We Live Here - Our Newsletters , 2016

16.12 Big win for residents in parliamentary vote

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 22:43:00 +1100

The Owners Corporation Amendment (Short Stay Accommodation) Bill 2016 has been referred back to the Environment and Planning Committee for inquiry.

The parliamentary vote has stopped the Victorian Government from introducing a Bill that would only benefit commercial short-stay operators.

This is a huge win for the We Live Here movement which has been working tirelessly with politicians from all sides of Parliament to achieve this outcome.

A special thank-you to David Davis, Shadow Minister for Planning, Russell Northe, Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs, along with Nina Springle from the Greens and Fiona Patten from the Sex Party who all supported the We Live Here movement on this issue.

The Legislative Council vote On November 8, the Legislative Council voted overwhelmingly to block the Bill and open up the opportunity for community and stakeholder consultation – consultation that the government should have offered from the outset.

Mr O'Donohue, the Liberal Member for Eastern Victoria, proposed a motion to send the Bill to the Committee for Environment and Planning for inquiry and report, on the grounds of inadequate community and stakeholder consultation.

The Labor Government shocked Victorian apartment owners on May 24, 2016 when, with no prior notice given, it introduced the Bill in the Lower House through the former Consumer Affairs Minister Jane Garrett.

The decision by the Legislative Council now prevents this Bill from passing into law, and represents a victory in the on-going push by community groups to ensure that short-term commercial accommodation becomes a regulated industry.

The inquiry by the Committee for Environment and Planning must complete its report by March 7 next year and table it with the Legislative Committee for further debate.

In Parliament, Mr Davis said: "It [short-stay accommodation] is a very important part of our tourism industry, but it is an area where there needs to be better regulations.

Untrammelled access can lead to very poor lifestyle and living outcomes ..." Speaking on behalf of the Sex Party and in support of the blocking of the passage of the Bill, Ms Fiona Patten MP said the vote was a wake-up call for the government to realise the benefit of "clear and effective regulation" of commercial short-stays.

Greens MP Nina Springle expressed the concerns of residents who "foot the bill" for the increased costs caused by the commercial short-stay industry.

Apartment buildings "were not designed as hotels" she told Parliament.

Members of the We Live Here movement were present in Parliament to witness the debate having canvassed the support of political parties on either side of the divide including the crossbenchers.

Barbara Francis, a director of We Live Here said: "We are very pleased with this decision and are very proud to represent the nearly one million residents in apartment buildings in Victoria in continuing to advocate for serious regulation of the commercial short-stay industry." "We have tried to schedule meetings with the Consumer Affairs Minister(s) and advisers on many occasions, but they were not interested in engaging with residents and owners." "Finally, by the blocking of this Bill and sending it back to the drawing board, we will have an opportunity to have our voice heard.

The onus is now on the Labor Government to engage with the community, and this time to get the balance right with any proposed legislation." Council elections Prior to the election all 59 candidates were sent a survey by We Live Here to canvas their opinions on the issue of commercial short stays.

An excellent response of almost 86 per cent was received and all but one of the teams supported the regulation of short stays in residential buildings.

The one exception was the team headed by former councillor Stephen Mayne who subsequently failed in his re-election bid.

It appears that ex-councillor Mayne, the self-proclaimed most pro-development former councillor, paid the price for not listening to concerns raised by us and other resident groups.

He has since declared that he has learned his lesson, that to ignore residents groups is a good way to get dumped off council! The final make-up of the council is not yet known but we look forward to working with them all on issues involving residents in the City of Melbourne.

Good Cycles container in Harbour Esplanade

We Live Here has received many complaints about the Good Cycles container which suddenly appeared in Harbour Esplanade.

Dismay, bewilderment, mind-boggling and ridiculous are just some of the comments and views expressed about Places Victoria's decision to place the container in its current location.

Others have expressed doubt that Places Victoria even inspected the site beforehand.

The container in its current location badly blocks the street level water views.

This is recognised as being vital to Melbourne and Docklands as stated in Places Victoria "Harbour Esplanade Master Plan".

The issue may be easily resolved by shifting the container further south so as not to impede the beautiful water views.

Cow Up a Tree

We Live Here has also received many comments about the siting of the cafe in front of the Cow Up a Tree, now almost out of sight to visitors on the "talking trams" and to passers-by. Surely anyone involved could see the issue when erecting the cafe.

Why has nothing been done to either relocate the café or the "cow" so that the iconic sculpture can be viewed by all. It can't be that difficult, can it? And who makes these absurd decisions?

16.11 City Schools for City Kids

Tue, 01 Nov 2016 22:42:00 +1100

The State Government announced on Tuesday, October 11 that it is going to buy land to build a primary school in Docklands and also to build new schools in North Melbourne and Fishermans Bend. At last the government has decided to act.

Families throughout the greater Melbourne area (including Docklands, the CBD and Southbank) have been waiting for years to have desperately needed schools in the inner city.

Whilst on the surface this announcement seems to be great news, local families and residents must now keep up the pressure on the Andrews Labour Government to quickly get on with purchasing land and getting these schools built.

A tireless campaign run by the City Schools for City Kids group and supported by the We Live Here movement has been conducted over a long period of time. It shows that ongoing pressure by these groups is working.

These ongoing efforts appear to be now reaping the rewards that inner city residents deserve and that their voice is at last being heard. You the resident have a voice and are a voter.

Council elections On Friday, October 7 the We Live Here movement had a meeting with Mr Phil Cleary, a candidate for the Lord Mayor's position at the upcoming City of Melbourne council election. Mr Cleary was also given a tour of a residential building.

We would like to thank Mr Cleary for showing great interest and taking time out of his busy schedule to see for himself and understand the problems that residential buildings across the city have with unregulated short-stay operators.

The We Live Here movement supports and embraces Airbnb and the mum and dad investors embracing sharing economy ideals. We do not support the unregulated commercial short stay industry and their operators. They are not part of the "sharing economy" but of the "taking economy".

The We Live Here movement encourages all residents, before voting, to carefully consider what the candidates are going to do for residents and what their policies are on short-stays in residential buildings.

Make sure your voice counts.

Survey of candidates

To canvas the opinion of candidates on the issue of short-stays we sent a short questionnaire to all 58 candidates for lord mayoral and councillor positions.

The questions asked were: Are you or anyone or entity associated with you engaged in commercial short-stay operations? If elected would you support amendments to the Melbourne Planning Scheme to insert the requirement for a planning permit to be obtained before apartments in residential buildings can be used for commercial short-stay operations, including those using Airbnb? Would you support the regulation of short-stay accommodation in residential buildings so owners' corporations have a right to determine the use of their building and to create a level playing field for the accommodation industry? Summary of the preliminary findings: A total of 11/14 teams (85.7 per cent) responded to the questionnaire; and 1/3 of the ungrouped candidates also responded.

A partial response (1/4 candidates) was received from The Light on the Hill and this team was excluded from the analysis.

No response was received from The Heritage Agenda, or An Indigenous Voice for Council.

Results: 10/14 teams said no to Q1 and yes to Q2 and Q3.

One team (Together Melbourne) said yes to Q1 and one team (Melburnian Voice) gave a qualified yes to Q1 because short-stays had infiltrated the building where they lived.

Both teams said yes to Q2 and Q3.

One team (Animal Justice) said yes to Q1, was not sure how to answer question 2, but said yes to Q3.

One team (Stephen Mayne: Transparency, Independence, Accountability, Experience) said no to Q1, Q2 and Q3.

Conclusions: We Live Here is delighted with the response to the questionnaire: thank you so much to everyone who took the time to participate.

We were also very gratified to see the level of support shown for one of the major aims of We Live Here, which is to see regulation of the short-stay industry in residential buildings.

It was, therefore surprising and disappointing to see that just one team - Stephen Mayne's - did not share those views.

Detailed results, including additional comments provided by some of the teams, will be posted on the We Live Here website.

16.10 Vertical living should be celebrated

Sat, 01 Oct 2016 22:41:00 +1000

Melbourne has a long history of apartment living. Pre-war, this was the choice of wealthy bohemians seeking alternatives to the Victorian terrace and post-war.

It is reputed that one in eight lived in flats.

Melbourne is once again seeing a major change in how many residents are choosing to live, with tens of thousands moving into high-rise apartments and deciding to make the CBD, Docklands and Southbank their home.

Regrettably, however, vertical living is still often portrayed negatively and in terms of space deprivation – a cut-down house – and has yet to pique the interest of local designers.

This stands in contrast to the experience of many other international cities such as New York, Osaka, and Delft where vertical living has been a focus of much innovative attention.

Multifunction furniture, moveable internal walls, small scale recycling, cost-effective noise mitigation, individual and building-based gardening, energy alternatives and small-space design for pets are the subject of ongoing innovative endeavour.

This is why next year will see the launch of the inaugural SKYPAD, an event to be held by UpRisings at KNOWMA (the Knowledge Market at Docklands) which will showcase innovative design suited to the daily lives of the vertical dwellers of Melbourne.

Amendment to the Owners Corporation Act

After the amendment to the Act was introduced by the Andrews Government into the Victorian Parliament last month, any prospective owner or buyer must now consider "what am I getting myself into"? Things to do if you are a prospective buyer Due diligence will now have to be exercised by all new prospective buyers/owners.

Check to see if the owners' corporation committee is independent or being run by and/or subsided by developers or commercially-operated businesses; and Check to see if the strata manager and building manager are appointed by an independent committee and not just appointed clones of the developers, and that no long-term contracts have been entered into (more than five years).

It's a known fact that in new multi-storey residential apartment buildings, developers are leasing left over apartments that are not sold off the plan to short stay operators.

There is now no protection against serviced apartments ruining your lifestyle and amenity.

Commercial short-stay operations are also affecting housing affordability and rental availability.

How do you build communities when apartments are being pushed out for "hotel rooms" and profit? The current Bill proposed by the government does nothing to address the real issues facing residents.

We desperately need serious legislation to protect us and regulation of the commercial short stay industry before our homes are turned into ghettos.

It is time for all owner/occupiers and residents to stand up and have your say to protect your way of life.

Have your say The We Live Here movement strongly encourages you to email/write to your local member of parliament, the Minister for Planning Richard Wynne and the Minister for Consumer Affairs Marlene Kairouz voicing your disapproval of this new Bill.

Tell them that this new Bill does nothing to protect residents and ask what they are going to do for residents.

All you want is effective legislation to protect yourself and to have the commercial short-stay industry properly regulated.

Council elections Council elections are coming up in October.

Before voting, all residents should check out the policies of the candidates to see if they support residents or are entirely pro-business.

This is your chance to have your say.

The We Live Here movement encourages you to contact the candidates and seek their views on what their policies are on short-stays in residential buildings and what they are going to do for residents.

Remember your vote is extremely important to them.

Make sure that your vote counts.

Have your voice heard

16.09 Call for action on court ruling

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 22:39:00 +1000

Apartment residents, the hotel industry and developers of high-rise apartment buildings are under threat unless the State Government acts.

In a decision released in the Supreme Court on July 22, Justice Riordan invalidated an original rule created by the developer of the Watergate building, meaning that owners' corporations throughout Victoria are unable to prohibit owners from letting out their units to short-term guests.

In his judgement Justice Riordan said: "In my opinion, the prohibition of businesses generally and specifically businesses related to short-term letting exceeded the scope of what was intended by the Parliament in enacting the Owners Corporation Act 2006."

The State Government needs to act quickly to amend planning laws and to legislate to regulate short-stay accommodation in residential buildings, otherwise:

· Inner city apartment buildings will be overrun with party guests, holiday makers, boarding houses, backpackers, etc with fewer owner-occupiers and long-term residents and Melbourne could quickly become a city of ghettos in the sky;

· The tourism and hotel industry will be severely affected: hotel revenue will decline substantially and tourism jobs will be lost; and

· Property developers will have difficulty providing guarantees to potential owner occupiers that their homes would not be turned into quasi-hotels.

Owners' corporations Trojan Horse

To date, the only response from the State Government to the Supreme Court ruling has been to reintroduce into State Parliament, for a second reading (Tuesday, August 18) its Bill on short-stays, which was first introduced into Parliament on May 23.

This Bill merely addresses the issue of noisy guests and nothing else and arose from the findings of a flawed "Independent" Panel set up by the former Minister for Consumer Affairs, which was compromised by conflicts of interest among some panel members.

On the panel was a short-stay operator but there was no representation from community or relevant resident groups and no consultation with these groups at any time.

During the second reading, held late in the day when very few MPs were in the House, all the government speakers followed the party line in saying how wonderful the Bill was and that it would address current problems in the short-stay industry.

The common theme was that the ALP was meeting an election promise and they were feeling pretty good about it.

Clearly the new Minister for Consumer Affairs, like the previous minister, is totally unaware of or doesn't want to know about the real issues and problems surrounding short-stays in residential buildings.

The one ray of light during the second reading was the contributions by Ellen Sandell, the sitting Member for Melbourne and Russell Northe, the Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs both of whom had spoken at length to We Live Here and had an excellent grasp of the issues.

What can we do about it? We Live Here is already in discussions with the City of Melbourne about amendments to local planning laws, which is a good start as it does understand the issues.

We now need to have discussions with the State Government.

Letters have been sent to the Premier, Ministers and all other ALP members requesting them to reconsider the Bill and to meet with us to discuss the regulation of the short-stay industry so there is a level playing field for all.

To date there has been no response and all previous attempts to meet with the Ministers for Planning and Consumer Affairs over the past 18 months have largely been ignored or hand-balled to one another.

We will keep up the fight until the government begins to engage with us. We now ask those of you who are affected by short-stays to also write to the government. The more pressure we bring to bear the better.

A meeting to discuss the issues will be held at Parliament House on Wednesday, August 31 from 6pm until 7.30pm to which all are invited. A flyer will be sent out shortly. To assist us in maintaining the fight, please donate to our fighting fund which can be accessed via the website.

The residents of Docklands are curious about what is pictured here.

The photo shows part of the west side footpath at the southern end of Batman's Hill Drive which seems to have been commandeered as part of a building site for months and months.

As Docklands residents we understand that the east side footpath is closed during building activity, however how can a developer apparently make free use of the public foot and cycle path on the west side? What of the safety and tripping hazards for those using the path? Who would be responsible if an unfortunate injury occurred? Why do we have to put up with this unsightly jumble of building material as well as multiple rubbish skips? Would this be permitted anywhere else in Melbourne? Clearly we don't want both footpaths closed as that would be severely inconvenient for everyone; but as we live here, we are rather curious by what we see happening in Batman's Hill Drive.

On receipt of this contribution, We Live Here contacted the City of Melbourne. Within 48 hours a fine had been slapped on the builder and the rubble was removed. People power at work!

Please continue to send us your contributions and feedback and join up to We Live Here.

16.08 Policy on short-stays

Mon, 01 Aug 2016 22:37:00 +1000

The We Live Here movement has developed a draft policy on short-stays that will be presented to all forms of government. We want to help legislators by providing solutions.

Our policy document addresses, in the context of the "sharing economy", the ongoing issues of unregulated short-stay, hotel-style accommodation in residential apartment buildings that have not been, and are not being, adequately addressed by the Victorian Government.

For example, Airbnb was established as an online booking platform for home owners wishing to rent out a room in their own home. No thought has been given to how it would operate and be regulated in apartment buildings.

Draft legislation to amend the Owners Corporation Act, introduced into Parliament on May 24 fails to address a range of issues. The previous Minister for Consumer Affairs based the draft legislation on the findings of the "Independent" Panel on short-stays, which was compromised by the conflict of interest of some panel members.

The draft legislation has the very limited scope of giving powers to owners' corporations to deal with unruly short-term guests but allows the unregulated industry to continue unchecked.

A level playing field is needed.

The We Live Here draft policy on regulating the short-stay industry including Airbnb and other ‘sharing economy' business practices in residential buildings is: Non-resident letting out an entire apartment: Minimum of 30 days in line with standard-form residential tenancy agreements and Commonwealth tax legislation Occupier letting out an entire apartment while they travel elsewhere: Minimum of 30 days in line with residential tenancy agreements Occupier letting out part of an apartment that they occupy: Provided that the occupier is living in the property throughout the guest stay – no minimum length of stay.

Registration and advertising: All short-stay properties must be registered with the local council and a registration number obtained.

Fines should apply to any person letting an apartment for short-stays without a valid registration.

Fines must also apply to online platforms that advertise properties for short-stay accommodation without a valid registration.

Online listings must display a valid registration number that applies to the listing.

We welcome your feedback.

Minister must consult with the community We are hoping that the new Minister for Consumer Affairs will be more aware of the issues and problems facing residents dealing with short stays in residential buildings.

We want the minister to consult with the We Live Here movement.

The issues go far beyond that of noisy guests. Currently the short-stay industry is totally unregulated.

We want the minister to meet to discuss all the issues affecting our buildings with the view to, not only rethinking the Bill, but introducing legislation to regulate the industry in line with the hotel and accommodation industry.

Residents are concerned that safety and security of their buildings is being compromised by unregulated short-stays. Maintenance costs are ballooning due to the increased wear and tear on buildings. Movement of laundry, cleaning gear and suitcases accelerate wear and tear to the floors, walls, doors and lifts.

Short-stay operators do not pay anything extra towards maintenance – other owners foot the bill.

Western Distributor In our column last month we raised concerns of residents in regards to the Western Distributor project and the impact it could have on inner city communities in respect of increased traffic volume through local streets.

We invited and welcomed your input with specific details about how it will affect your community.

Concerns raised by residents emailing us include:

· The project is at odds with City of Melbourne's plans for transport in the city;

· The new road will encourage more drivers and direct more cars into the inner suburbs and the CBD;

· Large increase in traffic noise;

· Public amenity and safety concerns due to increased numbers of cars; and

· Demand for more car parking and storage.

We will be reporting developments on the issue in forthcoming columns. Please keep emailing in your concerns.

City of Melbourne elections

The Melbourne City council elections are coming up in October. The elections are conducted by postal vote. All residents living in the City of Melbourne are entitled to vote even if you're not an Australian citizen.

At present voting rules are heavily weighted towards the business community with a business vote worth two to residents one.

We encourage all residents who are not on the roll to register and have your say. We will provide more information about pro-resident candidates closer to the time.

We also hope some of you might consider standing for council.

16.07 Council supports residents on short-stays

Fri, 01 Jul 2016 22:36:00 +1000

Melbourne City Council has voted unanimously to support residents in the fight to regulate the short-stay industry.

A motion to pressure the state government to support residents was put by Cr Cathy Oke at the June 7 meeting of the Future Melbourne Committee and was supported by all councillors present.

The vote was taken after considerable discussion and presentations by Paul Salter representing the short-stay industry and by Marshall Delves from the We Live Here Movement.

The Lord Mayor Robert Doyle will be writing to the Ministers for Planning and Consumer Affairs, seeking to improve the powers of owners' corporations (OCs) on a range of issues including short-stays, rooming houses and emergency management. Cr Doyle will be highlighting the shortcomings of the government's review process to date.

The council believes the scope of the review has not gone far enough, and that it should also cover the Residential Tenancy Act 1997, Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008, Building Act 1993 and the Planning and Environment Act 1987.

Council is very concerned that legislation has failed to keep up with economic and technological change.

Legislation must be updated to ensure that the health, safety and amenity of all property owners is maintained as well as that of the public.

The motion to formally take these concerns to the State Government was initiated by Cr Oke after she attended the We Live Here "Meet the Residents" Forum on May 9.

Minister resigns We Live Here supporters have been very vocal in opposing the ill-considered bill proposed by former Minister for Consumer Affairs Jane Garret.

We are pleased that the Minister's resignation has given the state government time to rethink this bill.

The Minister did not understand the issues facing residents dealing with short-stays.

The bill merely addressed the issue of noisy guests and little else.

The We Live Here Movement wants the state government to wake up and have a look at the global issues that go way beyond the behaviour of short-stay guests.

We need a level playing field.

All tourism accommodation operators should be part of the same regulatory framework.

You cannot have some tourism accommodation operators paying GST and others avoiding GST, being effectively subsidised by all taxpayers.

All accommodation businesses should be subject to the same fire, safety and health regulations.

The government must not ignore these issues and must act now – we do not want to wait for a tragedy to occur.

New York, San Francisco and Berlin show how short-stays can be regulated Last month San Francisco's board of supervisors voted unanimously 10-nil to pass tougher legislation that makes short-stay businesses responsible for enforcing the city's rental laws.

In May, New York State Assembly passed a law to control the advertising of apartments as holiday rentals.

Berlin has passed new laws that regulate short-stays to allow letting no more than 50 per cent of the property – the very model that Airbnb features in its marketing.

Around the world, major cities are facing the same issues around amenity and fairness and coming up with solutions.

The challenge for the state government and councils is to develop – NOW – a comprehensive framework to regulate an unregulated industry and protect the rights of residents to live in a safe environment.

Supreme Court stops short-stay operators We Live Here welcomes a recent landmark decision in the Supreme Court that ordered tenants who were operating a short-stay business without permission, to be evicted.

It is the first step towards regulating the tourism accommodation industry which we totally support.

Western distributor The We Live Here movement has been alerted to community concerns about the Western Distributor project and the impact it will have on inner city communities.

The main issue is the potential for bringing more traffic into an already congested inner city, dividing communities with traffic corridors.

We welcome your input on this issue.

Please write to us with specific details about how it will affect your community, and we will publish them on our website.

Inner city school The We Live Here movement has been supporting City Schools for City Kids in its ongoing efforts to obtain a desperately needed school in the inner city, and were disappointed that no allocation was made for one in this year's state budget.

We have found support amongst Melbourne councillors and will continue to lobby all sides of politics on this issue.

Get Started Now

16.06 New laws show Spring Street is out of touch

Wed, 01 Jun 2016 22:33:00 +1000

New laws for short-stay apartments being introduced into State Parliament show that the government is totally out of touch with residents and all that the We Live Here movement is fighting for.

The legislation has come out of the blue, with no consultation and effectively opens the door to short-term lets in Victoria. It also comes just days after the conclusion of the Watergate Supreme Court appeal against a VCAT decision that ruled the OC did not have the power to make rules about the use of lots.

The judge reserved his decision citing that "it was a significant case", so one wonders why the Andrews Government has proceeded with such undue haste, and without waiting for the decision. In our view, it is a total capitulation to the tourism lobby. The government has lost a golden opportunity to put Melbourne on the map alongside San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, London, Paris and other world cities by coming down hard on the short-term stay industry but instead chose to invite them in with open arms. We will keep you up to date with further developments.

In the meantime you can read the Ministers for Consumer Affairs Media Release and the response from We Live Here on our website.

Change.org petition

Our petition is now live. We need as many people as possible to sign it so that the government understands that short-term letting in residential buildings is an issue affecting many residents and our community at large. Remember every person can sign, not just you representing your apartment, family or building.

Please sign the petition now and encourage your friends, family, workmates and neighbours to also sign.

Meet the council forum

Though it was disappointing to have the Lord Mayor Robert Doyle cancel his attendance just hours prior to the start, we feel that the May 9 forum for residents to meet with the council was a worthwhile evening with more than 75 people attending.

We were fortunate to have councillors Richard Foster, Jackie Watts, Ken Ong and Cathy Oke attend as our very lively panel. They obviously enjoyed having the opportunity to genuinely engage with residents and Michael Kennedy was a very able moderator. The panel was asked to respond to and discuss a number of questions sent to them before the meeting. These included:

What do the council see as the role of residents in the City of Melbourne, and how may they become more involved?

How much weight is given to the views of residents compared with businesses, workers and visitors?

How can more residents be encouraged to nominate for council?

What steps are being taken to ensure that residents as well as businesses are on the electoral roll?

At the last election businesses were granted two votes and residents one vote. Is this fair and should it continue? To ensure a level playing field for all voters do you believe attendance voting should be reintroduced as an option to the exclusive postal voting introduced in 2012. If not, what steps should be taken to prevent voters whose ballot papers do not arrive on time from being disenfranchised?

Consumer Affairs, local council and owners' corporations. Who should be responsible for dealing with short-term letting in residential buildings?

A question and answer session followed and some lively discussion ensued. Some of the important issues raised on the night included. Lack of tram access for disabled persons or those with prams; Lack of public toilet facilities; Developer contributions; and Managing and supporting the homeless crisis.

As we approach the upcoming election it was great to see these four councillors give their time to meet with the residents they represent and to answer questions and understand their issues.

Ring and write to your council members telling them of the issues that concern you. As Cr Watts said: if you don't like something a councillor says, "tell them".

A video of the night is available to view on our website at and on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hitZqir8gFk

Stand for council

Local government elections will be held on October 22. If you're interested in nominating for the Melbourne City Council there will be an information night held at the Town Hall administration building on Monday, May 30 from 6pm to 8pm. ttp://www.standforcouncil.com.au

Our growing inner city community needs more representation from residents with the time and passion to have our unique issues heard. Currently businesses within the City of Melbourne have two to one voting rights over residents, despite annual increases of 6500 to the residential population. So make sure you are enrolled and eligible to vote and ensure a greater proportion of residents are elected to council for the next four years.

Us being heard

We Live Here continues to grow and be a platform for residents' voices. An example of being heard is our recently-received invitation to meet with Consumer Affairs Victoria for an opportunity to discuss our submissions to their review of the Owners Corporation Act 2006.

The We Live Here submission is available on our website.

16.05 News from We Live Here

Sun, 01 May 2016 22:21:00 +1000

The We Live Here movement continues to gain support and we thank you all for your feedback. Please continue to encourage your neighbours, friends and co-workers to sign up on our website and let us know the issues that are important to you.

Petition

By the time you read this, our petition should have been launched as it is currently in the very final stages. We have already had some amazing support and assistance in preparing it and we are excited to get all of our voices heard on a large scale. The petition will be in circulation for several weeks so ensure you’re signed up through our website for the link.

Consumer Affairs cop out

In our last column we told you that Consumer Affairs Victoria had released an issues paper on the Owners Corporation Act 2006 and are seeking submissions by April 29. We strongly recommend that you take a look and tell them your opinions.

www.consumer.vic.gov.au/resources-and-education/legislation/public-consultations-and-reviews/consumer-property-law-review/issues-paper-2-owners-corporations

We are still working on our submission, which will be placed on our website and available for you to download, review, amend or resubmit yourselves.

Sadly we feel that Consumer Affairs is turning a blind eye to the real issues faced by inner city residential communities and are missing the perfect opportunity to fix these issues.

Under Section 8 Consumer Affairs clearly supports owners’ corporations making enforceable and fair rules yet notes that making rules about use of a lot is beyond its scope and refer back to local planning schemes.

Consumer Affairs also notes that lot owners should be responsible for compliance with OC rules, with ignorance no defence, yet it then claims that short stay accommodation is also beyond its scope.

It refers to the “independent panel” on short-stays report that was submitted to the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation and the Minister for Planning, more than 12 months ago.

We are still awaiting a response. It appears the “independent panel” couldn’t agree on a solution to protect residential communities, which is perhaps not surprising as the panel included the short-stay operator who is involved in the legal test cases. Hardly “independent” in our opinion!

If Consumer Affairs is copping out of properly empowering owners’ corporations to make rules and regulate short-stay accommodation, how is it representing or supporting the residential communities that its Acts are meant to be protecting?

Upcoming forum

On Monday, May 9 we will be holding our first “event” since the launch of the We Live Here movement last December.

As this is an election year, we thought it would be timely to invite representatives from the City of Melbourne to discuss what the council is doing for residents. It is intended to be a fact-finding meeting rather than a political meeting and will take the form of a panel discussion with a moderator. Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has already agreed to attend.

There will be an opportunity for questions to be asked on the night but we’re also inviting questions to be submitted beforehand. Check our website for contact details.

The forum will be held at Library at the Dock from 6pm to 8pm. Registrations from 5.30pm.

Newsletter

Listening to your feedback, we will now be providing a brief fortnightly newsletter to keep you updated on what we’ve been doing. To receive the newsletter you need to register as a supporter on our website.

Support the cause

The We Live Here movement is a grassroots organisation evolving from trying to get our voices heard for the issues we face with inner city residential living.

Our time is gladly given supporting the causes you tell us are important to you, but we still face costs fighting the cause including marketing, external support staff, running functions, web design and upgrades.

If you are able, donations would be gratefully accepted. Please check our website for details.

16.04 Watch out for our petition

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 22:17:00 +1100

The support and feed-back for the We Live Here Movement has been overwhelming since our December launch.

Thank you to everyone that continues to visit our website to keep up to date or register as a supporter. We are growing in number as people become aware of the movement and we are proud to say that we now advocate for more than 70 buildings.

As the movement gathers momentum We Live Here is now being recognised as a genuine voice for residents and community groups grappling with issues arising from inner city living that are not being adequately addressed.
This month’s column will focus on issues facing two community groups that have invited We Live Here to lend support.

City Schools 4 City Kids

City Schools 4 City Kids are actively lobbying for local, inclusive and quality education for both primary and secondary students living in the inner city communities of Melbourne for which there are NO schools.

The government has known of reports showing a critical CBD shortage and subsequent surrounding school overcrowding for over five years with little action!

City Schools 4 City Kids has taken its case to Parliament where a forum and morning tea was held on February 25. We encourage you to sign the group’s Facebook petition.

Development of Harbour Esplanade, Docklands

A small group of Docklands residents dedicated to ensuring that residents are given a voice in deciding the final plans for the development of Harbour Esplanade are now being supported by the We Live Here movement.

Harbour Esplanade is an area that has been overlooked and neglected by authorities during the development of Docklands. It is clearly the most vital carriageway in all of Docklands and provides Melbourne with its only true urban waterfront.

The Harbour Esplanade Master Plan created with Places Victoria now receives approval oversight from the Melbourne City Council. We hope that their oversight is sufficiently strong and informed to create the Harbour Esplanade needed by the public – visitors, workers and residents – and not one that just suits the developers!

Consideration of a linear park, street-level water views and traffic flows are imperative. Further information can be found at http://www.welivehere.net

Short-stay apartments

In our previous column we referred to the Independent Panel on Short Stays. We are still awaiting the Government report.

The stance of the We Live Here Movement is for the government to legislate for stays of 30 days or more, which is consistent with a Residential Tenancy Agreement.

Anything less and residential apartments operate as hotel-style accommodation which is not what Class 2 residential buildings were designed for.

We need the government to hear us, the people that actually work and enjoy living in high density inner city areas.

We would like to work with all levels of government to find solutions to the many and varied issues that are unique to this mode of living.

Please continue to support us, by joining up via our website, and encourage other like-minded residents to join up as well.

We also welcome and encourage input and contributions from YOU on the issues that affect YOU.

16.03 Giving people a voice

Tue, 01 Mar 2016 22:15:00 +1100