Mayors, Chief Executive Officers, and representatives from eight councils in the Greater South East Melbourne area met last month (10 December) to discuss their priorities for improving the economic, social, health and environmental wellbeing of each represented community.
Prior to the 2019 Federal election, the Greater South East Melbourne group of councils (GSEM) secured a commitment from the Federal Government to deliver a City Deal.
A City Deal presents an opportunity for the councils to advocate together for a shared vision of the future, develop coordinated funding for big ticket items and infrastructure projects, and opportunities to create positive partnerships with industry, community and the state and federal governments.
Last month’s meeting was also attended by independent board members Simon McKeon and Simon Crean.
Frankston City Mayor, Kris Bolam, welcomed his counterparts to Frankston City and said he was eager to work collectively on such a strategic initiative for communities in Melbourne’s Greater South East.
“Often as councils, when we identify a local problem, we tend to focus our efforts on local solutions with a narrow field of vision, however, by looking more broadly at whether a local problem is experienced in other areas, we often find there are more innovative and larger scale solutions.”
The Mayor spoke about the major impact COVID-19 had on communities and the changed service delivery required to meet the changing needs of the region’s residents.
“In terms of the GSEM City Deal, this opens up further opportunities to deliver an interconnected, polycentric region that caters for future growth and needs.”
At a local level, being part of the GSEM group would improve Frankston City’s access to programs of funding and ability to influence policy and regulatory reforms.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, GSEM released a position paper outlining South East Melbourne as one of the fastest growing regions in Australia, with its population predicted to surge to almost 2 million by 2036.
According to the paper, the region has more than 1.4 million residents and produces $74.7 billion in Gross Regional Product, or just under 20 per cent of Victoria’s total Gross State Product, and is one of Australia’s largest manufacturing regions, with more manufacturing jobs than greater Adelaide and Western Sydney.
On 27 November 2019, Frankston City Council hosted a delegation of Victorian and Federal Government representatives responsible for the development and delivery of City Deals on a South East Melbourne Region tour.
The purpose of the tour was to inform delegates on the challenges faced across the region while highlighting key infrastructure barriers.
In their feedback, government delegates applauded the collaborative approach being undertaken by the eight councils from the Cities of Frankston, Casey, Cardinia, Greater Dandenong, Knox, Kingston, Monash, and Mornington Peninsula Shire.
Eight City Deals and two Regional Deals are in place across Australia.
