Response to the proposed sale of three community early childhood learning centres by the City of Port Phillip

February 2022

By proclaiming itself 'a creative and prosperous city' Port Phillip is boldly claiming creativity as a core value defining the city. This is a wonderful invitation to engage the imagination, but it comes as part of a conjunction with wealth which causes us to wonder about how the arts and the economy are connected.

Progressive Port Phillip welcomes Council’s continuing investment in important community services outlined in the draft 2021/22 Budget and the opportunity to contribute to Council’s finalisation of it.

Summary notes from three Ward Meetings on Council’s Draft Plan and Budget 2021-2031

Councillors will need to take mitigation and planning for climate change risks seriously to meet the requirements of the new Local Government Act, writes the Port Phillip Emergency Action Network (PECAN)

If instead of merely voting in councillors, what if citizens were able to directly set the strategic directions councils must follow? asks Bill Garner, local writer and historian.

This article was first published in public policy journal Pearls and Irritations 

The thing that joins us together—the renter and the landlord, the business woman and the customer, the artist and the audience–is that we are all citizens first of all. Local democracy is about our shared common good, not our personal self-interest, writes a citizen of longstanding.

Engagement with, and accountability to, the community is at the heart of the new Local Government Act 2020. Its implementation should transform the relationship between the Council and its community.

The Port Phillip EcoCentre is an award-winning community-run environmental organisation located in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens, writes local resident Peter Moraitis.

Originally a community festival that showcased local artists the festival is now promoted as the largest free festival in Australia. But why should 'largest' be the sole metric by which to measure its worth to the people of Port Phillip?