your question although though you don't
need to use all of that
time the first question this evening
comes from Peter
Jarmon good evening through you
mayor uh my name is Peter Jamieson
resident of Fitzroy and store manager
of the Fitzroy IGA in Brunswick Street
Fitzroy I represent the owners of the
store I attended the last council
meeting and introduced our new store
which is just coming up to 6 months in
operation I mentioned that we were
intent on creating a very strong
connection with the Fitzroy Community
through both our presence and the way
in which we operate within the store
ensuring that we're providing the sort
of goods and services that the Fitzroy
residents local residents
require we're also intent on building
our local connection through partnersh
ship and I think I mentioned that we
had a an existing partnership with the
Fitzroy Sacred Heart School where we're
providing weekly fruit services for the
kids and we're in discussions
with other community groups sporting
groups to establish SAR
Partnerships since the last meeting
we've taken further steps to increase
our Community Connection by
partnering with the city of Yarra to
establish a Brunswick Street Traders
Association and we've had three meetings
now and making good progress on
establishing a much more community
and aligned Traders group within the
community that enables us to continue
to build on this unique and iconic
Street in
Fitzroy last meeting I asked a question
about car parking one of the issues that
we face as a small business is
encouraging customers to come and spend
more time in store and in particular
do their weekly shops but we are
severely hampered in that regard by a
lack of available parking for customers
it is one of the more consistent
complaints we receive that customers
have no ability to park when doing their
weekly
shopping I asked a question about
that at the last meeting and we also
submitted a petition with over 400 names
uh signatures physical signatures and
nearly 200 digital likes from a Facebook
campaign that we
ran my question this evening is about
two things first of all being the
progress of that petition that we lodged
last time we're interested in knowing
the any progress at all with that
petition and secondly we've become aware
that there is either planned or underway
a review of parking arrangements in the
city of Yarra and we request an update on
the scope scope purpose and timing of
that review thank you very
much thank you very much um I'll now
invite the general manager city
sustainability and strategy to
respond thank you Peter for your
question um the submission of the
petition has been noted and is currently
being considered by the team and a
response should be sent to you by end of
the week I will take this opportunity to
outline as previously outlined that paid
parking does play a role um in managing
an asset the parking asset within the
city of Yara it does assist in
preventing long-term parking occupancy
of spaces encourages turnover and making
parking more accessible to the community
and promotes other forms of Transport in
response to the second part of your
question council is currently
undertaking a curbside and parking
strategy that is a three-year strategy
this year was year one the study will
include consideration of parking fees
and impacts and demands for on street
car parking in yl and also considers the
future group within the municipality
thank you
chair thank you very much I'll Now call
on Janet
Adams thank you I'm Janet Adams I live
in Clifton Hill my question is can
Council provide clarification of its
risk management requirements for
residents who require laneway access to
maintain their
property as a resident I recently helped
my painter apply for a permit I
discovered that that current traffic
management requirements are not designed
for residents to complete small Home
Maintenance tasks in order to get a
traffic management plan to submit to
council residents must negotiate with
traffic management companies that
generally provide plans for large
complex works on highly trafficed roads
our plan was in the category of up to
10,000 cars per day our lane may may
have one to two cars per
week two traffic management companies
said that Yarra City Councilwould
require two traffic controllers one at
each end of a 15 M actual work site to
watch possibly 5 to 10 pedestrians a day
walk 50 steps past a Wells signed and
ball added work site in a highly visible
Lane we they significantly overestimated
council's requirements actual traffic
management requirements and Associated
costs because Council doesn't provide
guidelines for realistically estimating
risks and proportionate traffic
management requirements in lightly
trafficked access laneways infrequently
used by cars and
pedestrians Council also doesn't
currently provide essential process
information for residents to help them
in this process for example I discovered
laneway signs can only be placed by
accredited traffic controllers at a cost
of $650 a day and accredited traffic
management controllers can modify the
approved plan to suit actual conditions
on the site and notify Council on that
day residents do understand that Council
requires traffic management plans to
manage risks to workers and the public
and to manage access un fortunately an
unintended consequence of the current
onerous and disproportionate traffic
management requirements means that many
do not apply for permits and this makes
it riskier for
everybody so I reluctantly signed up for
3 Days of a controller and in that time
two pedestrians walked down the
lane in addition uh we received an
unfortunate error in the permit which
led to an infringement being issued to
the painter who had no authority over
the traffic controllers who had actually
changed the signage on the day and it
led me to take a petition to Residents
who were at home during the notification
process this petition is being presented
later to Council in this
meeting I do commend this issue to you
on behalf of residents who need to
access laneways to complete essential
household management maintenance tasks
thank you for your time
thank you for your submission this
evening I'll now ask that the general
manager infrastructure environment
respond thank you mayor and and through
you and thanks Janet for the detail of
your question um U sort of I'll answer
it broadly and then specifically so all
occupation of council assets as you know
requires um permission to ensure safety
of of workers and uh contractors
pedestrians Motors and Cy
um however in Spec specifically
responding to yours it's possible that
we haven't quite scaled our response
proportionate to the to the risk um if
with your permission I might contact you
tomorrow um your experience might help
others and I might also be able to
respond to the the infringement um
reference that you made as well so if
you're happy for me to contact you
tomorrow I'm sure we can sort this out
thank
you
thank you very much and now like to call
on Peter
razos good evening councilors in
relation to the transport action plan
224
234 my question to you all of whom the
majority that live in our council is how
many C spots have you taken away from
the city of Y residence and how many
more are you going to take by
2034 in the last 5 years you've
singlehandedly diminished the capacity
for shop owners to function and operate
you've effectively taken away
residential car parking from families
and for their children to be able to
travel to schools shops medical
Necessities you've taken away car squats
street parking away from communities
with Plantation of trees which should be
allocated on the foot path and not
taking up the valuable onroad spaces for
car parking do you expect families to
ride bikes during winter and go shopping
had you expect ambulance officers and
emergency services to attend residential
homes when they are restricted with
Street access limited or no parking
available even even having to deal with
streets that are being blocked off why
do you put this out of pressure on the
residents of the city of Yara life is
hard enough as it is and not to be able
to go home and find a car spot is having
a negative effect you have all created
these traffic jams around the city of Y
you single-handedly have taken away the
rights from the residents of Richmond
City via to be able to function as
normal human beings and people's
lifestyle and running a business they're
now suffering where their clients and
customers in certain business trips
could not even find parking to go and
visit their stores half the population
in the city of Y are families and and
the elderly which should be your
priority as counselors I wonder if
there's a conflict of interest in voting
on bicycle Lanes in where you work or
live in the area or if you're Affiliated
in a Bicycle Club the word that comes to
mind is called impartial maybe that's
for the governance or the compliance
officers to look at what are what you
are proposing the cost is ours not yours
you're elected to address the concerns
of the residents with the end result
should be to a positive outcome for all
thank
you question question have you got your
camera have you got your camera on you
the first question the question is very
simple how many car spots have you taken
away from the city of Y residence and
how many more you going to take by
2034 and if you want to take a snapshot
use your camera to do it if you like Mr
AAR please settle it's not necessary s
thank
you I'll invite the general manager City
sustainability and strategy to respond
thank
you thank you mayor I'll I'll try to
answer the the question as best I can
um a number of teams across Council
deliver bicycle projects including the
state government in partnership with
Council in many cases parking space is
affected by bicycle lane installation
which I understand is the primary um
concern are moved replaced nearby rather
than removed in their
entirety to undertake a review over the
past 5 years to manually count how many
car parking spaces um we we haven't
undertaken that work as yet but I can
say that there are approximately 45,000
car parking spaces across Yara We
Believe less than 1% of these would have
been affected by the creation of safer
bicycle Lanes thank you
thank you very much i' would now like to
call on Nancy
Malloy uh hi everyone um my name is
Nancy Malloy I live in north wroy um I'm
here to talk about the Empower classes
uh the gym classes um and I'm also
talking on behalf of
um other members of the Empower class at
uh Collingwood Leisure
Center um just like to start to say that
I don't think Yara leiser um appreciate
the role that the Empower class gy
instructors
play um they do an amazing job um they
treat us with respect um they make us um
do better um they encourage
us they treat us like normal human
beings and that's why we keep coming
back to the
classes um I think a large part of the
success of the classes is due to um
Andrew
Chila and zavier Gleason that work
across Collingwood and Richmond leure
centers um and I guess it's about 6
months ago
um The rosters have changed so that
Andrew and Xavier don't get back up any
longer for the
classes um so now um Andrew runs between
five clients of various disability and
across three
rooms um so there's not enough time for
him to um speak with the clients as he'd
like and also um we don't get to finish
our gym
programs um another thing that uh has
happened as well is when other gym
members fill in um they're not
comfortable working in the Empower
environment and not comfortable with
working with people with
disability and what's been happening um
before the Empower class starts uh
there's another class that
runs and when uh other instructors fill
in um this class runs over
time so when the Empower class arrives
the gym instructor is busy running that
class um so they've got no one there to
meet them um so what's happened is we
start the routine on our own um and then
um uh one of the uh members or one of
the class members had a
carer and um they needed some help and
they went across to the gym instructor
cuz it looked like he'd finished the
class and he was chatting to other class
members there and he told her he was
busy um and so she went back to her
client and then another class member
needed
assistance um and by this time the gym
instructor had moved on to speak to
other members of the class
um but didn't acknowledge the Empower
class
members so when they left they wanted to
report um they wanted to complain to the
manager and uh they were told that the
manager was actually in the gym running
the impower class so this isn't an
isolated incident it's happened with
other gym
instructors um and I think they're not
meaning to be nasty um but they're just
not comfortable dealing with people with
disability and one of the class members
said afterwards that they were made to
feel invisible and that they wouldn't
come back to the class um until Andrew
had returned from
leave um so I just was a bit concerned
because the gym instructor seemed
comfortable with the carer overseeing
the
clubs and I just wondered if that was
the path Council was thinking of of
traveling down of making every Empower
class member bring a
career and effectively dumbing down the
role of the gym
instructor thank
you thank you very much for your
submission this evening I'll now ask
that the general manager infrastructure
environment respond thank you mayor
through you and thanks Nancy for your
questions and thanks for the compliments
of some of our staff and for the
feedback from others who might need to
improve I know we're catching up on
Thursday this week to discuss some of
your other concerns so perhaps we can
add this to the list um there are no
plans uh in our minds at least to change
the Empower program we haven't
deliberately set out to make any changes
that make uh participants Les less
comfortable uh that said we're always
open to improve our service so um if
you've got some suggestions we' love to
hear those and I'll follow up with our
the leadership of our Yara Leisure team
in the next couple of days we are
running at 35% occupancy at the moment
so we've got more space for more
participants but that said um we want to
make sure it's the best service we can
provide so with your feedback I'm hope
hopeful we can get there thanks
Nancy three man can I just add thank you
Nancy for your feedback and as Mr H said
thank you for the compliments to the
staff I just want to reiterate what Mr
has said it's great to hear when the
staff are doing well but obviously our
goal is to make sure that all staff um
are able to do the job and support the
community um in their in their efforts
and in the program so um I will ask Sam
to explore that with you a bit more I
get a bit uncomfortable talking about
individual staff members but um in a
forum like this cuz they're not here um
but uh we can't obviously it's not
sustainable for us to run a program that
is reliant on one Andre um we need a
building full of Andrew so that will be
our goal and supporting staff to be
successful to do that is something that
we're prepared to give you a commitment
to um but I'll be looking forward to
hearing back from Mr hu about your
experience in a bit more
detail thank
you the next number of questions relate
to to the same matter I'll ask that each
of you speak in the order that I call
out and then when everyone has spoken
I'll ask the relevant general manager
respond uh first up I have Bridget
kiwi and
Jenkins
um this is in respect of the pocket park
in Charlotte Street Richmond oh my name
is an Jenkins live in Richmond um
residents who live in the vicinity of
the Charlotte Street popup park that's
been established outside the library are
always driving past or walking past um
where that Park is now
located um also very much aware um that
a lot of regularly walking down there to
check what's happening in the park and
to see whether it's getting much use or
not um and everybody is saying the park
is always empty uh rarely do they see
anybody sitting there and I'd have to
say that nine times out of 10 I've not
SE seen anybody there um but we also
have had homeless people observed
sleeping there and it's become obvious
um that um people living nearby pubs
hotels um um restaurants very late or in
the early hours of the morning are using
it as they urinate defecate vomit and
leave rubbish in the park or in Crispen
Street um and to walk down s Crispen
Street it does smell like a public
toilet with the closure of Charlotte
Street it has forced traffic to avoid
the corner of Swan Street and Church
Street um onto Elmgrove which has a 9.5
m carriageway versus Charlotte Street
with a 13.2 m carriageway Elm grve is
far too narrow to cope with all this um
and there have been traffic jams um and
certainly the corner of Swan Street and
church stre is extremely busy and it's
not conducive to sitting in peace in the
park reading let alone being safe for
children um it's also made it difficult
for many to access the library they just
can't drive there and rush into the
library the lack of use of the park just
does not justify the closure of
Charlotte Street to push traffic onto
surrounding streets that cannot
accommodate it affecting the enity of
those living there monitoring of traffic
is to take place but how are you
measuring the use of the tempy Charlotte
Street popup Park which is unwanted by
many residents thank
you thank you very much I'll Now call on
uh
Maria apologize if I pronounce your name
incorrectly de
Maria
de we'll move on to the next one and if
she joins us while we're still on this
subject matter we can come back to her
and Nath
n
my name is Nathaniel kiwi I'm a resident
of Richmond and my question also relates
to the proposed pocket park being tested
in Charlotte Street um I'm a resident in
an adjoining Street of Charlotte Street
uh where it's currently being tested
it's my understanding that the purpose
of this popup is to test the impacts and
effects on the area its residents
businesses and visitors as well as the
efficacy of the Park's intended purpose
and objectives our main con concerns
around the danger posed by increased
traffic and our narrow streets to
pedestrians um children and part
cars we're aware of some ad hoc
observations and recordings of this
increase but concerned that this does
not cover all hours days and weeks of
the park test in lockdown there was a
car counter strip on El grve uh and our
expectation would be that this would be
the same method uh that would be used so
we're concerned that there has been
little to no measurement of the increase
of traffic uh for the duration of the
park so hopefully that was measured in
parallel with the park so my question is
what methods are you using to accurately
measure the truest impact on the
surrounding streets due to the closure
of Charlotte Street thank
you thank you very much I now like to
call on Hugh
moley good evening my name is Hugh Moy I
live in Richmond um my question also
goes to the Charlotte Street po park
outside Richmond Library um and I'll be
very brief I'll just reflect on what um
Nathan and and Jenkins have um indicated
just previously and my question is more
specific which is what has been done to
remedy and ensure public safety issues
that have Arisen since the Inception and
I think an has already outlined some of
those things like rough sleeping um
public urination um and the fact that
the park is actually very close to the
intersection of church and Swan which
has historically been a violence black
spot um that's all thank
you thank you very much I'd now like to
call on Benjamin
Stewart thank
you has Maria joined
us I'll take that as a no all right at
this point in time I will ask that the
general manager infrastructure and
environment to
respond thank you mayor and thank you
everyone for your questions um if I can
indulge everyone's patience while I go
through each of of the questions um with
respect to the traffic study a onewe
study um has been recommended by Traffic
Engineers and is typically standard
practice for a project of this scale the
study will be undertaken by an
independent traffic specialist and has
been engaged by Council the date
selected for the study has been chosen
to avoid school holidays and to occupy
and to occur within sufficient time for
the implementation of the temporary
popup popup Park to allow for traffic
patterns to settle meaning drivers um
being aware of the altered conditions
also during the time of the study there
are multiple AFL games at the MCG which
the community have told us is important
for us to consider during the study once
we have collected this data we'll be
reviewing this along with the Vic roads
data and information gained from the
earliest study that was
undertaken um with respect to um the use
of the space and amenity impacts from
the popup Council understands there are
a number of issues in the area many of
these are preceding the temporary popup
Park however any concerns can be
reported to council and we will work
with the community to address them um we
can follow up with our Outreach teams
with respect to rough sleepers and if
there's concerns with cleanliness again
we can speak to our um our cleanup team
teams to ensure that we're addressing
any of those
issues we have received feedback about
the popup including how people are using
the space but we're not undertaking
formal counts of people who are using
the space as the popup does not reflect
the final design and is in place to
inform councils of the impacts of a
permanent Park in this
location any permanent Park will have
additional lighting improve pedestrian
accessibility open sight lines all to
ensure that the spaces as safe as
possible for future users and those
walking through or accessing the library
thank you sorryi on stud from no excuse
me Peter if you could please refrain
from calling out it would be much
appreciated I'd now like to call on
Victoria
chipperfield it's already on so that's
good good evening mayor counselors and
heads of Department my name is Victor
chipperfield and I've been a resident of
Richmond for 27 years last month I
raised the issue of a paramedic team
needing to respond to a person in a
cubicle at the public toilets at
Citizens Park and asked if the doors and
cubicles of this toilet block can formed
with Sport and Recreation Victoria
toilets and change room
regulations Council advised that they
did not need to be as refitted as the
refitted building was separate to the
Pavilion as a person who has worked with
people with the lived experience of
disability for over 40 years including
people who have an acquired brain injury
from hypoxic episodes which is a lack of
oxygen to the brain this was deeply
concerning there is a direct correlation
between the amount of time the brain is
deprived of oxygen and the severity of
the disability or death this can happen
due to heart attacks Strokes seizures
diabetic
Comas as well as a range of other
emergency medical conditions to anyone
at any
age I'm raising this concern again to
highlight the potential for significant
harm to people using this public toilet
Block in the event that they need urgent
medical assistance and are unable to
receive it in a timely manner due to the
inability for First Responders to
provide that support my question is will
Council change the doors on the toilet
cubicles of citizens Park public toilet
block to open outwards to ensure First
Responders can provide assistance in a
timely manner thank
you thank you very much i' would now
like to ask Mr s if he could please
respond thanks mayor and through you um
thanks for your question Victoria um the
public toilets at citizen Park are
compliant with the building
regulations the doors to the cubicles
have liftoff hinges to enable access to
the cubicle in an emergency as is
required by the National Construction
code the doors for the accessible and
ambulant toilets at this location Open
outwards uh the other uh doors for the
remaining five standard cubicles do open
inwards as you've described um due to
constraints of the SES we don't have any
plans at this stage to change the nature
of the Swing on those doors thank you
mayor
thank you very much I'd now like to call
on Sharon
Harrison uh and I'm Sharon Harrison I'm
a resident of Richmond and have been so
for 12 years uh in December 2023 the
local government Minister stated that it
would be good practice for a council to
align a waste charge with the specific
service provided to the occupancy it is
levied upon and should not include other
costs examples of costs the minister
considers should not be included in a
waste charge include litter and waste
collection from public spaces and the
provision of public bins Street footpath
and drain cleaning graffiti removal tree
planting and maintenance Park
maintenance public education and
advocacy local government Finance
professionals is a peak body servicing
local government Finance Professionals
in Victoria in January 2024 they publish
a Sur survey that nearly 80% of councils
incorrectly include at least one of
these costs question what information
will Council provide to the community
that will clearly simply and publicly
demonstrate that Council will not
include these charges in yar's bin tax
thank you thank you very much I'd now
like to call on the manager people and
culture to
respond
thank you mayor thank you Sharon for
your question um so it was in late
December last year that local government
vict release the guidelines um and the
guidelines are not legally binding and
together with the local government
sector we are working to better
understand the intent of guidelines and
what if any actions are required uh it's
also important to note that during the
process of separating our waste charges
from General rates last year Council
worked closely with the essential
commission to ensure compliance under
the law our compliance was reflected in
the commission's rate cap compliance
report for
2324 thank
you thank you very
much that brings us to the end of all
the registrations that we have for this
evening I'd like to take the opportunity
to remind everyone here in the G tonight
and those watching
online um if you have any questions
you'd like to ask you're very welcome to
register to ask questions at the next
council
meeting we'll now move on to uh Council
business reports which will provide an
opportunity for members of the public to
address the council I'll invite everyone
who has registered to address Council in
order of registration and once again
when your turn comes please switch on
the microphone and state your name and
the subb you liveing for the record and
if you're speaking on behalf of a group
explain the nature of the group and how
you're able to speak on their behalf
I'll then ask that you direct your um
statement to myself confine your
submission to the subject under
consideration avoid repeating previous
submitters where possible and please
don't ask questions or seek comments
from counselors or
others you'll have up to 3 minutes but
you don't need to use all of that
time the first item is 7.1 Commonwealth
Age Care reform
and we have Nancy oh sorry um Mary
Natoli good evening my name is Mary
Natali I'm a Comm Community resident of
abised for over 35 years and also a
community nurse I work at Co health
coling wood I'm also have been a member
of the current um active aging advisory
committee but tonight I speak on as my
personal view in support of the
recommendation to transition home care
services to Mercy
Health I'm aware these recommendations
are the result of extensive consultation
many voices have been heard and I urge
the council tonight to make a decision
tonight and not to delay this
decision users many
uh residents in Yara already start with
Council services such as home help um
domestic assistance personal care and
shopping but very quickly can go on to
to need more higher level Services one
fall one
stroke a diagnosis of cancer onset of
dementia or a mental health crisis can
very quickly suddenly transfer someone
from needing lowlevel care to much
higher level care and most older people
fiercely hold on to their desire to
remain living at home as long as
possible but council is simply unable to
to to to shift from offering lowlevel
care to high level care in so many
settings this is why I support the
recommendation the council transition to
Mercy Health as soon as
possible as a community nurse over more
than 30 years in Yara I've had much to
do with Mercy Health as a provider
of Age Care
Services it has a history of 100 Years
of not being a not for-profit
organization with a long history of
community to provision of community
services and Health Services in inner
Melbourne it's well known to many
residents it has extensive experience in
governance clinical governance and
quality in Risk Management which I think
is really critical when we think about
this
proposal it's also well known to the
workforce even today as a nurse I've had
communication with Mercy Health on a
number of
occasions and also I think what I'm
aware is over many years that the there
are strong values that Mercy Health
values are quite consistent with
council's Age Care
vision of respect and compassionate care
as people
age so I consider that this is an
optimal plan that will bring certainty
and integrated care to the 137 residents
of this impacted by this decision
because your staff a skilled and trusted
Yara staff who can slowly over the next
12 months trans help transition our
clients these
residents and I think it will also bring
certainty to home care workers staff who
have cared for your CL your clients for
deeply for a long time and will actually
enable a transition to a to an optimal
closure of care between residents and
the carers so I urge Council to consider
this as immediately and not delay thank
you thank you very much I'd now like to
please call on Johnny
Morris my name is John O Morris I'm a
resident of Clifton Hill uh I'm a member
of council's active aging advisory
committee and uh an active member of
Yara City youth3 including the Aging
well group however the views I express
are my
own the age care reforms have presented
me with a dilemma as a rule I oppose the
replacement of the public sector with
the private sector in the case of Home
Care local government has provided
exemplary service over many
decades however these reforms Place
demands on providers which would impose
an unrealistic burden on a small
provider like the city of Yara therefore
I support the recommendations of this
report I do however ask Council to give
greater emphasis to recommendation 2C
which calls on Council to recommit to
and grow community care-based services
for older residents and ongoing actions
uh to be an age-friendly inclusive and
accessible
City all the residents potentially face
a range of needs the needs of the frail
and cognitively impaired is clear and
while a new supported home program and
programs like Age Care Finder will cater
to much of this need I propose the
council develop programs to supplement
and complement these further enhancing
the quality of life for these
residents Yara also has some older
residents affected by various levels of
social isolation programs such as a more
broad-based community Transport service
and further support for Resident
involvement in groups including u3a and
neighborhood houses are examples of ways
the council could enhance a quality of
life for these
residents fortunately Yara still
includes older residents who have
retained much of their cognitive and
physical capacity I hope that I'm one of
them in this regard I see Council taking
on a greater preventative role to
support residents to remain physically
and mentally active maintain and improve
their strength strength balance and
social connections and thus reduce the
risk of these residents developing
higher dependency
needs and finally supporting the
development of the city of via to become
an age-friendly City actually enhances
the life of all residents including
children families people with disability
and older residents in fact some of the
literature refers to this as becoming a
compassionate City to achieve this I
look forward to all Council departments
breaking down the silos and working
collectively for this common goal I
therefore call on Council to not only
develop a strategy to transition out of
home care but to develop a strategy
redirecting these sources and
transitioning into broader support
programs for all the residents that will
enable the city of Yara to be a beacon
in Victoria of a quality environment for
all older residents and in fact all
residents
thank
you thank you very much and that is all
the submitters that we have listed for
this item counselors we're now at the
point where if you have any questions
you may ask them of officers are there
any questions anyone would like to ask
at this point in
time councilor
Stein I just have a question of
clarification of the recommendation Part
D which author izes the CEO to finalize
transition
actions with State and Comm
departments what what does that actually
refer to is that over the next 12 months
or is that at the conclusion of this
period in June
2025 can someone provide little
specificity there please thank you
through through you m um that relates to
the transition in relation to the Home
Care
Services there two two stage process
firstly if the recommendation was
adopted um there's the transition of of
residents and clients to Mercy Health um
then at some point um by the 30th of
June 2025 there would need to be
discussions with the Commonwealth
government Department to formalize the
um change to the service agreement um to
uh enact this recommendation in
full
so it's referring to
both it's it's referring to both phases
it's referring to authorizing the chief
except to finalize transaction actions
with the state and Commonwealth
governments regarding the Home Care
Services we don't have to uh negotiate
with the state based on the initial
period because council with is within
its rights under its agreement to to
subcontract at the moment but if it was
to conclude those Services it needs to
finalize arrangements with the
come thank you councilor Jolly I believe
you had a
question thank you mayor my question is
to Mr Murphy um
today councilors received an email from
the state Secretary of the Australian
Services Union that organizes our age
care workers but in fact quite a lot of
workers at the city of Yara and other
Council her name is Lisa Daran darmanian
I always pronouncing your Sur name wrong
sorry about that and she she suggested
in her email that instead of privatizing
or exit exiting from home care services
that we follow the lead of the city of
Kingston the city of M Mount Alexander
Shire and so on and asked us not to
support this recommendation tonight but
instead
meet with the ASU with the Union uh I
guess that's you and your
office potentially counselors too I
don't know at a date and time that suits
you so on that basis is there any great
need for us to pass this tonight can we
not defair a decision on this until the
next council meeting so that
management can meet with the Union
before we make this momentous
decision thank you through mayor um a
couple of comments to make there um as
part as the development of The Proposal
there was a um consultation period that
um up until the 26th of February for
staff and uh ASU to respond uh and at
the close of that consultation period
there was no um response provided by
staff or the
ASU um we had previously looked at other
councils and we've looked at a range of
councils as to what they're doing in
regard to um the changes and the two
particular councils referred to in that
letter have different circumstances to
Yara um city of Kingston is a large
scale provider uh they actually have an
entity called access care that provides
their services I think with over 200
workers to 6,000 um clients um and is a
large scale operation um similarly Mount
Alexander has I think over 50 um workers
also to a large over 800 clients so um I
think we we have fashioned an outcome
that reflects the city of ARA situation
and that we are a small small provider
in relation to deferral um there's a
number of reasons
why in the report we're recommending the
decision is made now um firstly we we
have um a small team of carers only
eight home care workers and at any time
only five to six of those would be
available so it makes it quite difficult
to provide a quality service through the
council delivered service um and provide
the flexibility of service times
cultural and personal needs matching um
that uh would be ideal um we also have a
that based on that small tune there is
also potential for service failure um
with cancellations and
delays Council has for many years 24
years um provided a model that is based
on a dual provider which means that
we've engaged a contractor um across
those years for the past six years
that's been Mercy Health uh and they
have become a trusted partner with
Council in delivering the
services so um taking all these factors
into consideration um um and that there
are sector challenges and that um
providing time to undertake any
transition would be best um the advice
to council is that it should make a
decision sooner than
later and perhaps May if I could just um
add to that uh thanks councilor Jolly um
so just to um clarify the involvement
and the engagement with the ASU it has
been very formal as per Enterprise
agreement uh both through letter writing
email meeting in person they attended a
staff meeting as part of the
consultation uh they were also at our
staff consultative committee um several
weeks ago where this matter was also
discussed they were present so they have
been deeply involved every step of the
way and um as Adrian has said we didn't
receive any formal feedback uh from the
ASU the other thing to say is that we
have met in individually and as a group
with all impacted
staff um and the sentiment from many
staff is please make a decision this is
the right decision um I'm not here to
talk on behalf of all only just to
recount uh we are aware of every staff's
circumstances and um indeed wishes in
this
regard thank you uh councilors are there
further questions councilor
O'Brien uh yes thank you um I guess one
further question I know we've had a few
conversations about this but I just had
one further question that has occurred
to me um in the report it talks about
the Home Maintenance operational review
and I'm just curious as to why we're not
conducting that review before we move to
this phase what why officers are making
this
proposal and um again is this new
information that the federal government
has extended the time to I think 27 2027
for us to have to
um with these reforms to age Age
Care thank you councilor and through
your mayor um in relation to the Home
maintenance service this operational
review has been required because of
changed in circumstances in um late
January this uh this year uh where our
current provider Val Valera have
indicated that they no longer wish to
provide the services um they've
indicated that because of pressures
within the um construction and Home
Maintenance area um that they provide
both Construction Services and as I said
home Home maintenance services so in in
light of that um information um we are
needing to take undertake a review of
that service and determine where it goes
so it would be a separate matter for
consideration at a at a later date uh in
the meantime we are taking action to uh
seek other providers to support council
at the same time and we do still
continue to have inhouse capacity to
provide critical services for the Home
Maintenance area
2027 sorry secondly the the um matter in
relation to the deferral of
2027 I I think I can only repeat some of
the um arguments or points that I made
earlier that we are a very small team um
of council staff at the moment um and
it's uh putting a lot of pressure on on
the performance of the services with
only eight
carers within the team um to continue to
um progress until 2027 I think is not in
the best inance of the residents and
clients and to make a clear decision and
be able to then both focus on where
we're going with the home care services
and equally focus on where we're going
with the Community Based Services um is
I think the best
option um it feels like a tag team um I
might just add to that as well mayor um
thanks Council O'Brien the
2027 issue we've we've only been offered
a contract from the Commonwealth for our
current work until June
2025 so beyond
that we don't have a contract um so
that's the other consideration that um
it could be that we get another one uh
but we just don't know in the current
climate and the uncertainty within the
climate as
well I might ask a further question in
that regard in that circumstance if we
still had clients with
coun what would be the ramifications
what would happen in that instance
so thank you mayor so this is the
situation where um by the end of 2025
Council hasn't been provided with an
agreement so in that situation the
Commonwealth would have had to AB sort
other providers to support um Yar
residents because um the CSP program the
program sorry I'm used acronym the
Commonwealth home Support Program um is
scheduled to go until
2027 so in the absence of council uh
they would either be offering us a
contract or seeking other alternative
providers to to provide those services
in
Yara so just to confirm there would not
be the capacity to transfer those people
transition them to Mercy Health at that
point in time
effectively through you um if the Comm
um determine that Mercy Health was a
provider um of of those Services then
they certainly could transition to Mercy
Health or to other um providers that are
in the area progressively the market is
developing and progressively the
Commonwealth government is offering um
more more providers the opportunity to
uh provide Comm home support programs um
so so that would be like the scenario
that would be the existing provider
would be encouraged and also other
providers uh and this is not dis similar
to what's happened when other councils
have um determined to change that the
Commonwealth has taken um action to
identify other providers to support
those
areas and again just to add um and I
think the reason um why we're proposing
this now it gives us a longer time with
the factors that we know and and and not
that we can control but at least they're
more known to work with those clients to
take our time to give them choice and to
make sure it's a good
transition thank you councilors any
further
questions no okay at this point in time
I'm looking for a way forward so I will
be looking for a mover a seconder but
overall A Way Forward
counselors counselor
Stein um I will move the officer
recommendation with one Amendment
subject to being told it's out of order
by the
c
um
C3 part part C by the way the numbers
are a bit out there there's a one a two
or three and another three
so after the first
three I would insert a
four council's investment in existing
and new programs will be commensurate
with existing
funding and then reum
accordingly um the second three would
become five
obviously so I move that
yes and then it's it's a four it becomes
four okay would you like me to read that
wording out again council's investment
in existing and new program
programs will be commensurate with
existing
funding or just wait till that's on
[Music]
screen
um and councilor Landes you've indicated
you would like to
second okay councilor Stein if you'd
like to speak to the
motion sure it's it's a bit hard to know
where to start with this because it's
been such a long process and there are
so many many angles to it and it's a
very difficult um decision not just for
Council to make but for a lot of other
people to get their heads around
however the horse has bolted on the age
care reforms they are happening they are
rolling out they are nearly all rolled
out and we have to adjust and get the
best we can in the current circumstances
for our residents and what's in front of
us is in the six or more years that this
has been happening the best possible
outcome that I would think is possible
we have um we we're going to have to
transition there there's many reasons
outlined in this report very very
clearly and I do commend the officers
for the report for why Council cannot
compete in this new environment I share
John O Morrison's dilemma Morris's
dilemma I think we all do none of us
want Council to get out of providing
these Services we all want to continue
the cold hard fact of us is we can't if
we want to we have to become a provider
of everything and we just can't do that
we've got
137 clients and eight workers that is
not a service it can't continue like
that so we do have a responsibility to
those clients many of whom are
vulnerable I know we don't use their
anymore but we really do need to look
after them so in order to make sure they
have the best possible future in this
system which I don't like and lots of
people don't like but we've got
multi-party support for it never heard
anybody jump up and down and say this
shouldn't be happening so it's a done
deal we have to live with it and we have
to make the most of it for our residents
transitioning them now in a way that we
can control that we can stand side by
side with these residents as they move
over into a new service a new provider a
provider who's already providing the
same service by the way to the majority
of residents in Yara receiving this
service trusted Marin toly has spoke of
their values which align with the Arab
they are not for profit ethical um
existing clients very happy with them so
I can't think of a better way to manage
this than the way that's being Spilled
Out in this report and I wholeheartedly
support it but I want to add that
there's an opportunity here for Yara and
that's been pointed out both in the
report by B our our two submitters
tonight and I want to thank both of them
they've been very engaged in this
process and provided really Frank
feedback all along the way to council
it's been really invaluable the
opportunity for Council is to provide
this super service that John's referred
to and if we can continue the same level
of funding which is why I put in that
Amendment it should be possible we can
provide other services that nobody else
can the things that councils uniquely
provide because they know their
residents they know what they need and a
lot of what clients have been looking
for out of this inhome service that we
can no longer provide is that connection
to someone who knows them someone who
keeps an eye on them someone who'll
connect with them on a regular basis we
can do that we can do that through
social connection programs we can do
that continuing through the community
Transport delivered meals all of those
other things that we fund to keep
happening to keep older people active
and engaged and cared for in our
community and we can also ramp that up
as needed so we can per perform a kind
of a gap filling process and no my age
care service is going to do that only we
can do that so yar's in an excellent
position to provide a top quality Age
Care Service of a different kind that
responds very specifically to the people
who live in our community so thank you
again to our submitters and I really do
want to acknowledge the work of the
active aging advisory committee who have
been with this journey for six years now
and they have provided
ongoing um feedback up and down um
because it's a very emotional Journey
for everybody um and have really been
um supportive of council trying to find
the right way forward and I think we
found it tonight so um I I I'm going to
leave it there and uh commend the motion
to my
colleagues thank you Council
Landes thank you Council Stone um the
wonderful words um I also wanted to
thank the officers for for their empathy
and the work that they put into this it
the am amount of care and thought has g
into this is is amazing I want to
acknowledge the submitters and also the
the idea of a compass a compassionate
City I I think that was a really
important point I want to talk about Age
Care and importantly putting people
before politics this is about ensuring
the care and wellbeing for our older and
aging population as they move through
their final years tonight's decision is
about council's role in providing
services and settling setting its
priorities to best help the vulnerable
members of our community it's not an
easy conversation and I hope that
councils will think carefully and with
empathy in making this decision you a
population of over 70s about
7,400 over 80s about 2,500 there are
currently 267 Age Care beds in the
municipality with possibly 80 next year
and potentially 144 if a cent is
completed on the Old alfington Paper
Mill site the increasing preference is
for older people to remain in their own
homes and that means providing a full
range of services from making beds
delivering meals personal hygiene needs
and addressing nursing requirements the
range of Support Services is determined
by the changing levels of need of an
individual and this TR trajectory can
and often is quite challenging
especially with the onset of dementia
personal health issues example you urine
tract infections mobility issues and
susceptibility to Falls the government
has been refining its system of multiple
providers to meet people's varying
requirements and compensated by way of a
needs-based AG Care scheme the
opportunity for Council to participate
as a provider is now up for
consideration and the officer's
recommendation is to move the remaining
137 clients to Mercy Care who are better
positioned to provide the full level of
care that could be needed for Council to
provide a service would require
considerable investment of monies at
best council is only able to deliver
level one care and will no longer be
part of the age care assessment process
instead Council officers take a view
towards a more holistic service where it
can provide social and recreational
needs of y's older population
this incl includes providing possibly
Transportation meals socialization
through its neighborhood houses
libraries recreational Leisure centers
as well council is best place to provide
its elderly citizens and families
Consulting to help them understand and
navigate the complexity of myg Age Care
scheme and to assist people understand
the available options that are set up
that can be set up with the appropriate
and trusted Provider Services equally
important is to ensure our foot paths
and Open Spaces are elderly friendly and
that utility Lids don't form trip
hazards where people are likely to be
walking providing spaces for yara's
elderly to go out and enjoy the sunshine
and trees can be and is so important for
their own sense of Independence and
State of Mind people have brought to my
attention the poor state of nursing
homes having lost my mother to dementia
last year I would totally agree that Nur
nursing homes are confronting places
that can be terribly lonely when people
are abandoned by their families and this
is an opportunity for Council to invest
resources to facilitate Transportation
or volunteer services to these residents
concerts and activities come to mind at
the mental health ward in corfield
Recreation uh repatriation Hospital
residents were encouraged to form a band
to assist in their well-being my mother
who in the end had no idea who I was
would happily sing her sweet of Irish
Melodies she was born on St Patrick's
Day people have said that object to
council privatizing ourservice I don't
agree with this characterization rather
I believe officers are seeking to ensure
best outcomes for yara's AG aging
community and that resources are best
best allocated I agree council is a
trusted brand but government is heading
in the direction of multiple providers
in this area Council would need to
invest heavily to compete instead Yas
elderly are best provided with a
partnership a trusted providing
delivering the changing data today needs
of the individual and a council
providing the holistic needs of the for
the community I believe this is the
partnership that will ensure the needs
and well-being of our age Community I
want to thank officers for their
consideration and empathy and their
extensive enduring work to help
Safeguard the future needs and
well-being of our aging population and
to make sure that the this population
will these people come first in this
decision I commend this
motion
thank you very much are there any other
counselors I'd like to speak to this
item Council o
Brian thank you um while I uh am pleased
to see councilor Stone's additional
Amendment and while I understand the
pressures we under at council with
regard to the federal
government's pressures upon us in the
sector um I do think we need to have
provide Clarity in terms of what sort of
services Council will be continuing to
provide to our aged Community aging
Community I guess the other thing that
I'm quite concerned about is that we've
received correspondence today from the
Australian Services
Union we've received correspondence
today from the Australian Services Union
um and I understand we're being
reassured by management that all of the
workers at Council are happy with this
and want a decision soon and so on I
need to feel
reassured that um that all our staff are
truly on board I also obviously want the
best outcomes for our aging and aging
community and so I personally would
encourage a deferral for this particular
vote I don't think one month is really a
big issue um other things that I think
need to be clarified of what processes
will be in place to ensure the success
of clients in the transition
process um I'd really like to see some
clarity on the operational review
timeline um and I I mean I think we are
in a very difficult position and
understand that all of this is INE
inevitable but I don't see why a one
month deferral would could would be such
a problem so I would like to see a one
month deferral for this
decision thank you councilors is there
anyone else that would like to speak to
this
item Council
Joy
um yeah I feel like I'm standing in
front of a a railway um on a railway
line and there's a truck coming in the
sense that there seems to be uh comments
made tonight by counselors and staff
that it's a done deal it's got
multiparty support we've already spoken
to the ASU the staff love it well I know
for an absolute fact not all the staff
are happy about this and we all know for
an absolute fact that the state
Secretary of the ASU has written to us
this morning and said stop slow down
look at what other councils have done
but more importantly sit down with with
us the ASU representing these staff and
other staff in this
organization if we um pass this tonight
home care is gone it's privatized it's
over to Mercy Health and what will be
next will we know what will be next
because the bottom of page 15 of the
report tells us what will be next it'll
be home
maintenance after that well we don't
know possibly it we know in other
councils as we
speak um it is getting privatized on the
basis of information and recommendation
from highly paid external Consultants we
know from our own experience that
privatization often unfortunately leads
to lower quality care for clients and
for residents in whatever sector that
privatization often leads to lower pay
for staff that privatization doesn't
always save Council money one example in
our Council we have outsourced
grae um removal we can see quite clearly
that doesn't work you only have to walk
down bronek Street or pretty much any
Street in Yara to see that the staff
will played at absolute poverty
wages and we pay millions of dollars for
that contract if that was brought
inhouse we'd get better staff uh better
paid staff and we could change the
contract um so privatization doesn't
always lead to to uh to a lower to a
lower um to to to lower costs for
Council I think that um for us who were
told in the press that this is the most
Progressive Council in Australia I like
to believe that that's true for us to go
down this road tonight and ignore a
letter from the state Secretary of the
ASU for a meeting to discuss potential
Alternatives which would mean what would
that mean in Practical term sense is
that we'd be back here in four weeks
time with the same motion probably on
the agenda and probably would get passed
per us to ignore that I think is a very
very bad look and it's pretty
unbelievable for a council that claims
to be as Progressive as it is so on that
basis
I think we should reject this motion
replace it with a one month deferral
that's all four weeks and then make a
decision on that basis at that time
thank you
mayor thank you are there any other
councils like to speak to this
item Council
why uh I think I agree with almost
everything that's been said tonight um
which is um a good position to be in I
think um in particular I I also Echo Mr
Morris's comments about feeling
conflicted um wanting the best things um
wanting the best for our staff and our
clients is just absolutely number one I
think for all of us and and there are
sometimes different routes through to
get to get there um one thing I will say
from the outset is I think it's really
important that we trust our staff um
we've been told tonight that that this
is something that our workers want um
and that's something that that I'm I'm
choosing to believe in in speaking this
to tonight I think if we don't trust our
staff um we have we have bigger issues
and so um I trust I trust that I know
what our workers want based on that
information and also um that various
bodies including our community groups
have been engaged at all all stages of
this process and including the Union as
well um I personally well on on behalf
of this Council advocated to the federal
labor government during my maral term to
full years ago to asked them to clarify
their position on aged care um we're
fortunate that one of local yar's local
members is um a member of the labor
government and the assistant Minister
for health and aged care uh two years on
um as um councilorStone has said
federal labor is still committed to the
Liberals changes to aged care and the
country is chugging down this path um
the model that this Council once
operated on is closed to
us uh I agree with points that have been
made through this process and that our
our officers have raised about the
importance of continuity of care um I
believe that's the best option for our
aging residents to enable them to stay
with one service provider as their needs
increase in complexity personally and
and I think others in the room would um
share my feelings on this I would like
that service provider to be um a
national service provider I would like
um aged care to operate more like
Medicare or like a hospital than like
the ndis the federal government still
has this opportunity um and I would very
much encourage him to take it I would
also alternatively like um the current
funding model to be continued but it has
been made clear that it won't
be uh unlike other councils around the
state Yara has already contracted out
the majority of our home care services
to a trusted nonprofit provider Mercy
Health um our foot is not just out the
door our legs are out the door our torso
is out the door um we don't we don't
have much left in the game
um as you can see in the report it's
most of our clients the very strong
recommendation from our staff and um our
active aging and advisory committee as
we've heard tonight is that the best
move for the remaining for our few
remaining clients and our few remaining
um home care workers is to follow the
officer
recommendation the nonprofit we work
with is excellent will provide more
flexibility um and a greater range of
services for our clients and we'll also
enable those clients a smoother
transition to higher needs Age Care
Services if and when that need
arises uh we have the opportunity to
ensure our clients get a provider that
we know is good and aren't left to the
whims of a free market which is what
many of our neighboring councils have
done and what the federal model dictates
would happen if we did not make this
decision now instead we get the
opportunity to guide individuals um
through this process um and and and
transition them on to to a good
nonprofit
provider we will continue to provide
host of other services to our older
residents um and as per Council of
Stone's excellent addition we will be
reinvesting our savings into those
things that we know are important and my
colleagues have spoken about those other
programs and the importance they play in
preventative um care we are planning a
city where our residents can stay in
their communities as they age um that
takes a lot of work but I think we're up
for the
challenge uh this whole issue is very
difficult um and I resent our federal
and state governments for putting us in
this
position but tonight our community have
weighed in on this issue um and they
need to be heard our staff need to have
their wishes respected and most
importantly the 137 people currently Ser
serviced by Council staff need to get
the best possible care they can into the
future not doing this now will cause
problems for those very people
later this decision goes against my
intense desire to keep Services Council
run um a um desire that I suspect will
be challenged again in future and um I
will take a different path on but I have
listened to our staff and Community who
know what is best for our most
vulnerable and I apologize if that's um
no longer the correct terminology but in
this instance I think transitioning our
remaining clients to our trusted
nonprofit partner is the best answer our
clients have needs right now those needs
are becoming more complex and we want to
make sure that those people are okay um
elected representatives use our
political philosophies to guide us when
making decisions I'm a strong Bel
believer that you need to look at each
situation however on its merits and do
what's best for our unique population in
this case I've listened to our staff our
clients our community members and I
think the officer recommendation is the
best for our clients and our workers and
that's what matters most thank
you thank you uh councilors is there
anyone else I would like to speak to
this
item no okay at this point in time I'm
going to call for a vote with AIS
so all those in favor if you could
please raise your
hand
oh my apologies Council Stein write a
reply good terrific um thank you for all
of those other submissions I think
councilor Brian's raised some very
relevant points and they're all
questions that can be answered about
Clarity on the services in the future we
have to make a decision tonight before
we can do that um the success of the
transition how that be measured I have
no doubt Mr Murphy has is totally across
all of that but the discussion of a
deferral um bearing in mind all the
reasons why we need to make a decision
now that are clearly outlined in the
report and we've been told about tonight
and referring to the ASU I'm afraid it's
a little bit of a red in you know we've
been trying to get to grips with this
for 6 years we've been engaging with it
intensely for the last 12 months the
Union's been at the table all the way
their has do you does a wonderful job
and they're doing what they should do
with this letter today which is stand up
for their members but it's not
applicable to Y right now and deferring
is just going to defer the agony and
make life more difficult for our
residents who want to get on with things
who know change is coming and just want
to go get get get on with it
so a deferral I cannot see the point if
anybody wants a different outcome they
should have put it up they haven't we
have a very good recommendation in front
of us that actually puts our residents
front and center and I think we should
all get behind it thank
you thank you councelor
Stone I will now call for a vote with
the
division all those in favor if you could
please raise your
hand councilorStone coun coun Wade
councilorLandy councilorCrossland
councilorMuhammad councilorNewan all
those opposed if you could please raise
your hand councilorO'Brien councelor
glenis councilorJolly the item is
carried thank
you all right at this point in time this
brings us to
[Music]
our this brings us to our next agenda
item which is 7.2 transport action plan
2023 to
2033
and uh for this we have two people that
have registered to make submission this
evening uh I'd like to call on David
boarding
is uh thank you may my name's D David
balding I'm a Richmond res resident uh
I'm a member of streets life yo many of
you will know that we're interested in
uh working towards a more beautiful and
livable City and one of the things that
we're keen on is that everyone should be
able to get where they want to go safely
uh whether they choose to walk roll
Drive drive bike or whatever uh so I'm
here speaking broadly in support of the
transport action plan uh I think it
makes some small steps uh in a good
direction uh the current system is
hugely skewed towards one uh form of
transport and we uh we heard a bit about
this already this evening that there's
45,000 parking spaces on public land
what wasn't mentioned is that the
majority of them are free uh so this
brings congestion pollution danger uh
all kinds of negative outcomes uh
without even a modest return to the rate
payers through a parking fee I'm not
talking about the um where meters
currently exist I don't want those fees
broadly increased uh but it the the free
parking we have people commuting from
outside the municipality uh and paying
nothing to park here and that's that's
very unfair so some of that money that
can come from the parking review can be
used to fund the transport action plan
um now the specific initiatives in the
plan I think are kind of broadly good I
would prioritize coppen Street higher I
think the improvements to the
intersections that have been made have
just highlighted the fact that it's very
dangerous in the Middle where the street
is quite narrow uh it's one of the most
dangerous bike Lanes I've ever seen I
always avoid copen street so you've
tried to make intersection safer while
not dealing with the main problem uh the
blue stone danger councils paid a lot of
money to create dangerous blue stone at
the end of Cameron Street which is now
very busy uh because of the New Richmond
Traders uh a lot of traffic there
dangerous for bikes there are lots of
things like that that I would like to
prioritize uh but on the whole I think
it's a modest step forward we recognize
that we're an iny municipality the
inefficiency of uh of relying too much
on cars as transport is just not
workable U we heard from the gentleman
from the IGA uh who's who's now left
unfortunately uh and I would like to
know some facts about where his
customers come from because you know
it's a Well recognized fact uh that
business owners vastly overstate uh
where um where the the proportion of
their customers that drive and they are
blind to the number of customers that
walk cycle uh and and spend vastly more
money uh than is appreciated so that's
the transport action plan will also
assist in economic development in a
meaningful way that's appropriate for an
inoc City municipality so thank
you thank you very much I'd now like to
please call on Alex
lamb hi I'm Alex lamb also coming here
from streets of Liara this is actually
my first council meeting and I signed up
for too many things and I have nothing
else to say except we support this thank
you thank you for your very succinct
submission this
evening councilors we're now at the
point where you may ask officers
questions so yes Council
idees yeah thank you and thank you to
officers for all your hard work on this
project which um is amazing so well done
um I'm getting a few emails in respect
to uh
Lela uh Grove and the potential to link
up Madden Madden Grove with the Yara
Trail and one of the problems there is
The Pedestrian
Crossing um at that intersection um
makes it very difficult uh for people
coming in from the east on the cycling
track to access areas of South Richmond
and cron and also the other way outbound
as well on your um on your TR action
transport plan uh
mp13 it talks about um uh advocacy in
the um in in the future of this
particular level crossing or you've got
it line with the level crossing removal
but um just in response to those
residents you able to give some sort of
clarity around where the a advocacy is
and the potential to get AC Crossing
there sure through you mayor so we've
met with the Department of Transport and
planning multiple times about various
projects in Yara this specific project
in terms of improved connectivity
through the area has been mentioned
directly to them um there's a whole
bunch of other advocacy work in the
transport action plan that will happen
once that's adopted and that will be
another opportunity to get in front of
people that make decisions on investing
in infrastructure in Yara there is Nexus
with a potential leev level crossing
removal in the area as well so that's
another opportunity to push so the short
answer to your question is we're aware
of the the project or the the
requirement for the project and we are
actively speaking to State on this and
trying to maximize opportunity to get
something done in that
location thank you counselors any
further questions at this point in
time
no okay well at this point in time I'll
be looking for a way forward councilors
do we have a Way
Forward councilor
white happy to move the officer
recommendation and Council land
indicated you'd like to
Second y Council wa if you'd like to
speak to the motion excellent um and
thank you to my fellow active transport
advisory committee member for seconding
um thank you very much to officers for
all of the work you've put into this um
I think we've done a huge amount of
strategic um work for transport this
term all while rolling out um actual on
the ground infrastructure and projects
as well um that's a that's a lot of work
um and and we really appreciate it and
I'd also like to thank community members
both um David and Alex who came tonight
but also everybody who engaged in both
the transport action plan um formal
engagements and otherwise and also those
who engaged in the Yara trans sport
strategy which is Loosely fed into this
as well um I'm really excited about this
um I think we've got really Grand plans
at this Council I know um what we're
kind of constantly I feel like I'm
constantly being told and I'm constantly
having conversations with community
members about is we can't do everything
all at once and um what this transport
action plan does is it lays out a
reasonable map of things that we can get
done and what we can expect to get done
and and it's still quite ambitious and
it's it lays a a path forward for us um
I think this is a really brilliant step
it makes it clear to the community to
other stakeholders including other
levels of government what our priorities
are and what we plan to roll out when
which then enables them to um support us
and take um the steps they need to take
um as is clear in the transport action
plan there is a significant amount of
Transport related matters in Yara are
advocacy related um a lot of the worst
roads for cycling and walking in Yara
are state roads they aren't things we
can just fix a lot of things even on our
own own roads like almost everything
requires State sign off um that's
annoying we're seeking to change it um
and this plan lays out how how we can go
about doing that so I'm excited thank
you to staff thank you to the community
and I'm looking forward to seeing it
rolled
out thank
you yes councilorLandes yeah happy to
Echo that those words I have to say that
wherever I go whether it's to the
library or to the market I'm meeting
with people all the time and they're
saying can we do this can we do that we
need to do this we need to do that and
we need to do it yesterday we need to do
it faster I don't like roundabouts I
don't like this we need to do it the
action transport plan in front of you is
is helping to deliver those outcomes and
it it really is an amazing outcome um I
also want to mention micromobility
because increasingly it's getting more
and more popular and I know there are
problems at the moment with with issues
around storage on foot Parts but I'm of
the belief that if we can address the
issues around parking of of
micromobility and we're now seeing in
Swan Street coring going on and I think
that's proving to be very effective um
if we can move towards that I think
micromobility and also the increase in
shared spaces so we get scooters off off
the foot paths are all very positive
investments in moving people away from
Vehicles ER has a population of
something like 60,000 vehicles and
something like 47,000 parking spaces and
this doesn't include visitors there's no
question that Yara has to aim to improve
its active transport outcomes over this
decade the government is seeking to grow
active transport by 18 to 25% by 2030
and Y is locked into that as an inner
city municipality with limited vehicle
resources there is no alternative to
ensuring investment towards achieving
active trans transport outcomes I
commend this
motion thank you very much would any
other councilors like to speak to this
item I might throw my two cents in just
to add thank you once again to officers
for the preparation of all the work
that's gone into this and also to those
that have made submission tonight those
that have emailed through to us and most
importantly have engaged throughout the
numerous engagement processes have been
available to help build this into what
this piece of work is I think it's
really exciting it provides a bit of a
blueprint of how we move forward and
seek to create the environment that we
want in terms of modal objectives safer
streets and being able to transition
people to different modes of Transport
so overall I'm really pleased to see how
this piece of work has
progressed and one final call out to see
if any councilors would like to speak no
all
right all
right all right at this point I am going
to call for a vote with a division so
all those in favor if you could please
raise your
hand councilorStone councilorWade
councilorLandes councilorCrossland
councilorMuhammad councilor as
councilorJolly and that is carried
unanimously thank
you we'll just pause for a moment while
the other counselors
return
all right this brings us to our next
agender item 7.3 Smith's Reserve that's
the final landscape concept plan we have
two registrations to speak tonight and
the third first is Alan
C uh thank you my name is Alan chair I
live in Fitzroy quite close to the
reserve and um I'd like to thank mayor
and counselors for the opportunity and
your time
tonight uh firstly I would like to
commend the council and the officers on
the proposed final concept plan um for
the reserve and my family is very much
looking forward to the Redevelopment um
I am concerned upon reading it that
there is an option to endorse the final
landscape concept plan to guide all
Future Works in reserve with no further
Community
consultation particularly has been noted
in the agenda that the place based
proposal 2024 has not been subject to
the of specific Community engagement I
do note that there has been significant
consultation in other parts of which my
family has made some
comments um I think we're aware of
what's Happening especially particularly
today that my concerns obviously
are have risen because of the decision
to make quite a significant change to
the um playground equipment at the
Cambridge Street Reserve without
sufficient consultation with families
and young children who use that
playground whilst I'm personally quite
pleased with the final concept design
design and there's many elements that
are quite exciting I do still believe
that it is important Council should
proceed only after having Community
engagement to that particular part to
which they've commented on um and
hopefully what has happened at a
Cambridge treat Reserve where
consultation and revision has to happen
after construction obviously at Great
expense doesn't need to
occur um I also hope that additional
stage of development can then also be
approved at the time for the conclusion
of such a process when it comes back so
that there there are rather more firm
timelines for pro proceeding with the
rest of development rather than as it
stands which is kind of up in the
air uh thank you again for your
time thank you very much I'd now like to
call on Alex
lamb hello again um so I'm Alex Lam I
live in Collingwood I uh I volunteer
with street salera but so I speak on on
my capacity of volunteer with them but
also as a mother of two little kids who
use playgrounds frequently um generally
I feel that the consultation processes
of the city of era are great that being
said I have failed to provide feedback
earlier on this so I did miss that but
I'm happy to provide one more piece of
feedback for this park I think the
design looks excellent so well done my
only concern is the pollution from
Alexandri parade and that I'd like to
know that there are strategies to
mitigate that pollution either through
vegetation or a wall or whatever you
think is most practical for mitigating
pollution there otherwise the design
looks very good thank
you thank you we can't answer that at
this point of time but we will take that
on notice so thank you very much
all right that brings us to all the
registered speakers for this item uh
councilors do you have questions for
offices at this point in time councelor
JY thank you mayor my question maybe if
it's all right maybe to the CEO because
it'll probably end up in your desk
anyway just in relation to paragraph 19
of this report um option one there's two
options so option one is to just vote
for it let's go on and I share um the
views of everyone else who spoken
tonight so far that it's
design um I haven't had anyone come to
me at this stage at least saying have
any any sort of issues with it um Point
19 says um um we we could release it for
Community engagement but if we do we'd
have to defair the consideration of the
budget allocation for future years so I
just find that very difficult to believe
because I just don't think I just I
wonder are we and this is my question
are we sort of making ourselves a
hostage to Fortune we've seen what
happened with Cambridge Street Reserve
we've seen what happened trener CR in
Elizabeth Street where we you one thing
I disagree with the last speakers the
consultations ER haven't always been
perfect we've often finished the
consultation and then had a Avalanche
tsunami of opposition would it not be
possible to have a shortterm even just a
small letter box drop for the you know
the 100 meters around the park or
whatever um just to let them know that
that we're that that we're going to do
it and then vote to release the funds
next month because I I don't think
you're going to get any opposition but
if we go for option 18 option one
paragraph 18 I should say option one um
I'm just worried that we might find
ourselves in another Cambridge Street in
a ver Commerce situation I was just
wondering is it is that second and last
sentence of Point 19 true that the
commencement of the implementation of
the plan will be deferred for
consideration for Budget allocation in
future use if that's true and we can't
do a very short-term consultation
probably we'll have to go with option 18
but surely we can just do a mini quick
consultation cover our backsides and
then not have another you know PR
disaster like we've had in in past
issues that's my question mer to the
CEO thank you for the question councilor
Jolly um there's a few elements to
that uh what I will say is the budget
for the construction of the first stage
which is the playground is in this
financial Year's budget so the 2324
budget so where the report references
toer consideration it would mean we
wouldn't be able to if there was a
consultation process we wouldn't be able
to do the
procurement um I think irrespective of
the scale given that we're in March
irrespective um you wouldn't be able to
do the procurement or the construction
this financial year um it would be a
available to council to defer those
funds or carry those funds into the next
financial year if that was what council
wanted to do so the money's been set
aside it's not in the current draft
Capital Works program for next year um
uh but the point is that it was set
aside for this year just to go to the um
just to address I wasn't quite your
question but just to address the the
idea is certainly open to council to do
consultation on this um if you wanted to
I would caution Council
against uh I'll phrase it differently I
would encourage Council to think about
the veracity of a consultation process
um I understand at a popup today with
regard to Cambridge Street there was
some concern expressed that um we hadn't
put notices in the um large daily media
uh those kinds of things and so I I
would be a bit concerned but obviously
this is something for Council to
determine I would be a bit concerned
that a letter drop box within however
well intend within 100 met might
actually um in and of itself draw
criticism um so I think that's something
to think about and then finally the
point that um just to it isn't required
for Council to vote to release the funds
um that is within my perview to do that
so I don't need a a decision after that
I would just need a decision to go ahead
with the
project whether that included engagement
or
Not Sorry m can you just repeat that
very last bit I just yeah I don't um you
indicated that could Council decide to
go to consultation and then vote to
release the funds next month um what I'm
saying is you you don't need to um I I
have delegation the funds are already
set aside so I don't need that um but I
suspect what you would want is frer
report back the outcome of a
consultation process if that's the way
the council wanted to
go councilor would anyone else like to
speak to this item can I ask a question
Yeah question um just curious how was
the sort of area that's been allocated
for the play play
area it looks reasonably substantial so
one of the attachments talks about a
comparison of the existing play area and
the um and the ones for the future the
proposed um there is a slight increase
in the playground area but there's a
significant increase in the number of
play equipment and opportunities for
children to play in the proposed one so
um if you read the attachment or I can
go through it it talks about um exactly
the pieces of equipment that are in the
play now play Space now and what we'll
be proposed to do and it comes out as an
improvement overall more and a more
variety of Ages that can use the
space thank you would any other Council
like to speak uh Council W yes um the
question about pollution was that
disallowed because submitters aren't
allowed to ask questions or because we
don't I can ask it brilliant um could
you please speak to pollution mitigation
in this park given the location of
Alexander parade okay it's something we
haven't considered in the past we're
very aware of it there is a fence along
uh that was um designed by an artist and
we maintain that fence with the artist's
permission on what we do to keep it up
to um a standard that it's appropriate
it does get graffitied a lot so there's
an issue in working with the artist on
that um fence and what the future intent
of that but we can certainly look into
pollution um mitigation it's a really
difficult um issue to deal with but it's
definitely something we can do and have
a look at into the future it's not part
of the stage one works in regards to the
um the playground it's definitely part
of the rest of the
works
is it a followup
question okay I'll might go to CL an and
I'll return to you uh with
the main arterial Road the Alexander
parade U you know with a massive amount
of traffic and through the what is it uh
Queens parade
entrance uh is the provisional would you
be putting any ballards for safety
reasons along the
perimeter on that
side or is it just that midle mes
there's already a fence and it would be
Revisited and re um redesigned as part
of the project thank
you councelor
Wade yes um I had a question uh one of
our submitters raised the good question
about you know has obviously been
observant and keeping an eye on the
agenda and notice that this was in there
have residents who have responded to the
your sayara page been notified that this
was coming tonight um and I'm not sure
if that's to our community engagement
leads or our project
team yes have the understanding that
they were notified about the meeting
tonight thank you would anyone else like
to speak to the
item all right at this point in time I
will be looking for a Way Forward uh
councilor Wade would I'm happy to move
the offic recommendation do we have a
second Council Stone okay um Council
white if you'd like to speak to the
item yes um thank you to both of our
submits tonight for their very like well
considered points and their support for
the final design um and also to
everybody who engaged um in those
initial
processes um I absolutely hear the
concerns about wanting to make sure that
the community are stepped in um include
in every step of the way apologies I
just had a sound issue um and I think
that's a really good point and why I
checked that the your say people had
been notified because I think those
people have shown they have an interest
in this matter um though um as one of
our subers pointed out we don't always
catch everybody with every consultation
um what I do think is I think people in
the local area um want somewhere for
their kids to play and I wouldn't want
that to be deferred until the next
financial year I think that's something
we should put in as soon as we can um
we've also had it made very clear to us
um in the last couple of years as we've
kind of developed a new w a new approach
to Capital Works in Yara that every
Capital work you defer Andor change in
the schedule bumps other things along
the road too so if this is something we
can do now and we can deliver for our
community and we can deliver for kids of
the area that's something I really want
to do so I'm very very happy to hear
from um members of the public on all
issues but I think this one we've we've
really talked to a lot of people and and
a great design has been reached so um
I'm Keen to proceed um as is and I
recommend the officers course of um
proposed course of action to my
colleagues thank you uh councelor
Stein thank you I look I understand the
current environment leading to
um anxiety about missing out on an
opportunity to have a say about
something this is very different from
Cambridge Street where play equipment
was removed here we're actually putting
more back in um so I don't think they're
comparable situations and I'm also
cautious about going out to selective
consultation to just some people because
I was at today's second consult or third
consultation in cambri Street and there
are people who are very upset with us
opening this up again feeling some
people have more say than others whether
that's true or not it's probably not the
point the point is we need to be fair so
we've had a pretty good consultation on
this uh we've heard from uh one submited
tonight and we've had emails from others
saying they are happy with the design of
the playground it's offering more and
the whole um Smith Reserve is going to
be much better for everybody I think so
I'm very happy to support it going ahead
tonight thank you would any other
counselors like to speak to this
item you have a right of reply if you
would like to no
okay all
right
yeah
yeah all right and this one in time I
will call for a vote with a division all
those in favor if you could please raise
your
hands we've got Council O'Brien councel
Stone councilorWade Council Landes
councel Crossland councilorMuhammad
councel Newan counelis and Council Jolly
that is Carri unanimously thank you very
much this now brings us to agenda item
7.4 Fitzroy swimming pool shade measures
and we have no registrations to speak to
this item so counselors now would be the
time if you have any questions that you
would like to ask of
officers coun Char yeah
um like putting up the bonings balloons
or not balloon what do you call it um
umbrellas it's better than nothing I
guess but I mean what was the
cost um to council if we had proper
shading we just had 3 days of verific
heat um cuz what we were what I think I
don't put words in my colleagues M but
what I think Council GL glenis was
getting out with the motion I don't
think I was at that meeting was some
type of canvas cover yeah on top of the
fence on top of the fence um what what's
been proposed is is is like a golfing
umbrella large umbrella beach umbrellas
two or three and well not being proposed
been put up and as I say that's better
than nothing but is it a financial
component is there an issue of putting
stuff up on top of the fence what can
officers explain for the public record
why they went with the um the minimal
sort of option that they've gone
for thank you thanks thanks councilor
Jolly through you mayor uh we can the
options Council Jolly in the previous
report um one was the timing that was
against us we had the summer pending we
wanted to immediately respond to the
needs of queing
patrons uh we also included some detail
about what would be required to put to
fix a constructed awning if you like
onto the building um that was going to
take more time it be more
substantial uh you wouldn't have done it
by this summer
and so the council agreed uh with our
proposition last time about a the
temporary measure um what the report
tonight indicates um through the survey
we did although there was small partici
participation numbers in the survey
given it was voluntary that people
thought the response was was good and
adequate from the council lots of the
other anecdotal responses the officers
got also
suggested uh from patrons that they were
happy with the response so uh of course
it's open to council to build something
more substantial but we think the the
more temporary nature uh response has
done what you set out to do thanks
May Council
clis are you saying that it's only a
temporary measure at the moment and
you're not going to build anything or
you're not going to look into building
anything on
top s May again um councilor GL Glen
as we canvased in the previous report we
thought this was worth
trialing uh it was a a lowcost immediate
intervention that would provide the
necessary shade that would augment the
the plane trees out the front what the
what we've been able to demonstrate is
it it did precisely that if the council
was looking to do something more
substantial it could it could make
provision in a future Capital Works
program and of course we do the design
and and U the structural engineer Works
in in one stage and then construct in a
future stage but certainly open to the
council to do that we think we think the
the model you've got Now is working
pretty well and we propos to to run it
through the remainder of this summer and
next
summer can I um through you chair um
Council glanis I think I I just want to
make the point this option was put to
council and Council voted to support
this path of action so that's why we did
it so it was a decision of the council
to take this temporary
measure well that's what I was saying
that's that's what I asked but it's not
a temporary measure it's a a permanent
by the sound of it well we're in your
hands that's why we brought the report
back okay thank
you thank you are there further
questions for officers at this time
no all right I will be looking for a Way
Forward
counselors c new
on sorry I couldn't hear
you can can can well Council councelor
Nan has just said she's going to move
the officer recommendation can I just
ask her a question as mover of the
officer as a mover of the
motion yeah my question to you is would
you accept an amendment that um that any
discussion around um that discussion
around a more permanent um fixture
fixture be be put uh be be um put into
the budget discussions we discuss it in
the context of the budget discussions
that's not to say we make a decision
tonight on that matter not asking you to
accept that but that any idea on that we
put we throw it in the budget
discussions so that we will have a disc
discuss on it in the context of the
budget discussions internally um over
the next weeks and months and it'll
either be accepted or not
accepted um sorry the wording is a bit
loose but um a second first I'm quite
happy to Second it if you accept
that even if my amendment is voted down
it's going to happen anyway because I'll
raise it in the budget discussion so
it's it's like saying um we're voting
for the sun toise tomorrow morning sorry
councel JY you proposing to move the
council officers recommendation with
Amendment I'm very happy to do that yes
okay there's nothing in the office
recommendation that I'm opposed to I'm
just saying that we we defer any
discussion on any bigger structures for
one of a better expression to the budget
discussion which is going to happen
anyway uh would it help if I proposed a
form of words councilordefinitely
would uh so uh Mr
Thomas um I suspect what council Jolly
is suggesting a new Point
too uh which is that the
2324 draft budget include
consideration of permanent shading at
the Fitzroy pool for discussion thank
you 2425 got the year
wrong thank thank you Mr hu sorry can I
just ask one question for clarity as
well is it the budget process so it
includes consideration of rather than
the budget process cool is that fine
councilor
JY
so councilors we'll just get that up on
the screen so you can all see it and
Council Jolly can confirm that was his
intention all right I'll look for a
second now councilor Muhammad all right
councel Jolly if you'd like to speak to
the motion um this this came up from um
originally six or maybe not six maybe
three or four months ago from a sort of
a media social media um uh um from
social media but mainly by young people
who live in Fitzroy Collingwood and
other suburbs sorry the longes um
because of the long CES that were um
developing obviously the officers
explained there was more to that that
met the eye I don't want to relitigate
all of that tonight or anything like
that as to why those cues were in place
because of the weather because of
climate change because of the increase
in h weathers we've seen over the last 3
or 4 days um it's it was raised by my
colleague conatus and supported I think
by all councilors and there's been some
movement from officers on this with the
with the umbrellas to try and mitigate
um the the the the the Heat and the sun
stroke um that potentially could be uh
impacting people queueing up especially
people who have got Health
vulnerabilities young aged and pregnant
people and so on so um
this this motion if it's passed tonight
will accept what we've got but also look
through the budget process of something
more serious because they're right next
to Alexander parade and as one of the
people said in the previous discussion
with all the pollution and you got the
northern sun it's really really really
difficult in that queue when you're when
it's a big queue with on a hot day it's
it's it's really really bad and it's
something I think that um um it's I'm
glad that we've had some movement on it
but I think we can look at it again in
the budget process to try and get
something more substantial um that's all
I want to
say thank you councel Jolly councilor
Muhammad I'll just Echo what councelor
Jolly said but also I've been there A
lot of times and I can see how people
get distressed during those really
really hot and warm weathers so doing
something like this will improve the
lives of so many and I'm sure so many
people are going to appreciate it thank
you
thank you would any other councilors
like to speak to this
item no all right at this point in time
I'll be looking to call for a vote with
a division so all those in favor if you
could please raise your
hand councilorO'Brien councilorStone
councilorWade councilorLandes
councilorCrossland councilorMuhammad
councilorNewan
councilorglenis councilorJoanne that
is unanimously thank
you the next agenda item is 7.5 Secret
Garden Ballarat Street in Collingwood we
have no registrations for this item so
councilors now is the time to ask any
questions from officers
counselors
okay um councilors I will be looking for
a way for councilor
Wade yes I'd like to move a deferral um
until the next council meeting and I can
speak to that if I have a second
to we've already had something put um
Council glenat
us so Council glat us you foreshadowed
that in the event that this motion is
unsuccessful that you'll move an
alternative councilors you would like
to Second yes Council W if you'd like to
speak to the motion I won't say much um
only that we've had some information
about the circumstances that brought
this before us in the first place um
this was a general business motion that
myself and councilorjolly brought in
December um that relate to the very
particular circumstances of the street
that should
be uh
uh have a landing and have more
information within the next month and so
it makes more sense I think to discuss
this within the next month and in the
meantime the existing motion I think can
stand Council
St would any other councilors like to
speak to
this no all right we'll put it to a vote
uh all counselors in favor if you could
please raise your hand
oh councilor
GIS look
um I don't even think this should go to
a deferral uh even if the uh next door
neighbor or the uh the person that's
created all this uh
headaches um is going to sell his house
or it's going to auction it's not going
to change anything uh whether he sells
it or he doesn't sell it
and I I feel the council
should uh take it off the Department of
Transport and then sub license it to to
a group or community group to run the uh
Secret Garden now the community group
will pay rent up front for 5 years and
that's to minimize uh council's uh
Administration cost so the secret Garden
is fully funded and also has public
liability
so why should we defer it I can't see
the logic
there thank you thank you Council glenis
uh councilor Wade write a
reply are there any other
speakers no right of reply cool um I
didn't want to speak about the personal
circum ances on the street that's why I
was being vague um Council GIS has
spoken to some of it um I think their
relevant circumstances it would be a
strange move to go back on our previous
position without seeing those
circumstances out I understand the
minister hasn't replied to our letter
yet um this will also give them more
opportunity to do so and in the meantime
um allow Council to put forward its
strongest case um for our previous
position um and that is why I commend
this deferral to my colleagues
thank you I will now call for a vote
with a division if you could all raise
your hand in
favor councilorStone councilorWade
councilorLandes councilorCrossland
Council Muhammad councilorNewan and all
those opposed if you could please raise
your hand councilorO'Brien councelor
clis and councilorJo thank
you
I'm now going to call for a short
recession uh for approximately 5 minutes
time after which we will recommence the
meeting thank
you at
8:46 all right everyone we might return
from our break
now thank you
counselors all right this brings us to
our next agenda item which is
7.6 Insurance costs of Live musical news
in Yara we have no registrated sorry
registrations for speakers on this item
so councilors do we have any questions
for offices at this point in
time no okay I will be looking for a Way
Forward
counselors
councilor
[Music]
Stone move the officer
recommendation do we have a
secondar coun new Council Stone if You'
like to speak to the
item I can't even remember who raised
this issue and I would have thought that
you speaking to it yes I know you
did oh I see right
um well I do I understand how complex
these things are and um I think officers
have uh conducted a very thorough
examination of what is possible within
council's remit and um given the
complexity of these issues and the
number of players in the field um I
think the recommendation is extremely
sound it keeps Yara in the picture
uh whilst leaving responsibility for a
lot of what needs to happen with those
who are in a position to make it happen
so thank the officers for the
comprehensive report and the sound
recommendation which I endorse thank you
thank you Council
Newan I agree I think the Leaps and
Bounds Music Festival Roundtable is an
excellent opportunity um to discuss this
issue I know last year there were a lot
of really important um discussions that
were raised uh linking back to how we
can better support the live music area
including um looking at the way that we
do permits and um and and how we get
that out in a timely manner to support
businesses so thank you for the
report thank you would any other
councilors like to speak to this
item councilorJolly thank you mayor um
well on the street there's a different
view on the street there's a view that
the nightclub venues because of the
insurance uh ripoff where big massive
insurance companies are jacking up by
five sometimes 10 times the annual
insurance cost to our um amazing live
music venues that they're on they're on
the brink um closing of closing there's
lots of questions being raised about how
we deal with that sector especially
after the recent um Festival on Johnson
Street and criticis criticisms raised
there
um I'm old and ugly enough to know that
I'm not going to get anywhere with this
tonight but you can rest assured this
issue is not going to go away and um and
while I think the officers have done as
as usual you know a good report and I'm
not criticizing the officers it's
essentially just writing a couple of
letters to some industry groups it's not
going to make any difference on the
ground around um and therefore the live
music venues will just have to bypass
Council and deal with it in a different
way um but this issue is not going away
and I think it would be a mistake if
anyone um underestimated the problems
that are facing that sector as we
speak thank you would any other
councilors like to speak to this
item no all right councilor Stone you
have the right of reply if you
wish
the one thing Council Jolly said that
was constructive was that um there are
very serious problems facing the live
music sector at the moment I think we
all know that insurance is part of it
but there are lots of other things that
particularly have emerged since Co so I
have no doubt that people are very
worried um what's very disappointing is
that there's no alternative it's very
easy to say I don't support this well
what is the alternative to say that
we're going to bypass Council and do
something else terrific if there's a
better suggestion Put It Forward
otherwise in the absence of that I
support what the officers have
recommended here and I think it is
constructive thank you at this point in
time I now be calling for a vote with a
division so all those in favor if you
could please raise your
hand councilorStone councilorO'Brien
councilorWade councilorLandes
councilorCrossland councilorNewan
all those opposed if you could please
raise your hand councilorJolly
councilorglenis councilor
Muhammad thank
you righto the next agenda item is 7.7
governance report for March 2024 we have
one registered submitter for this item
uh Shan McCoy if you could please come
forward
thank you mayor Crossland and counselors
for the opportunity to speak my name is
Dr sha M and I'm speaking as co-lead of
the Victorian Pride Lobby's rainbow
local government team which is a
Statewide organization advancing lgbtiqa
plus inclusion in local government I'm
speaking on three subjects in the
governance report uh the Motions for the
MAV State Council and the National
General Assembly the operation of
council's advisory committees and also
relatedly the era lgbtiq plus strategy
2021
2024 firstly uh we strongly urge you to
support uh items 4B and 5A in the
officers
recommendation uh concerning motions for
MAV State Council and the alga national
general
assembly in the past year the lgbtiqa
plus Community has been under attack
from anti-transgender neo-nazis storming
the steps of State Parliament on March
13th to mass cancellations of drag story
time events across the state due to
threats of violence it is time for local
governments to stand up to the hate and
to take action to ensure that the
community events can proceed safely and
that lgbtiqa plus people are protected
from hate but it's not just lgbtiqa plus
people that are victims of this hate
we've seen children targeted as well as
migrants Muslim and Jewish people and
women that's why it's essential that
National anti vilification laws be
extended from just race to cover age
disability gender identity intersex
status religion sex and sexual
orientation and everyone deserves to
live free from hate within their lives
we hope you'll support the Motions for
MAV State Council and the alga national
general assembly in this
regard uh secondly we urge you to oppose
or at least um exercise caution in
relation to item one in the office's
recommendation concerning the operation
of council's advisory
committees what I understand this would
mean is that the rainbow advisory
committee would sunset in September and
not resume following the swearing in of
the new Council but instead sometime
after the adoption of the council plan
and a review of the council's
committee's policy slated to be
completed by June
2025 no rainbow advisory committee for 9
months from September 2024 to June 2025
is quite concerning given that this
period includes idah Hobbit in which we
saw several attacks on lgbtiqa plus run
Council events across the state so it's
essential that a raino advisory
committee be in place to advise Council
officers on event safety and the risks
of
cancellation as well as other matters
and would suggest that a review can take
place whilst the rainbow advisory
committee is still operating
um if time allows third uh we would urge
you to include an additional item six on
top of the officer's recommendation the
council conduct a review and renewal of
its lgbtiqa plus strategy 2021 2024 by
the 30th of June 2025 I'm conscious of
time so just briefly the strategy
expires at the end of this year and
should be renewed and this cements why
there needs to be a Rambo advisory
committee in place between September of
this year and June of next thank you
again for your time I'm happy to answer
any questions of clarification that you
might have thank you very much for your
submission much appreciated um
councilors yes
Council uh I hate sorry um I had a
question just about that point about the
rainbow rainbow strategy I believe that
is undergoing revision at the moment
would officers be able to speak to that
I believe we had a session recently in
here one of our I forget the name but
talk y esque events um and it was some
kind of preliminary consultation was
done thank you councilorthrough you
mayor um that work is underway uh to
prepare a revised uh plan strategy uh
within the time
frame thank you for the
confirmation councilors are there any
other questions of officers at this time
time no all right I'll be looking for a
Way
Forward councelor
Stone um I would move an amended um
recommendation with the following
amendments shall I read them out okay
one is that the term of appointment for
the current members end at the 30th of
June
2025 um the operation the committee
sunset on the same date the 30th of June
2025 these are the Committees listed in
the
motion secondly that um a terms of
reference for a family and children's
advisory committee be presented to
council at a July council
meeting and thirdly a new alga motion on
the
um Coalition for high ambition
multi-level Partnerships champ which was
which um our country signed up to at the
last cop in
Dubai um urging them to work with local
government on climate action
again I'm happy to explain speak answer
questions that's the
motion thank you I'm looking for a
second
up councilor Brian
Council Stone if you'd like to speak to
the
motion thank you yes um this is deferred
from a month ago when concerns are
raised um to Mr M's point about uh
ceasing our advisory committees at the
end of this Council term and not
resuming them until a review mid next
year uh committees provide vital input
to ongoing work of council which doesn't
stop at the end of a council ter it
continues we've heard tonight on the
work of the active aging advisory
committee also heard of the work of the
rainbow advisory committee um we've got
an environment advisory committee which
is providing vital input into a new
climate emergency plan this work does
not stop and we do need Community input
at that level um so this is simply
proposing that we continue the operation
of our current advisory committees until
presumably review has been undertaken a
new revised structure is in place and it
commences um with a new council plan mid
2025 so that's a rationale for that
rationale for terms of reference for the
families and children's advisory
committees this is something that's
Arisen out of the controversy around the
Cambridge Street park but it's quite
unclear what it would do what a families
and children's advisory committee would
do uh what its remit would be
family and children is this big there's
uh lots of stages of development from um
infancy through to
25 um they will have different needs and
priorities and um families take many
different forms so to have a families
and children's advisory committee could
be huge it could get through very little
um I think we need to see exactly what's
being proposed before we we consider one
this is the first step in advising in
establishing such a committee um and
finally on that last alga motion
um there has been discussion for some
years at each of the climate cops about
the role of local government in
delivering on each country's commitments
their nationally determined
contributions under the Paris agreement
these are reviewed every year and
significantly every few years local
government does most of much much of the
heavy lifting in climate action locally
but it's not really supported or
acknowledged by our national governments
and worldwide there is a request or an
expectation now that National
governments work with councils funding
them supporting them providing
structures where they can feed in their
achievements to the National um
acquittal against the Paris agreement it
all sounds a bit blah but it's very very
important the real word of
these Global conventions is done at the
ground level and a lot of it is done by
local government we need to be supported
we need to have a seat at the table we
need to be reporting to them The
champ is um something that Australia
signed up to last year it is now
committed to and this motion is simply
um urging the national government to
actually get it act together and act on
it the other motions I commend the other
elements of the governance report are
good and I move this
recommendation thank you councilor Stein
councilor
Brien thank you um yes I to uh support
this amendment thank you councilor Stone
uh the reason that the uh this item was
deferred the the part about the sun
setting or uh
uh to the conclusion of uh advisory
committees was taken off the out of the
governance report last time I think was
because a number of us had some
significant concerns about the period of
time that some of those committees would
not be providing advice to
council um so yes I do absolutely
support that they continue
through
um
uh
I I don't really need to uh comment much
on the champ and the inclusion of that
motion but I do want to
acknowledge um how important I think the
MAV uh motion the rainbow Alliance for
local government motion is and also the
national anti vilification laws and
remind people that I did put up a motion
on anti vilification laws at some stage
earlier or late last
year
thank you councilorBrian would any
other councilors like to speak to this
item Council W I'll just very briefly
speak in support um thank you councilor
stone for making these very sensible
additions um and to thank officers for
the work that went into in particular
the MAV and alga motions they're
excellent um and I think very Yara so um
thank you for those and thank you to Mr
Mal for speaking in support of um to of
those as
well okay at this point in time I'm
going to be looking for a vote with the
division so all those in favor if you
could please raise your hand Council
O'Brien councilorStone councel Wade
councilorLandes councilorCrossland
councilorMuhammad councilorNan
councilorkatsis councilorJolly that is
carried unanimously thank
you we now come to the point in the
meeting where we will hear notes of
motion with the first one being 8.1
notes of motion number four of 2024 easy
access tram stops for this we have two
registered submitters uh the first being
Alex
lamb not a problem at all David
boarding uh thank you mayor and uh uh
thank you councilorLanders for uh
putting forward this uh motion and your
work uh over the years to try and uh
improve the safety of these dangerous
tram stops I don't want to add any more
than just to to to support I just want
to um clarify a little bit you talked
about the improving the the need for
improving the road surface from hudle
street right through to Yara Boulevard
but to me and I I go this route every
day it's the the really really dangerous
section is between huddle and church and
and I it's just amazing the the
roughness of that surface and the number
of potholes that's really really urgent
so I very much encourage the Improvement
of the safety of the tram stops I think
if we just focus on that section that
would be big Improvement east of church
was resurfaced a couple of years ago
and uh it's not
um with a bad outcome because that
curbing to keep traffic away from the
trams has actually prevents cars from
swerving when there's no try to give
bikes a bit of space and it creates
conflict there just isn't space right in
front of this Council chamber is very
dangerous because there's a lane of
parked cars uh often and there's just
not enough room for the um for a bike
and and a car with that curbing there
but any case that the my main point was
that uh uh was that that's a really
urgent priority to improve the surface
of Bridge Road I would say from huddle
to church is the big priority here thank
you thank you very much counselors uh do
we have any questions for officers at
this point in
time no I will be looking for a way
forward then councel
Landes um I just want to like if I could
for your Indulgence is to add the words
and Victoria Street um CU I'd like to
reference the the stops in Victoria
Street my motion in 1 a talks about 15
and 17 along Bridge Road then there's a
comma and I'd like to words and also
Victoria Street and and also the access
tra stops in along Victoria Street if
that's
possible
yes we'll just get that up on screen are
you allowed to amend your own motion I
thought you were he's moving his own
motion okay moving
his I've definitely been denied that in
the past but not too
fast unless wants
it
e
after the comma access tram stops along
Victoria
Street or and access tram stops along
Victoria
Street
comma
okay be careful because I I've got to
reprove them it was that housing motion
for me that you guys said I
couldn't
night
um Claudia would you like to move the
motion okay Claud would you like to move
the motion noting Council Landes would
like to make amendment to
it okay I'm happy to second the motion
with the
amendment y
y
Council
Council noan you would like to move the
motion Council Muhammad you would like
to
Second Council Landes you have some
amendments you would like to
propose and also Victorious
r
highlighting the ongoing issues with the
management and maintenance of level
access tram stops number 15 17 along
Bridge Road and also Victoria
Street is that acceptable for both the
Mover and
seconder
fantastic I'm happy
to
councilornew if you'd like to
speak uh well it's Council landy's
motion so thank you Council landies for
putting it Forward I think it's a really
important one um I know particularly
with Victoria Street we saw today how
the ballards are uh they could be safer
and often cars do drive into plastic
bards just in front of the hive so thank
you for for your addition there and I
commend your
motion thank you Council
Muhammad I'll Echo what councilorNewan
said and also command councilorHera for
his
motion thank you would any other
councilors like to speak to this motion
Council
L um first of all I'd like to thank and
acknowledge resident Morris sh Who
currently is unwell and unable to attend
to make a submission tonight and who has
been leading a campaign to ensure the
safe outcomes of these types of stops on
about 2011 two sets of raised platform
stops were constructed by the road
authority between Bridge Road and hudle
Street and Church Street designated as
stops 15 and 17 and later in Victoria
Street as well the D design of these
stops include a raised section of
roadway with a step Edge identified and
protected by a series of safety bards or
guideposts and seek to reconcile
clearway traffic and DDA compliance
there have been many public questions in
respect to the poor maintenance of the
safety ballards on the raise platforms
tram stops with public photographs of
vehicles impact on around these stops a
recent uh freedom information has
refilled public comments to the road
authority and I quote ballards which are
put up to alert drivers are often
knocked down by MATC and then not play
for a number of months what step has Vic
roads taken to rectify the issue who is
the Authority for ensuring the safety of
these tra stops hi the raise uh Lane for
the tram stop is very dangerous and
badly designed cars hit the dividers a
number of times before and now the
dividers no longer exist because of the
lack of dividers now it is even more
hazardous it has been like this for a
long time and Vic Rose did not replace
the dividers today a car nearly tum
humbled and completely got stuck there
drivers cannot see the raised Lane and
hit the bottom of their cars on the road
while trying to change lanes could
someone please fix this before someone
gets hurt the road authority has a
satury duty to inspect maintain and
repair the public road documents dated
13th 8 2013 from a senior engineer from
Big roads temporary construction of
ballards need to be placed on the
platform Edge as soon as possible and in
place of the missing flexible ballards I
would suggest this needs to be done
within a couple of hours of the incident
as allowing the lane to operate with no
vertical delineation is a significant
risk risk replacement flexible ballards
to be installed within 2 to three days
of an
incident onor about the 1st of July 2019
the Department of Transport public
transport Victoria and Vic roads came
together as the one new Department of
Transport in March of 2020 the then
mayor of Yara Council Dan
wrote to the minister that Yar Council
officers have been reporting direct to
Vic roads instances when the bards are
missing and there have been distinct
lack of responsiveness in the actual
placement of the ballards leaving the
traffic Hazard continued for many weeks
at a time freom information documents
dated 8th of April 2020 revealed the
Metro assets manager of do we have
considerable communication with the aat
TRS about this the simple answer is that
the repair of the bull Arts is not our
responsibility the code of practice is
quite clear on this it is the
responsibility of the tram company and
we have conveyed this including the
relevant sections to a number of times
we have informed Council has done
nothing to do with our maintenance
budget uh to make safe as they seem
damage we have pushed back on this not
only because it's not our responsibility
because if we start doing the repairs
and reinstatement it will have a
delir delerious impact on our available
funds last we we can't understand why
the code of practice is simply clear
that it's so difficult for it to be so
understood I reiterate we will not be
doing this work unless the code of
practice is very unupdated in my view
the road authority has failed in its
duty of care to provide safe road space
for vulnerable Road users along Bridge
Road by way of documents showing that
there was an awareness of allowing a
lane to operate with no vertical
delineation is a significant risk the
road authority was made aware that the
bards had not been replaced and vehicles
would driving over the edge of the
unprotected platform the road authority
was seemingly arguing with a tram
company to take over the responsibility
of replacing the bards vulnerable y Road
users be they pedestrians public
transport commuters bike riders scooter
riders cars trucks have an entitlement
to a safe access on our roadways that is
not being compromised because of a view
within a staty road authority that if we
start doing raise repairs or
reinstatement it will have a delerious
impact on our available funds this
motion before you tonight seeks to
clarify the responsibility for the
management and the maintenance of the
level level access tram stops as a
matter of urgency and in particular the
ongoing repair and the reinstatement of
safety bards it ask for a review of the
design of the and the locations to
ensure the elimination of conflicts with
adjacent streets with proximity of to
the platforms that allow for greater
integration with footpaths and the
enhanced experience for pedestrians and
cyclists and last the elimination of
vehicular traffic over the platform the
current state of of Bridge Road as as
has been pointed out by submitter and
the increasing number of reported
hazards um and the prioritizing of the
renewal of this road surface as a matter
of urgency I commend this motion and I'm
I'm just say that I'm I'm disappointed
that the that that is come to this in
terms of these these um tram stops thank
you thank you with any of the council's
like to speak to this
m um I might just add as a fellow mow W
counselor thank you very much councel
Landes for putting this up it's been an
ongoing frustration and I hope that this
yields the address so thank
you I will now call for a vote with a
division all those in favor if you could
please raise your
hand councilorbrine councilorStone
councilorWade Council Landes councelor
Crossland Council Muhammad Council Newan
Council clapsis councel jolly and that
is carried
unanimously that brings us to our next
agenda item which is 8.2 notice of
motion number five of 2024 dangers of
oversized
Vehicles we have a number of register
ations for submitters this evening and
the first one is
Aiden thank you uh my name is Aden bar
dun and I direct my statement to the
mayor for
consideration could you speak up a
little bit or move the mic up a bit
closer thank you so better cool uh by
creating a parking fee and vehicle
registration structure that better
aligns to vehicle size and therefore a
space a vehicle occupies in the urban
environment we will more accurately
account for negative externalities
regarding own owning and using such a
vehicle and those that they impose on
vehicles outside outside of vehicle
sorry whether that refers to other Road
users in small Vehicles people riding
bicycles electric scooters mobility
scooters in wheelchairs or other
Mobility devices or
pedestrians all of these people listed
taking that mot of Transportation are at
a higher risk of being named or Worse
should they be hit by Vehicles described
in the motion for example Ford Raptors
F-150s Dodge Rams
Etc us Environmental Protection Agency
data has shown that average vehicle
weight and Bonnet height has been
increasing in the pickup category for
two decades there while the numbers of
pedestrians killed in the US reach
another record high in the calendar year
2023 the motion put forward outlines
other disturbing Trends in vehicle
fatalities in an Australian context
it's important to note that some of
these vehicles will be used for
legitimate business or trade purposes
but many more will
not the higher take up the higher take
up of these vehicles by non-trad workers
is concerning for the welfare of
everyone
else the study and work by the council
that this motion posits is an important
step in the right direction to get in
early and inform the culture surrounding
these extra- large
Vehicles if we can better inform the
debate and policy decisions surrounding
these vehicles today in Australia we can
help reduce harm to many people in our
community by making our open
environments more space
efficient the motion put forward already
articulates the dangers and actions
taken by other cities globally to
address this concern so I won't discuss
those I'm supportive of this motion and
its proposed report to be prepared for a
council Workshop this is a good first
step and contains appropriate caveats
for individuals with
disabilities if Council supports this
motion I look forward to hearing the
report's findings thank you
thank you very much for your
submission the next submitter is Sharon
Harrison I'm going to start with an
anecdote between my husband and I we
have lost three close PL family members
in traffic accidents two as pedestrians
and one as a scooter rider each of these
accidents occurred due to drive up
Behavior I urge Council officers to
focus on evidence based decision making
I don't think the current motion is
based on a firm evidence-based
Victoria's road toll has not trended
down with recent years it's in fact
trended up Council awaits motion Notes
The Dangers posed by the increasing size
and weight of vehicles on Australian
roads if we genuinely want to address
safety on our roads we need to look at
all factors that are driving Road deaths
thank
you thank you very much for your
submission the next submitter is Alex
lamb hello I want to say I strongly
support this motion I um commend the
city of commend sop Wade for um sparking
a national conversation about this
following paris's example which sparked
a global conversation about this it's
really concerning that the size of
vehicles has been growing every year we
need to put the brakes on that it's just
it's just not sustainable as the
Socialist mayor of Paris said it is a
social justice
issue um the fact is that these large
cars do come at a cost they cost clean
air so they cost the environment they
cost the space that gets taken away by
other people who need to use public
space they cost safety and particularly
safety of young children who are out of
the line of sight of these vehicles and
that's been proven by
evidence um and yeah they come a cost so
the question is who pays that cost is it
the is it the public CU currently the
public is paying that cost and I think
the driver should be paying that cost of
course there are many different ways
that you know negligent driving and
these kinds of vehicles could be
disincentivized but as counselors you
have to think about what is in your
power as a local Council and I think
already you've done a fantastic job at
sparking a national conversation that
has to be had and you're inspiring other
other municipalities to have that
conversation and what is within your
power is to consider how your your
control over parking can send a strong
signal to say to people who own and
drive those vehicles that actually there
is a cost that you are making the public
pay that you should actually be paying
also on behalf of Street to life era you
know as you know we've been advocating
for quite a while about a more a digital
streamlined and efficient system for
managing parking uh we do think that
when you consider this research and
hopefully I do I do hope that you will
pass motion to have this research you
consider a way of incorporating how we
might streamline parking permits to make
this kinds of this kind of um initiative
much more effective and feasible because
if people can't you know what is often
happening is people aren't paying for
parking at all so if you're not paying
for parking if you can shift around your
car for 2 hours you're not actually
going to have much impact on those
drivers and you know one of the
long-standing policies of streets of
lifea that we've been ad advocating for
is that commuters not residents that
commuters pay a standard $10 rate using
a digitized system thank
you thank you very much for your
submission next I'd like to call on
David
boarding yes thank you mayor me again I
should have got that right by now uh but
um I I I would like to uh support the
motion and uh for the reasons given
eloquently by Aiden and Alex uh before
me uh this seems to me ought to be part
of the parking strategy review which is
happening anyway so not clear why we
need a separate motion but while it's
there um I you I think it's a it's a
good step I don't see it making that
much difference to the safety issues uh
but it's about a more fair allocation of
resources and as Alex said uh you can't
have differential pricing until you have
proper pricing uh and particularly for
non-residents at the very least uh uh
they should be uh a reasonable fee to
pay through modern technology that makes
it easy uh and then when the cars
registered we can take uh weight and and
size into account uh but also I'd like
to council has received a a message from
from Michael Bond who's unable to be
here this evening and he proposed
something that I'd like to take up that
while we're trying to discourage
oversiz uh Vehicles why don't we the
council take a lead in trying to promote
uh uh smaller sized vehicles that would
that could really benefit our transport
problems and particularly ebikes and and
could we work with retailers in Yara uh
to find some scheme uh to encourage the
uptake of ebikes that that have so many
benefits in terms of sort of exercise
and sociability and and less pollution
and less danger and uh and all of those
things uh I mentioned earlier that by
some rough costings uh car drivers get
subsidized about $100 million a year by
the council in underpriced parking uh so
it would be just a tiny fraction of that
the resources required to provide some
kind of incentive uh that have been that
for for the uptake of ebikes that have
been uh that have been put in place by
many councils and governments around the
world thank
you thank you very much that brings us
to the end of all the submits for that
item councilors now is an opportunity to
ask questions of
officers no I'll be looking for a way
forward and councel
I yes I'd like to move my motion
please do we have a
second would you like to Second Council
Char I'm just asking through you um to
councilorwa if she accept my amendments
that I've
tabled I believe technically I need a
secondar but then yes I am happy to as
long as the secondaries as
well Council Muhammad yeah
um councilorWade councilor Muhammad do
you accept
councilor yes I think they need to be
displayed on screen and whatnot sorry on
screen so assuming these are the ones
that were circulated earlier and are on
our desk then yes I am happy to accept
these
amendments councilor
Muhammad happy to you as well
thank
you Council
wde yes so um thank you to our
submitters tonight um as mentioned this
motion was inspired what by what has
recently happened in Paris um the
residents of Paris have voted to
Institute a three times parking rate on
SUVs compared to standardized Vehicles
the reason I've the key reason that I've
um put this forward tonight is to do
with safety
um Studies have shown that a kid hit by
one of these these big trucks um is or
sorry and even by SUVs is 8 times more
likely to die than if they're hit by a
standard sized vehicle eight times more
likely to die that is just huge uh not
only are they more likely to die if
they're hit by one of these vehicles but
they're more likely to be hit in the
first place um visibility from these
vehicles is quite low um if you
Google um oversized vehicle U
and children um there's a Spate of
Articles from the US where you can see
11 kids lined up in front of one of
these cars before the driver can see
them um that's pretty horrifying
there've been a Spate of incidences in
the US where people have actually run
over their own kids in their own
driveways um and that's that's not the
sort of vehicle that I want to see
imported on mass into
Australia uh this motion is trying to
discourage these kinds of vehicles on
our streets and so not only do they make
the street safer for children for
pedestrians for cyclists they also make
the street safer for other drivers um
since I started considering this motion
I've had people say to me oh yeah I get
so nervous driving down the street when
these vehicles are parked because my
visibility is lowered because I can't
see past them or oh the headlights are
in my rear Vision mirror and then I
can't see clearly on the
road it's really a matter of you know
one person's rights uh their right to
drive whatever they want trumping other
people's rights to be safe on the street
and that's a kind of compromise that I
don't think we should be willing to make
um of course as has been raised um
parking fees aren't the only way to deal
with it and I would absolutely encourage
the state and federal government to take
action on this issue as well um what is
open to me is parking and so parking is
the lever that I'm I'm suggesting that
my colleagues join me in taking tonight
and indeed parking is the lever that
Paris has taken
recently our streets in the city of Gara
are skin streets they're inner city
streets they streets that were built in
the 1800s for bikes for pedestrians for
horses um it's hard to believe now but
they certainly weren't driven they
weren't built for this kind of
vehicle uh these vehicles are expensive
they're not the everyday vehicle some of
them are up over
$100,000 I saw one on the street the
other day that had all the bells and
whistles and was almost shoulder height
and as an almost six foot woman that was
pretty intimidating so I can only
imagine what that might be like to other
people encountering that vehicle on the
street I think this is a conversation we
need to have and I think over the last
few days we've seen it's a conversation
Australia is ready to have I certainly
have felt citizens of the city of Yara
have seemed very ready for this
conversation and have engaged in good
faith which I really
appreciate um to council Jolie's
amendments I think more information is
better um they're the sorts of things
that I was expecting officers would
probably work into the report anyway um
so I'm very happy to get all of the
information um requested and and
hopefully more I also just should
address the point about the parking
strategy it's also my intention that any
work on this folds into that so I was um
suggested that it come separately as a
report which I was happy to support when
I got advice from how to frame this um
but I think it will F fold into a
broader strategy that we have for yar's
streets uh so to conclude I think we
need to do something about these
vehicles and this is an option in front
of us and I S Suggest to my colleagues
that we follow paris's lead thank
you thank you Council
Muhammad okay would any other councilors
like to speak to
this councelor
Jolly if
um you live in Fitzroy with the tiny
streets that exist for example in Fitz
in Collingwood or Richmond and you buy
yourself a Hummer you're an absolute
idiot and you need to be dealt with with
whatever way Council can deal with it
and that's why I think it's important
this motion is passed but we've also got
to be be careful that we don't Gaslight
Yara residents because this is the most
Progressive area in Australia the most
Progressive Council in Australia we'd
like to call it it's got five times the
state average of same-sex marriages it's
got more uh public housing tenants in
any municipality as a percentage of any
municipality in Victoria possibly
Australia and and I would suggest and
I'm sure the stats will prove this um
when they come back that we would have
fewer oversized vehicles um your your
Rams and your Defenders and your Hummers
than any other municipality in Victoria
not only because the streets make it
ridiculous to have such a tank but
second of all um because the people in
this area are right up for action on
climate change overwhelmingly and that's
why if we're going to move forward with
this we have to deal with fact not
fiction we're not talking about Dallas
Texas here we're talking about Yara
Melbourne um and I think we need to know
how many SUVs how many Rams Defenders
Hummers are on the streets of Yara
actually in in actual percentage terms
what is an SUV how many accidents are
coming from these vehicles how many
fines are we char charging as a result
of a large oversized car parking on two
uh parking spots that's easily found but
also if we are to act on this how are we
going to ensure that the people because
we one half of council um approves um
high-rise development and development
right throughout Yaro you know we're all
in favor of urban consolidation um but
then we have to build it we have to have
um Utes we have to have agies we have to
have cranes for a temporary period of
Time Coming into the area almost
everybody who owns a home or rents a
home in Yara at at least once in their
life has had a trade come to fix the
house up we know in the public housing
Estates two things are true a they have
larger families than non-public housing
tenants in Yara and second of all many
people in the public housing States live
in areas outside of the inner city
they're not members of the professional
managerial class often they work in
factories and in offices way outside the
city and as a consequence often for
those two reasons bigger cars so we need
to ensure that our most vulnerable
disadvantaged residents are uh not not
not disadvantaged by some action that we
take here I think that's entirely
possible to do that because we've done
that for other issues but we need to
walk into it uh with a social justice
perspective as well as a environmental
perspective and finally probably the
easiest thing to do is there are lots
and lots of areas in y well maybe not
lots but quite a few areas in Yara that
are still not marked up Clifton Hill is
one example and we need to ensure that
if we're going to tighten restrictions
uh against oversized vehicles in Yara we
don't see those cars then just moving to
a quieter Street and disadvantaging the
residents and endangering the residents
in those streets to get around any
legislation or changes to regs that we
bring in in the city of Y on that basis
I think that as amended this is a good
motion and uh hopefully it'll pass
unanimously
tonight
oh thank you councilorJoy would anyone
else like to speak to this counciloryes
just a quick thank you to council way
for bringing this motion um I think it's
a a great deal of foresight um I I think
it's very important to discourage uh
large Vehicles into uh the inner city
such as Richmond and and Collingwood and
Fitzroy a lot of our streets were
designed uh as residents around
factories and
they were built to provide the services
to the houses not to accommodate
vehicles and that's what they've been
compelled to do and now we've got the
situation of these excessively large
Vehicles attempting to park and it's
simply physically impossible um and I
believe that this action that's been
brought to to to tonight is is the right
one and I commend the motion thank
you thank you I too would like to speak
to this item um first off thank you
councilor Wade for bringing this to us
in the first instance uh further to
everything that's already been touched
on by other counselors I was walking
down the street in cron just the other
day and noted one of these vehicles
traveling down what was a very narrow
Street and only just managing to pass
the parked vehicles on it it was a dead
end Street the vehicle then had to do an
8-point turn to be able to turn around
to come back and that included having to
go back and forth over the foot path for
each one of those Maneuvers there simply
is not the room to accommodate it so
thank you councilor Wade once again for
bringing this
motion I will now be calling for a vote
with the
division yeah
okay I will now be calling for a vote
with the division so all those in favor
if you could please raise your
hands councilorO'Brien councilorStone
councilorWade councilorLandes
councilorCrossland councilorMuhammad
councilorgatas and councilorjolly that
is carried unanimously thank
you we just pause for one moment well oh
here we go we'll now move on to the next
agenda item which is petitions and Joint
letters I believe that there
is we have one at 9.1 which is Artisan's
park playground and I believe this is
going to be tabled by one of the
language
counselors
yes you are quite correct Mr Mayor um a
petition containing 39 signatures from
residents are objected to the current
placement of the playground and height
of shade cells with the artison park and
request that Glenville and and Council
reconsider and address the placement of
the playground I move that this petition
be received and referred to the
appropriate officer for consideration
mayor thank
you thank you uh do you have a question
okay councilor Brian you're seconding
okay um councel jol were you wanting to
speak to that further just that there's
an ongoing issues at that site between
residents and the developers and what
they promised back in the day is quite
different than what's actually in many
instances been rolled out um so I I
definitely endorse the intent of the um
of the of the petition and I look
forward to the officers looking into it
and get back to counselors as soon as
they can thank you mayor thank you
councilor Brian would you like to speak
to it yes there are many ongoing issues
at this site and um I'm sure that there
would have been many more people
prepared to sign this petition had it
been um around for a little bit longer
it's come up very
recently thank you cancel W can I ask a
question at this point just will um
councilor say a copy of this
petition I was just given it prior to
the meet like 5 minutes prior to the
meeting I wasn't I didn't organize it so
hopefully I'm not trying to throw the
officers under the bus but they might
have a copy online that we can whack on
the screen um thank
you I can't imagine it will stop us
voting to table it but just good to see
it just one more moment and we'll have
that on screen thank
you
e
thank
you just to put that on the record
because the petition has personal
information um from the committee we
won't put it on the screen but we will
circulate to councilor
separately okay at this point in time
then um we will be going to a vote so
all those in favor if you could please
raise your hand councilorO Brien
councilorStone councilorWade councelor
Landes councilorCrossland councelor
Muhammad councilorNewan councelor
clenis and councilorchol that is
carried unanimously thank you and I've
been told that there potentially is
another petition or joint letter yes
councilor o'ban uh let us know what
you've got thank you mayor um I have a
petition containing 30 signatures from
residents request requesting that
Council consider implementing
proportionate risk management criteria
that reflect the actual level of risk in
lightly trafficked access laneways in
infrequently used by pedestrians which
is what one of our first speakers spoke
to um
I uh so yes I do I need to read the H
whole petition out no beautiful so I
would like to um that I would like to
move that this petition be received and
referred to the appropriate officer for
consideration yes yes thank you I will
need a second up councelor
Stone councilorR if you'd like to speak
to it um I think the the speaker
the Jackie that Janet that came to the
meeting uh and was here earlier I think
she spoke eloquently to the point it
really is about um Council currently
requir requiring two traffic controllers
to be present at all times to watch a
work site in an infrequently used small
laneway with clear line of sight end to
end and the problems that causes for
residents might be appropriate for
bigger building sites but not
necessarily for our for you know small
smaller
um uh developments or
Renovations Council Stein would you like
to speak to the
item no
okay I'll now be looking to put this to
a vote with a division all those in
favor if you could police raise your
hands councilorbran councilorStone
councilor Wade councilorLandes
councilorCrossland councilor Muhammad
councilor Newan councilorglenis and
councilorJolie that is carried
unanimously thank you and councilorbran
I believe you have another yes um
forgive me for this I have a second
petition which hasn't been circul
circulated electronically it's was
handed to me by hand on
paper um and this is a petition
containing 288 signatures obtained in
less than two weeks calling for Council
to provide access to the daraban creek
bike trail via old heidleberg road while
the community of alington wait for the
long promised alington link via Farm
Road so I would like to to move that the
petition be this petition be received
and referred to the appropriate officer
for
consideration thank you um I'll be
looking for a
seconder council
L councilor Brian if you'd like to speak
to her yes um this has been a bit of an
ongoing issue um ever since the Daran
bike uh the deran creek trail went in
alington residents haven't had access to
it except via a very roundabout
rou uh there has been plans for a a
access path to be put in from at the
bottom of Farm Road this is uh we don't
know when that will actually happen um
there's been all sorts of issues have
gone on uh with regard to Old heberg
Road and alington grammar and so on and
so um basically
the residents are basically pretty sick
of the whole situation and not having
access to that open space and now really
feel very assertive about the fact that
they do want access immediately to the
darban park uh bike path and um I would
just like to say that the the the this
petition is only of residents in a very
small part of
alington um no one that lives outside
the immediate immediate vicinity they
were asked people who were asked to sign
they were asked where they lived and if
they lived outside the very immediate
vicinity of this particular issue where
Old heidleberg Road and lucern cresant
they were they they did weren't um yeah
they didn't sign the petition it was
only people in the very immediate area
288 signatures in a very short period of
time is quite significant and I look
forward to hearing back from officers
about this
matter thank you councilor L I can
understand why um community members are
frustrated I'm frustrated the um
alington link was promised and I believe
funded a year and a half ago and still
hasn't happened so um I've been
following up with offices about that and
um but it's not their fault it's um it's
state government's gone to ground so
hopefully we hear more
soon righto so we now we'll be looking
to put this to a vote and have a
division all those in favor if you
please raise your hand councilorO'Brien
councilorStone councilorWade councelor
Landes Council of Crossland Council
Muhammad Council Newan Council glenis
Council jolly and that is carried
unanimously thank
you radio do we have any other petitions
or joint
letters
no that brings us to agenda item 10
questions without notice and we have one
that has been foreclosed by by councelor
Landes if you'd like to speak to that
yeah thank you um this is from residents
um in Richmond a recent piece in the
council plan talked about the $1.1
million local area placemaking plan and
in particular a reference to the vuse
enrichment it was noted in the report
that an internal Road Safety review was
undertaken for the Vel cluse as a
corridor study for Richmond this
identified that the vuse would benefit
from a painted shared Zone design
approvals and delivery of a shared Zone
will be progressed during 2023 strike 24
my question is just wondering if
officers could advise residents when
this would be preceding thank
you sorry I was also confir not for you
mayor um thanks for the question Council
land is officers have developed a shared
Zone concept uh for the V cluse
essentially uh at the church Street end
up to the Jesuit Community Services
building uh the current proposal is
based on proposed lower speed limit of
20 km an hour uh signage and some
pavement marking with some public
messaging uh to be uh proposed which we
found effective elsewhere where we've
discussed this already with dtp we're
going through the process of submitting
it to dtp for its
consideration um and uh we're confident
it fits the shared use template and
would be successful but of course we
just have to wait for
dtp's approval should it be successful
we're confident we'd be able to deliver
it next year thank you mayor thank you
are there any other questions without
notice councilor
Stone uh thank you I have two related
questions for the general manager of
City sustainability and strategy and
they relate to the October 2023 report
that was provided to council outlining
the changes to planning processes in
Victoria following the premier's housing
statement many of those changes were
premised on council's being slow to
process application and also the
perception that delays were being caused
by third party objectors and so of
course these reforms removed third party
rights from several types of
applications and remove councils as
decision makers too from several types
of applications at the time you advised
it was difficult to know what the impact
would be on Yara in terms of our
processes because of the lack of detail
and my question is has any further
detail been provided since then and if
so
what through you thank you councilor
Stein for the question um we understand
that the department are preparing some
guidelines um for the community councils
and applicants to understand how the
process will run um we haven't seen
drafts of those as yet but we have
requested that um or we have said that
we're more than happy to review those in
light of the number of guidelines that
we prepare on our website for our
community to understand the planning
process um that where we are at at the
moment thank you and a f question
um Yara has made quite strong statements
about the fact that better planning
outcomes are achieved when communities
are involved in those decisions and the
council resolution in October referred
to advocacy by Council on this and I was
wondering if you could describe what
advocacy has been undertaken and how
it's been responded to since
then thank you may
um Council officers I'll start at that
level every time we are contacted by the
department with respect to a I'll call
it a call-in application just for the
sense of um Clarity we Advocate strongly
regarding the the scope of Engagement
with the community um in many instances
we ask for that scope to be
significantly increased and as we are
providing the names and addresses of for
those properties um we have been quite
successful in in being able to influence
the outcome at the officer level um
further to that we have met with the
minister with um the mayor and the CEO
and again we advocated for strongly for
Community um input into these processes
um and we continue to have those
discussions at all levels um within the
department and obviously we've had that
conversation directly with the minister
and we will continue to do so on a
case-by Case basis as the applications
are called
in
um I might also add councilor Stone um
the the matter has been raised regularly
at the local um the meetings with the
mayor and our local
MPS um
and uh indirectly I know that on um on
occasion MPS have taken the opportunity
to ask questions specifically um most
recently about our open space Amendment
for example in Parliament um and as well
as making
um uh making approaches to the minister
them specifically um in addition the M9
group of
councils uh
recently it doesn't go directly to the
consultation point but it does go to the
impact of the reforms um the M9 CEOs or
n CEOs recently wrote to the department
and asked um for the Department to
consider and respond to issues relating
to cost shifting um it is my view and
the view of the uh other councils that
count will will continue to do the line
share of the work um but we no longer
receive the applicant fee um and in
order to ensure that the community is
well represented in in decision making
it often means we have to commission
external subject matter experts at Ray
payers expense and so I don't believe
that's fair so we've asked for that to
be raised as well so um the only other
thing I would add is that there's been
quite a lot of media attention and we've
taken every opportunity to remind the
readers or the listeners that Yara does
the the's done the line share done the
heavy lifting in terms of residential
development approvals um in the
metropolitan area recently
and um so we actually feel like we we're
doing a reasonable job without
compromising um the involvement of the
local community so um we've we've
repeated that message pretty pretty
heavily did you have a clarifying
question councilor Stein if it's if it's
a different thing I'll come back to you
after councelor
Jolly um my question without notice
mayor is also to
um Miss Osman um general manager for um
planning but I know it's got a fancy
name now so uh my question is twofold
it's just an update if you can give us
an update if you have one on hand of the
roll out of electrical vehicle charging
points in the city of via I know you you
made some statements in relation to that
a year year and a half ago at Council
and secondly and finally um any idea of
when we're going to get a report about
the the potential roll out or um advice
as to the successor otherwise of the
trial in Port Philip and in UK cities of
this sort of embedded um charging point
that would suit private houses with a
with a car spot at the front which I
know are quite rare in city of Yara but
um I've been asked a numerous occasion
and also in relation to the motion that
we passed Sophie Council W's motion um
what are we doing about EVs and how can
we encourage them and I think you said
something about 15 odd that we might be
getting soon and I was wanted if you
just give us the latest update on that
please just for the record Council new
's just left because she's declared a
conflict of interest in relation to that
matter that's
okay
through you mayor thanks councilorJolly
for the question
um council is currently the recipient of
a grant for the installation of EVs and
we're working with the infrastructure
team on implementing these um we we're
still we're still working on them so so
please don't take that that there is a a
stall but um they're not as easy to
implement within our existing
infrastructure um we're also working on
a policy and that's to guide where we
should be putting EVS across the
municipality we're also advocating for
the installation of EVS within private
developments which may not um address
all issues but at least within new
development people have the option of of
having an electric vehicle um all of
this work forms part or a part of the
curbside strategy and um we will come
back to you with the timing for when
these policies will be put to council
there also was a question about um Power
CS across foot paths um I have had a
conversation with our local law team and
we're working towards is there a
solution about how this can be
implemented but but councilors it it's
quite a complex topic um so I would like
to circulate some more information to
all counselors um about each of those
topics okay councilor Stein I believe
you had another question no are there
any other questions from councilor
councilor
R um I think about 12 months ago I put
up a on light
pollution and I was just wondering when
that report might come to
council Mary through you may we are
working a timetable um we actually had a
conversation with respect to that um
today I don't have a definitive date but
I will provide councilors an update with
timing for that policy as well thank
you thank you all right at this point in
the evening we are up to delegates
reports
councilors do we have any delegates
reports for this
evening no
okay that then brings us on to General
business which is an opportunity
provided for counselors to raise items
of General business for council's
consideration councilors do we have any
items of General business this evening
Council Jolly thank you mayor I've got a
general business motion um there was a
slight delay in tabling it um but I
believe it was tabled
today via email to all and sunry I'm not
going to read it out it's quite
extensive but it basically relates to
the um uh SE seeking a report from
officers to the May meeting uh in
relation to potential world world
heritage listing of what are
colloquially called Portable Buildings
but there's six of them in the city of
Yara they're listed there I'm not going
to read them out um and various other
bits of information including a letter
to the planning Minister um that um that
that sort of like sunry items to to one
A in that report um to be the basis of
that report um this has come from
residents throughout the city of via
doctor sorry Professor miles Lewis um
various other Heritage experts various
other um resident
organizations um have asked for this
report and that's why I'm moving this
motion and hopefully um it will pass
thank you
mayor
thank you um councilorBrian I your
seconding all right councilorW I had a
question yes um I just wanted to check
with officers I have no issue with this
in principle but just how long a report
like this would take I'm just conscious
that councilors were told in a recent
briefing about the um strategic planning
teams workload and we know that there
are a number of um fairly intense
Community priorities on that list
including um the Gip Street precinct and
um the neighborhood activity centers DD
work and so just trying to get a sense
of timing on how this would affect the
team through you mayor thank you
councilor Wade um we have had a
conversation with the relevant officers
and we're comfortable that we can meet
the May Council um
agenda sorry I guess the question was
more will it delay other work and if so
by how much oh we don't antip that this
will delay work um we are requesting
this report be prepared by council's
Heritage officer who who will be able to
collect this
information okay all right at this point
in time then we'll be pulling it to a
vote
and councilor Jolly were you wanting to
speak further to that no that's right
okay I'll put it to vote um uh with a
division all those in favor if you
please raise your hands councilorBrian
councilorStone councilorWade councelor
Landes Council Crossland Council
Muhammad Council Newan Council clenis
and Council Jolly that is carried
unanimously um that brings us to the
next item on the agenda which is urgent
business this is an opportunity provided
to the CEO um to introduce any items of
urgent business
no thank you no
wonderful this now brings us to the next
item on the agenda which is confidential
business um which means we now require a
motion to close the meeting to the
public councilors can I have a motion to
close the meeting please um councelor
you're happy to move councilorMuhammad
you happy to Second s sorry I thought I
yep okay
um all those in favor if you could
please raise your hand y Council O'Brien
councilorStone councilorWade Council
Landes Council Crossland Council
Muhammad councilorNewan Council GIS and
that is carried thank you um I will now
ask officers to please close the meeting
to the
public thank you everyone that brings
our meeting to an end have a great
evening