Progressive Port Phillip congratulates all candidates on their contribution to the 2020 Port Phillip festival of democracy, our Council elections.

This election saw a vigorous debate about the future of our city and neighbourhoods.

Our new 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? 

When this crisis is over, do we really want to be in the same position we were before? asks Ella Robinson-Clarke, Public Policy student and Port Phillip local.

We view housing as a human right and this value is reflected in everything we do, write Mary Anne Noone (Chair) and Bill Joyce (Deputy Chair) of the South Port Community Housing Group.

We lost our park to the Grand Prix, we lost our local council to amalgamation and our footy club was moved to Sydney. Many South Melbourne residents fear their historic Town Hall is next, writes local historian Adair Bunnett OAM.