The BCNA contacted the eight candidates for Gateway Ward on Saturday 26 September and invited them to respond to two questions by Tuesday 6 October. The first concerns the Waterfront Place precinct and the second on Fishermans Bend.
Responses regarding Waterfront Place precinct are as follows:
- Heather Cunsolo and Earl James emphasised the importance of the area as a gateway to our city for cruise ship visitors. It also has a valuable leisure focus for the local community.
- Heather Cunsolo supports the development of a precinct plan and the work by the Victorian Planning Authority so long as it is resourced appropriately by the State Government and has buy in with local stakeholders.
- Earl James, Peter Martin, and Sami Maher believe the City of Port Phillip should ensure the community’s voice is heard in any redevelopment.
- Sami Maher believes that the State and Federal Governments should be involved given the that it is an international terminal.
- Peter Martin believes the redevelopment should attract both local and other visitors and encourage visits to Bay Street. The plan should be done in conjunction with a similar plan for the revitalisation of Bay Street.
Responses to the question on Fishermans Bend are as follows:
- Peter Martin believes the City of Port Phillip has “dropped the ball” on planning for Fishermans Bend and that the current governance model has been ineffective. Sami Maher believes the project needs to be managed by the Victorian Government through the establishment of an authority.
- Earl James believes there should be an early commitment to funding and building a tram line. Heather Cunsolo believes public transport is the key but needs funding.
- Heather Cunsolo and Sami Maher believes there is a financial risk to ratepayers.
- Earl James believes the Victorian Government has the financial capacity to determine the direction of the project.
To see the detailed responses from each candidate, click on the following names (listed in order of receipt):
Marcus Pearl, Trina Lewis, Stan Gyles and Cleo Papageorgiou had not responded by the deadline for this post. We will post their responses when they are received.
Candidate statements and responses to a standard Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) questionnaire are now available on the Nominations page of the VEC website.
Finally, the Southbank News has an article on five of the Gateway Ward candidates which you may find of interest. It is on page 22 of the October edition (click here to download the PDF).