Home | Councillors | Action Plans | Achievements

Social Justice in our diverse community

The culture of the City of Port Phillip has been built over many decades by its people, and must be respected by our Council. This City contains the full diversity of multi-cultural Australia, and also provides residence to all socio-economic groups. The City has social justice policies, programs and organizations, which are contributed to, and accepted by, the community. New challenges will continue to emerge. These will require sensitive and effective responses. Community building amongst the diverse groups and communities that make up this City is seen as essential for a coherent response to the uncertain future that faces us.

Child care

Background

unChain Port Phillip observes that access to quality affordable child care is still out of reach for many Port Phillip families. Currently over 1000 children are registered on waiting lists for centres operating in Port Phillip.

The Federal Government has shown some willingness recently to enter into co-operative arrangements with local government authorities to provide more childcare places.

Yet, in the face of very high demand for childcare services, the City of Port Phillip Council’s attitude to its provision demonstrates heedlessness to the needs of its residents, particularly young families.

  • In 2005/2006 the City of Port Phillip elected to decrease rate payer contribution to childcare by 60% as it said it could not carry the burden alone. As a consequence, Council passed that burden to young families - increasing daily fees from $45 to $76.50 per day. The additional burden imposed on parents by fee increases of this magnitude is insupportable.
  • In 2009 the City of Port Phillip plans to withdraw existing funding models from kindergartens and this will potentially increase fees by over $10.00 per child per day. Some centres believe this fee increase will force the three local community kindergartens to close.


Action Plan

unChain Port Phillip believes that:
  • all Australian families are entitled to access high quality, affordable childcare;
  • positive, interactive learning and socialisation opportunities offered by childcare can benefit children and the community by assisting a smooth transition to formal education;
  • all carers of children should have the opportunity to re-enter or maintain their engagement in the workforce;
  • Port Phillip Childcare should be a not-for-profit service;
  • there should be an end to the excessive escalation in daily fees;
  • people working in the childcare sector should be fairly remunerated; and
  • families should have diversity in their choice of childcare alternatives


unChain Port Phillip will:
  • ensure Council’s continued role in universal access to quality, affordable community care;
  • create an active, accurate and transparent childcare waitlist across Council, community and private early learning services and help parents access their service of choice in an expedient and proactive manner;
  • create an additional community 200 long-day care places in areas of need;
  • ensure kindergarten services are available for 95% of all 3 and 4 year olds;
  • establish improved standards of childcare based on the best available evidence from early childhood research;
  • encourage more investment in publicly funded community-based and not-for-profit child care facilities, especially in areas of high unmet demand or growth;
  • consult and listen to staff of children’s services, management committees and parents before amending childcare and kindergarten access, subsidy funding, and structural policy; and
  • support the transfer of the four local ABC centres into community based children’s services– 500 families are at risk of losing their childcare place


Housing

Background

At a time when costs associated with the purchase of a house are well beyond the level able to be afforded by many residents of Port Phillip, - 60% of residents in Port Phillip are tenants - the Council must take a lead to secure better outcomes, both environmental and economic, for those residents currently renting their accommodation.

The National Rental Affordability Scheme has been established to build up to 50,000 rental properties across Australia in its first four year. This should reduce rental costs for many low and moderate-income households. Legislation to establish the scheme is currently before the Federal Parliament.

There is also a critical need for community housing to meet the needs of low-income groups, people who are unemployed and disadvantaged and disabled members of the community who are seeking accommodation. Port Phillip Councillors have been leaders in providing community housing. However, recently we have seen this priority used to justify some poor decisions in other policy areas (for example, unequivocal support for the Triangle amongst some Councillors was seen as a way of securing more funding for community housing) and we have seen Councillors dismiss genuine community concerns as simply being anti-public housing. Such one-sided views are paving the way for potential backlash to public housing, as a result.

Action Plan

unChain Port Phillip will:
  • lead Port Phillip City Council to take a much more pro-active role in creating opportunities for the construction of community housing and to promote the availability of low cost housing generally;
  • implement The City of Port Phillip’s 2007 Housing Policy, without delay;
  • educate and inform about the role of public housing in our City in order to regain the confidence and support of a wide range of community members for the continuation of this important commitment;
  • encourage the growth of housing stock in the City by participating in State and Commonwealth programs promoting affordable housing;
  • encourage private developers keen to provide new and affordable housing stock to seek approvals for their proposals without delay;
  • use the expertise of Port Phillip Council in the housing sector to support the National Rental Affordability Scheme, helping to work through complex issues such as the ability of the charitable sector to develop projects as joint venturers with large investment funds; and
  • actively support measures to encourage landlords to make their properties more environmentally sustainable in terms of energy and water use. This initiative sits alongside our environmental action plan, which encourage landlords to provide sustainable energy facilities for tenants resident in Port Phillip – thereby bringing the energy usage of 60% of the City’s population into sustainable modes and substantially reducing current levels of emissions impacting on the overall carbon footprint of the City. Similarly, in terms of water usage, we will encourage landlords to take action to replace inefficient piping and bathroom fittings, which are wasteful of water.


Kyme Place

Kyme Place deserves a special mention as there is a proposal before Council to build community housing above the public car park off Liardet Street near corner of Bay Street, Port Melbourne. The proposal involves 31 studio apartments with a net loss of five existing car parking spaces on site.

The design and location have been the subject of debate in the community. Issues concerning appropriate location, site and design have been raised. Such issues include the beneficial ownership of the car park, examination of possible options such as alternative sites, reduction in the number of units so the building is not so large, impact on the access for the neighbouring commercial properties, changing the parking entry/exit arrangements and improving the sustainability elements of the project.

There is a perception that Councillors have failed to listen carefully to genuine concerns of the local community. Possibly fearing opposition as a community backlash against public housing, they have been unwilling to consult and have aimed to push through their preferred vision at all costs. The new Council must provide a genuine opportunity for interested parties to participate in such decision-making. For the long term good of the Council’s housing program, it is essential to have significant public support, which, in turn, requires open and transparent decision making.

The Council has established a special committee on the Kyme Place proposal. That committee has been delegated responsibility to make the planning decision on behalf of Council as Responsible Planning Authority. The Committee comprises two independent experts, two residents and Councillor Judith Klepner. Council's Senior Planning Officer will write a report and make a recommendation. It is expected that the report will be submitted in late December with a formal committee meeting held subsequently which would also involve an opportunity for public comments on the officer’s recommendations.

unChain Port Phillip believes that the new Council should withdraw the committee’s authority to make a decision on behalf of the Council. Instead the Committee should make a recommendation to Council with Council being the decision maker. The Committee has limited terms of reference as it can only consider matters relevant under the Planning Act. The new Council should ensure a complete review of the proposal covering the locality, site and design aspects of the project.

UnChain Port Phillip member, Don Gazzard, a Life Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects has made a submission to this committee, which demonstrates many of the issues to be resolved. The salient points of his submission are:

“In my opinion aspects of the design need amendment for the proposal to be practical.

The architectural design is considered acceptable but the vehicle circulation needs to be reconsidered. The effort to maximise the number of studio apartments and at the same time maximise the number of public parking spaces available has resulted in vehicle circulation which is far too difficult. The lane is simply too narrow to carry service traffic as well as the entry and egress from the public carpark. Vehicles entering the carpark would have to be on the wrong side of the lane to be able to turn into the carpark.

All architectural design is a compromise to achieve an acceptable balance between all the desirable factors involved. The access problem can only be solved by something giving way. My proposed solution is to leave out the apartment on the ground floor so that the entry to the carpark is directly from Liardet Street as at present, keeping it separate from the lane.

This would have the virtue of making this public parking area under the building more visible from Liardet Street. This is considered important as the parking will not be available during the construction period and there could be hesitation at going down a narrow lane to parking which would be almost hidden from Liardet Street.

The number of carspaces will have to be reduced with parallel parking on one side and right angle parking on the other as at present. Because the entry and lift / stair are in the corner next to the lane it might be sensible to put the right angle parking on the lane side rather than as at present. Maintaining the status quo would leave both the parking aisle width and the lane width as they are at present so parking and circulation would both be easier. Retaining the present width for the lane would allow for rubbish removal vehicles, and entry into, and backing out of, the rear yards of the properties fronting Bay Street. The line of structural columns along the lane should be moved back slightly and the slab cantilever could be increased if necessary to accord with the existing lane.

The loss of one studio apartment and a few cars should therefore rectify the circulation problems, and the building costs would also be lowered slightly. Public concern would be allayed and the parking would be more visible and well used on completion.

Port Phillip Council should be a leader in sustainability issues so I would like to object to the absence of solar arrays to generate electrical power. Despite the initial higher cost it would lead to lower energy use and the additional initial cost would be amortised over time by the savings.”


Care for our Aged

Background

unChain Port Phillip observes that unlike neighbouring municipalities, Port Phillip Council does not own or manage supported accommodation facilities. To date, the City of Port Phillip has supported aged residents by ‘facilitating processes to identify community needs, advocates on the community’s behalf, and co-ordinated planning processes’ – as advised on the Port Phillip City Council website.

The website also advises that within Port Phillip city there are a range of facilities for Aged care, run by ‘not for profit community organisations and private operators.’

unChain Port Phillip is not convinced that the ‘hands-off’ approach signified by the website entries does justice to the needs of the aged citizens of the City of Port Phillip. It also observes that other municipalities are much more pro-active in the care options that they offer for members of this constituency. For example, in neighbouring Glen Eira Council, there are accommodation facilities owned and operated by the Council. These include 81 independent living units, a centre for 53 low care residents, and two centres each providing high care services for 30 residents – a total of 194 places for the elderly in need of care within this city. Access to these centres is means-tested. Those most in need have the security of knowing that their care in the later years of their life may be managed at a cost which they can afford.

Currently, the Department of Human Services (DHS) is investigating whether the former St Vincent’s orphanage in South Melbourne would provide a suitable site for aged care purposes. unChain Port Phillip will actively encourage co-operation with DHS, either for the establishment of an aged care facility on this site or in a location elsewhere in Port Phillip which should offer accommodation and services to aged residents of the city. A target of 200 places is envisaged, to be progressively achieved as opportunity offers.

In the meantime, unChain Port Phillip will organise an inventory of aged care services that are managed by the City Council to be consolidated, and, in the first instance, undertake community development research to establish community needs and desires. The outcome of this activity will form the basis of a strategy for improvement in Aged care service delivery in the city – and inputs from Aged residents and their carers, and organisations in the City of Port Phillip currently provided Aged care services will form an integral element of policy development and improvements in Aged Care service delivery

Action Plan

unChain Port Phillip will:
  • Work with DHS in the identification of appropriately locating purpose-built facilities, including low care, independent living and high care residential accommodation, for Aged care for Port Phillip residents.
  • Request Council Officers to provide a consolidated inventory of services delivered by the Council to Aged residents of the City of Port Phillip.
  • Commission a satisfaction survey from users of Council’s Aged cared services to be conducted by an independent consultancy with expertise in evaluating the efficacy of human services delivery.
  • Immediately review budget spending priorities to channel more funds to Aged care, as part of its overall approach in rebalancing the Port Phillip City budget to cater for all demographics, especially the care of our ageing citizens.
  • Review the rationale for growth in senior managers’ salaries to see how a more efficiently managed bureaucracy could divert monies to causes such as Aged care.


Community Safety

Background

unChain Port Phillip believes that Port Phillip should offer its residents, workers and visitors, a safe environment. Violence however is frequently reported against residents, sometimes from street encounters, and on other occasions where on licensed premises such as bars of nightclubs. In particular the homeless and street workers are increasingly vulnerable to the changed behaviour in our streets.

unChain Port Phillip notes, and unreservedly supports, the scathing comments delivered by Judge Frank Gucciardo on the role of alcohol abuse in much of the violence which brings offenders to court for sentence. To quote the judge:

“The reliance of young men and women on alcohol binges for entertainment and stimulation has reached insidious proportions, turning so-called entertainment precincts into presidios of violence and ugliness causing fear and apprehension of violence and injury, discouraging and conditioning the community from normal access to such venues, particularly at night.”


Discussions between Council officers and community members subsequent to this ruling indicated that Council officers and the local Police, who – sensibly and commendably - often liaise in monitoring venues’ compliance with regulatory and legal requirements for serving alcohol, and maintaining good social order on their premises, often encounter issues of boundary definition in these activities. In other words, it is not always immediately clear which authority has jurisdiction to act in particular cases.

This is a matter of serious concern to all unChain Port Phillip candidates. If there are ambiguities in the matter of monitoring regulatory compliance, and that authorities charged with this and related tasks are confronted by dilemmas about jurisdictional boundaries, action needs to be taken to clarify the situation without delay.

Action Plan

unChain Port Phillip unambiguously and unequivocally will press for all available measures at the disposal of the Council to be applied to bring a safer environment to Port Phillip; and where policy ambiguities and boundary definitional issues abound, unChain Port Phillip will press action to ensure that these are resolved.

This approach arises from unChain Port Phillip’s determination to be responsive to community demands for greater safety in the Port Phillip environs and reflects its acton plan on entertainment precincts. Extensive concerns expressed consistently over recent years by many members of the Port Phillip community, to date have gone unheeded by the current Council.

unChain Port Phillip Councillors will:
  • require regular reports providing details of Council officers’ monitoring of nightclubs, bars and entertainment venues to ensure that all are fully compliant with all elements of City regulations;
  • review Council policies and regulations to ensure that there is comprehensive cover for Council officers to bring licensees or patrons engaged in offensive or antisocial behaviours to account.;
  • require regular reports of the details of complaints received by the Council’s hotline for residents, and of Council officers’ responses to these;
  • facilitate the development of strategies to use education and behavioural measures to reduce the level of community violence arising from the effects of alcohol abuse, or the abuse of other drugs; and
  • after monitoring incidences and reports of violence over the first twelve months in office,
    • evaluate the effectiveness of current strategies;
    • identify, in the event that the outcome of the evaluation warrants, what other measures might be used to ensure the safety of Port Phillip residents;
    • commission desk research on the outcomes of policies and practices in other jurisdictions and overseas which have been applied to mitigate similar problems eg the ‘three strikes and you’re out’ approach as is used in some American cities and
    • clarify the intent and likely implementation of recent legislative changes made by the Victorian Parliament pursuant to the State government’s Alcohol Plan to enable Councils to consider 'amenity' when determining applications for licence approval, and in particular lobby to ensure that Council input be given due weight in the revised processes proposed.


Corporate Social Responsibility

Background

The global phenomenon of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) needs to find vigorous expression in the policies and practices of the City of Port Phillip Council, to align these with the increasingly globalised character of 21st century business.

Essentially, Corporate Social Responsibility aims to produce better corporate business behaviours by expressly articulating policies to guide decisions, and ensure congruency between the diverse policy portfolios of corporations. CSR encourages better corporate performances across a range of key indicators – commercial, environmental, financial and social.

unChain Port Phillip observes with dismay that currently, Port Phillip Council has no specifically articulated policy on CSR; and also, that many of the Council’s present processes are not conducive to best practice business behaviours in many important respects. The absence of proper tender practice in 91 contracts is a notable recent example.

unChain Port Phillip also observes contradictions between Council policy positions eg the Alcohol policy which promotes the responsible use of alcohol and actual Council behaviours - for example, the approval of 3,900 patrons in nightclubs and taverns in the Triangle development where, on the evidence available from existing venues in the City, irresponsible and dangerous use of alcohol is likely to be endemic.

CSR will be the focus for the preparation of over-arching policies through which Council will be better able to ensure that directions in all other policy portfolios will be aligned for the best social and corporate purposes. By encouraging the adoption of rigorous principles in the Council’s CSR policies, unChain Port Phillip is certain it will improve behaviours in a wide-range of Council business practices.

To formulate such a vision for the City of Port Phillip will require leadership on the part of Councillors and senior managers, and the engagement of the community in discussions leading to the formation of relevant over-arching policies. Once considered and agreed to, CSR will guide Council and its officers in effecting consistency between all other policy portfolios, and give direction to ethical business behaviours - for example, in planning applications and procurement decisions.

CSR policies will deliver better outcomes for our City not only in terms of the commercial and financial bottom lines, but also in terms of social and environmental outcomes too.

Action Plan

Through a process of community education involving seminars and forums, with experts drawn from the Port Phillip community and beyond, over the next term of office unChain Port Phillip Councillors commit themselves to the formation of Corporate Social Responsibility polices as the basis for the development of new guidelines to guide Council officers in their decision-making for the community, and which may be developed consistently across all Council portfolios.

Diversity - affirmation

As observed in the preamble to this policy statement, Port Phillip contains the full diversity of multi-cultural Australia, including Aboriginal peoples, the homeless, street workers and residents of all ages and incomes.

unChain Port Phillip will:
  • respond positively to initiatives from community members to give expression to this diversity in the forums and discussions that the Council sponsors;
  • be supportive of activities, which enrich the lives of members of its diverse communities and continue to protect the most vulnerable amongst us, including those who have retired from the workforce; and
  • ensure that Council provides, through its annual budgetary process, resources to enable research on issues relevant to particular groups to proceed, with a view both to ameliorating disadvantage where it exists, and to celebrating culture when opportunity offers.