The sporting and cultural life of the city is astonishing in its variety and richness. It is one of the chief reasons people like to live in Port Phillip and flock to visit us. Generously underwriting this fabulous resource is one of the primary functions of Council. For me it is right up there with footpaths and gutters. Without its rich cultural life Port Phillip would be half the place it is. Maintaining it is a priority.

Yes, we have some massive tourist drawcards such as the beaches, Albert Park, Luna Park and the Palais, but they are only part of the story. There is a host of smaller activities. Music venues, cafes, theatres, artist studios, exhibition spaces, dance studios, op shops, art classes. Buskers and street artists. And the quiet culture of walking, watching, talking, meditating, wandering out on piers and jetties.

It does not exist just for tourists, but enriches the lives of residents. It is the residents and local businesses that have created that culture. The vitality of our shopping streets cannot be overlooked. They need to be nurtured, supported and where necessary, revived.

Culture inhabits vital intersections in our lives. Sport and comedy connect to the Sacred Heart mission and the Palais. At both Gasworks and Veg Out, the mix is art and vegetables. The public gardens are populated with more than plants: they are dotted with with yoga and Tai-chi practitioners and people meditating and walking their dog.

Council’s support for cultural production, for resident artists of all sorts must continue, as it must for the cultural institutions under its care.

I am committed to sustaining the complex cultural life of our city. This requires a strong belief in its value, and substantial and continuing support from Council.

arts + culture

Last time I was on Council I stood up for live music in the face of developer pressure. We passed a groundbreaking amendment to the Port Phillip Planning Scheme to protect live music at The Espy. This means the permit for the current renovations is conditional on live music continuing. I want Council to use its planning powers to protect and nurture all our cultural spaces.

I am committed to ensuring ongoing funding and community control for Gasworks. The decontamination works in the park must be done with minimal disruption to the Theatre, Galleries and Artist Workshops.

I will advocate for State-funded Pride Centre to be located in the City of Port Phillip, the home of the Gay Pride March, which must remain in St Kilda.

Theatreworks, Red Stitch and Gasworks offer nationally recognized cutting edge theatre. Council must financially sustain their presence.

The St Kilda Festival must be re-imagined so that it regains local support and does not take $1.5m from ratepayers pockets. A better use of such funding is the internationally significant St Kilda Film Festival, of which residents are very proud and which retains a local feel.

parks + beaches

Our parks are the lungs or our city and one of our most valuable shared assets.

In Albert Park the Grand Prix still dominates its calendar, to the exclusion of local sports and recreation for the summer months. As our population rises, we need far greater diversification of shared uses. At the Junction Oval, Cricket Victoria is setting up a state-of-the-art headquarters. St Kilda Cricket Club, and Football Club, though, have both been cruelly excluded from their spiritual home.

Gasworks Arts Park is forming strong cultural alliances for the future, but is facing traumatic remediation of its parkland. Every attempt must be made to save as much vegetation as we can so that the park can quickly be brought back to life after this work is completed.

Our two absolute jewels -- St Vincent Gardens, and the St Kilda Botanical Gardens -- remain as beautiful as ever. They require constant vigilance.

And we need to review how our parks are leased for commercial activities to ensure use does not turn into abuse.

Our beaches are the signature spaces of our city. They are our gift to the world. They display our genuine multicultural spirit. Together with State authorities and volunteers such as Beach Patrol, looking after the waterline is a shared responsibility.

But Council has dropped the ball with respect to the protection of some amenities and foreshore landscapes. It submissively closed its eyes to the demolition of delightful little Brookes Jetty and failed to understand the visual impact of over-scale developments on the St Kilda foreshore.

For twenty years I have been active in the heritage protection and future look of our beaches.

I will keep a close eye on things

shopping streets

From Dundas Place to Acland Street many shopping strips across the Ward are well-loved community hubs. But others, especially in those parts of St Kilda where tourism dominates trading, struggle to service locals. Prettifying is not the answer. The attempt to dictate the character of shopping streets too often produces a sense of try-hard artificiality. And business remains moribund anyway. We need the confidence to allow the next incarnation of our shopping strips to evolve from the inventiveness of small business, encouraged but not dictated to by Council. Together, we can Fix Fitzroy St.

The South Melbourne Town Hall forecourt needs a lively civic plaza. To achieve this I will work with the Emerald Hill Vibrant Village Group and the Town Hall tenants—Multicultural Arts Victoria, the Australian Tapestry Workshop, Arts Access Victoria and the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).

I will ensure that South Melbourne Market, much appreciated by both the local community and people from across the city, continues to operate as a sustainable and inclusive market with an emphasis on fresh produce.

Across the Ward, the PTV is upgrading its tram routes with longer trams and bigger tram stops. We should find clever ways to absorb the super tram stops into the urban landscape.