Melbourne Green's vision of indecisiveness Cr Fraser Brindley offers broad support but is unsure as to the process

Melbourne City Councillor Fraser Brindley indicates his support of a Greater Melbourne City Council but questions the process.

Please.. In all civility.. You have been in office for two years and you do not know where you stand on this issue. The idea of a Greater Melbourne should appeal to the Greens and in fact is already a part of the Greens electoral platform. The benefits to the environment are considerable, Fraser Brindley has done nothing to date to further the issue and when Cr Clarke seeks to put the issue on the agenda the only response we get is "Broadly supportive, but I'm not sure he's got the process exactly right"

Every idea of reform has to start somewhere it is not going to come out of thin air. The proposal by Cr Clarke is just the beginning, an effort to get the ball rolling and people talking. The motion should be supported and then put in place a process to further that goal. Any attempt at delay or any deferment would be seen as avoiding the question, silencing the debate in order to try and remove it from the political agenda in the lead-up to next months State election.


Full support for the creation of a Greater Melbourne and Cr Clarke's efforts.

It should be looked at sooner rather then later and ideally be in place before the 2008 Municipal elections. It should also be done in stages. I would most certainly support the merging together of the area covered by the state seats of Albert park, Melbourne, Prahran and Richmond. All these areas have a common community of interest. The City of Prahran is more suited to the City of Melbourne then Stonington. Likewise there is a need to re-unite the Carlton and Kensington communities that have been divided since the Kennett Government hived them off from the City boundaries.

In relation to perceived concerns about local representation this depends on the commitment of the elected council and new amalgamated administration to facilitate community representation and local input via local expert advisory committees.

You do not need to be an elected Councillor to have a say in local affairs.

In fact under an expanded model local communities could be better represented then they are today, Our elected councillors act like judges in a talent quest competition, they sit in judgement of everything under the sun irrespective of their expertise or understanding of the complexity of the issues involved. An expanded, more professional administration and representation would seek advice from expert advisory panels covering in greater detail issues such as the environment, planning, public transport, social services and the like. it would be the role of the elected Council to oversee the consultative process and governance of the new City.

This proposal is long overdue and I welcome further debate and consideration of the merits of the idea of creating a Greater City of Melbourne. If you did a vox pop amongst the residents of Prahran you will soon find that they would prefer to united under the City of Melbourne then to remain divided under Stonington. No doubts there will be a lot of ill-informed scare mongering. If you take time to work though the issues and act in good faith the basis of any objection to the proposal is unfounded and perceived problems and obstacles can and should be able to be resolved. It is right for Melbourne, it is right for Victoria and it is right for our future.