Despite much fanfare, Fishermans Bend continues to languish. The State Government remains non-committal on its previous promises the extend tram routes, while remaining silent on plans for Melbourne Metro 2.

Without the necessary public transport investment Fishermans Bend will continue to languish. Infrastructure Victoria, the State Government’s statutory authority on infrastructure planning identified the need for tram extensions within Fishermans Bend by 2026. We are now at the end of 2024 and no commitment has been made.

Infrastructure Victoria also identified the need to complete a business case for Melbourne Metro 2 (which would service Fishermans Bend via Southern Cross) by 2026. Yet no business case or funding commitment exists for Melbourne Metro 2 either.

Fishermans Bend will fail to attract the proposed 80,000 jobs and 80,000 residents by 2050 unless there is a commitment towards transport infrastructure.

Fishermans Bend is split between the City of Melbourne (north of the freeway) and the City of Port Phillip (south of the freeway).

The residential precincts are dominant in the City of Port Phillip in what is known as the Wirrway and Sandridge precincts.

Alongside transport infrastructure there is also a need for social infrastructure, while Council has invested in sporting facilities, more open space, encouraging a range of recreational use, will be required to support this community.

Furthermore, Fishermans Bend needs social infrastructure, that fosters community, including creative and community spaces.

We have seen the Docklands fail to live up to its potential due to a lack of investment in community spaces and we should not repeat the same mistake with Fishermans Bend.

So what can be done?

While bus frequency upgrades to the 235 and 237 are welcome, weekend services continue to languish. Furthermore, bus route 606, which services Fishermans Bend, Port Melbourne, Albert Park, Middle Park, St Kilda and Elsternwick lacks suitable service frequencies, despite being the only transport route that crosses Port Phillip and links these communities together.

While Council does not fund public transport, it certainly can advocate for improvements. The challenge is that political allegiances on Council diminish its advocacy voice.

I see a lot of parallels between Fishermans Bend and Ringwood when I was on Maroondah Council between 2005-2012. Ringwood, like Fishermans Bend, needed a State Government commitment to catalyse urban renewal. In the case of Ringwood we required redevelopment of Ringwood Station, which as the time failed to meet accessibility standards and was unsafe due to its poor urban design which resulted in narrow poorly lit walkways.

At Maroondah Council we worked with our community to mount the case for the redevelopment of Ringwood Station. We worked with the community to develop a petition and worked with key groups to raise their voice on the importance of this redevelopment.

When I was Mayor in 2010, I also worked with other Mayors from other similar activity districts (Whitehorse, Dandenong, Frankston, Hume and Maribyrnong) to form an alliance, where we would collectively state the case for increased investment towards urban renewal areas.

This alliance was considered revolutionary for its time, as we collectively argued for our Cities as a whole, rather than fighting over crumbs.

The result, with a combination of community pressure and the collective voice of several local governments, resulted in funding commitments for Ringwood in 2010, as well as upgrades to other transport interchanges.

Our advocacy was coupled with a commitment to social and community infrastructure within the Ringwood Town Centre. Ringwood Realm, with its arts gallery and community spaces was a result of the Council’s commitment. We showed our commitment to Ringwood, just as we expected the State Government to show its commitment.

Our commitment towards Ringwood Station secured the Ringwood Town Centre redevelopment, which created the safe and vibrant town centre we have today.

We need an independent Council that will advocate on behalf of its community, rather than political allegiances to further Fishermans Bend and to prevent repeating the mistakes seen in areas like the Docklands and other renewal projects.