Brian Walters Greens candidate for Melbourne

How important is Docklands to Melbourne\'s continued economic growth, tourism and prosperity as a world class city?

The real importance of Docklands is as a community where people live and it must be made to function in that way before we try to make it anything world class. If it is made to operate as an effective community it will be world class, because it\'s got such a wonderful location.

As the second decade of Docklands development unfolds there has been a lot of attention recently on Docklands being an area that has a strong skeleton in place but no heart and soul, do you agree with this and how will your party address this issue in government?

First of all I think the skeleton has a number of defects, and Docklands is lacking some heart and soul, there are a few reasons for that and some upcoming challenges which will also impact.

Unfortunately the Docklands development has been created by VicUrban without sufficient basic infrastructure in place, there isn\'t enough parkland, there isn\'t a school, and I mean a school not just a feasibility study, there aren\'t communal places that should be provided in order to give Docklands a greater sense of community, but there are other issues as a community.

Short term accommodation in buildings where it is not really permitted is now widespread, so we have people that have made the area their home having to contend with people that are coming and going and don\'t have a sense of commitment to the area. Enforcement of long term accommodation
requirements is urgent.

A major challenge for Docklands will be the WestLink tunnel which will deliver at least 5000 cars an hour during peak hour into Docklands which will create, as a matter of simple physics, gridlock.

This is a real risk and the impact on Docklands will be immense.
Building a sense of community requires that the community has a voice and in the past ten years it has operated under a system where VicUrban has told the community what will happen and the community has had no say, that has
to stop.

Initiatives recently proposed to promote community and soul in Docklands include a local school, library and outdoor facilities including bike paths, what else would you like to see put in place over the next decade of development to enhance & create a cohesive community?

It needs meeting space, this could be incorporated into the library, as the community grows we need to create public spaces, perhaps create a museum reflecting what the Docks used to look like and make a connection to the history of the area. It is great to have the City of Melbourne involved in Docklands but it would be great to have a dedicated ward councillor with responsibility for Docklands only. The infrastructure should primarily be in place for people that live there, for example, it\'s important to have kinder places, Lady Gowrie has 300 on the waiting list, and rate payers should have their needs met before those that work in the area.

What is the answer to Docklands connectivity deficiencies from the city; would a monorail, water vehicles, the proposed metro rail and or road tunnels be viable solutions, or is covering Wurundjeri Way the major issue that needs addressing to connect Melbourne city and Docklands?

There is an issue with connectivity and I don\'t have a prescriptive answer, I believe that those that commute to Docklands for work should not be able to bring their cars in, there is adequate public transport with Southern Cross Station.

You don\'t wait for the population to develop; you have to be ahead of that
curve in your infrastructure planning.

With the announcement that the City of Melbourne will be the responsible authority for the developed areas of Docklands and VicUrban will continue to control the underdeveloped areas; wouldn\'t a joint partnership between local and state governments on all aspects of the second decade of development be a better idea to allow more community input?

Whatever happens over the next ten years affects everyone that lives there and they should have a say in it. Firstly residents will have more ownership and they\'ll feel part of their community, secondly, you get less resistance to development and lastly, you\'ll get better outcomes because the people that live there can often see what needs to be done and what shouldn\'t
be done.

There should be a voice for residents and the City of Melbourne is the way I see this being able to happen at the moment. The Docklands Community groups should be directly consulted on all decisions also.

What is the most pressing issue that needs to be addressed in the Melbourne electorate area, what are the key challenges Melbourne is faced with?
In regards to Melbourne more broadly, there are many issues but the main ones are public transport, planning, water, safe climate, parklands and education.

In regard to education, Victoria spends the lowest per capita on education in Australia; we would need to spend another $1 billion a year to get us up to the national per capita average, we also have the largest class sizes in the country.

LUKE MARTIN - LIBERAL CANDIDATE ASKS:
The Greens have been very quiet on the subject of safety on our streets, do the Greens even acknowledge there is a problem and do they have any plans to make Melbourne a safer place?

We have actually been quite vocal on this subject. We now have a 24 hour city, a lot of violence on the streets occurs during those hours where places were previously closed, but we don\'t have a 24 hour public transport system and we should have.

Problems develop when people leave venues at 3am and there is a shortage of taxis, people may have had a few drinks and are tired. If we had a properly staffed public transport system that runs around the clock, like other cities around the world do, that would be one way to alleviate violence.

We should also be looking to also prevent large liquor barns and encourage more local community entertainment spaces as well as banning all alcohol advertising just as we do with tobacco, I would start by banning all sponsorship of sport by alcohol.

Brian Walters
brianwaltersmelbourne.blogspot.com
brian.walters@vic.greens.org.au
0411 020 967