Deputy Mayor Tim Baxter and Councillor Katherine Copsey, Greens in the City of Port Phillip
Written 31 March 2022
Summer is always full of fun south of the river and 2022 has seen us getting closer to our new normal and back to the things we love like live music and celebrating our diverse community. With a steady stream of Council-supported events like Midsumma Pride March and St Kilda Festival our streets and public places filled with smiling faces and creativity again, a very welcome sight after a couple of tough years.
Better infrastructure for Port Phillip
Our long-standing advocacy for better bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the city is bearing fruit, with the new Garden City bike path in Port Melbourne now complete and other important local cycling links like Park St progressing. We are also participating in the trial of e-scooters along with Yarra, Melbourne and Ballarat and excited to finally be seeing some of the pop-up bike lanes proceeding in alignment with Council strategic transport planning.
It's time to end homelessness
Local efforts to reduce homelessness were profiled on ABC news recently, highlighting the Port Phillip Zero program which has produced a verified reduction in the number of people sleeping rough in Port Phillip - the first time this has been recorded for an Australian community. Port Phillip Zero is a collective impact partnership between Council and agencies within the City of Port Phillip. Council is also supporting the creation of new social housing with the Marlborough St project in Balaclava under construction and a Common Ground facility in St Kilda progressing. All of this aligns with the great work our Victorian Greens MPs are undertaking trying to get the old parties to end homelessness by 2030 and add housing as a right in the Charter of Human Rights.
Port Phillip EcoCentre
In a big milestone the Port Phillip EcoCentre have temporarily moved so that construction can begin on a new building that will house their vital eco-volunteering and citizen science activities and showcase environmentally sustainable design. The Port Phillip EcoCentre has over 20 years experience delivering local environmental programs and over 19,000 participants annually. After many years of advocacy from Council and community, we were able to secure funding from the state government to match Council’s $2.75 million redevelopment funding. The new EcoCentre will support their fantastic environmental activities which cover everything from monitoring microplastics in our bay and waterways to providing new habitat for the St Kilda penguins.
Kat Copsey and Tim Baxter at the Port Phillip Pride flag raising
Amongst all of this our southside federal election campaigns are in full swing, so on the weekends you'll often find us out with other local Greens volunteers supporting our amazing candidates, looking to secure a parliament that will act in the interests of the people they represent and take strong action on climate.
There is always plenty on in Port Phillip - and we wouldn't have it any other way!