Entries relevant to the Eastern Transport Coalition (ETC)

Delegates’ Report: Support services, musical talents, advancing reconciliation and planning for Community Safety Week

Published by Alex Makin on Monday 21st of July, 2008

On the 20th of June I had the pleasure of attending Hope City Mission’s Charity Auction Evening. Hope City Mission, based in Croydon South provides assistance to people in need within our community. The mission does this by not only providing emergency relief in the form of food and clothing but by also focusing on the wellbeing of individuals. Through this focus on wellbeing and empowering change the Mission provides pamper days and extravaganza days, which provide haircuts and a chance to socialise and restore community connectedness. I also had the pleasure of seeing the Mission’s Pamper Day in action, last Friday on the 18th of July and I saw firsthand the benefits this service provides to some of our most vulnerable community members.

Individual wellbeing is just as important as food and clothing and Hope City achieves its Mission through broadening its focus on empowerment.

On the 4th of July the Eastern Transport Coalition held its Public Transport Summit, entitled it’s ‘Time to Move On’, that is time to move away from car dependence and the crippling cost that petrol is having on our families and towards public transport improvements. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many members of the Maroondah community who attended the summit and supported my presentation on the need for the redevelopment of Ringwood Station and the importance of the Ringwood Transit City as a regional centre.

The redevelopment of Ringwood Station is critical to ensuring the revitalisation of Ringwood. The current station fails accessibility standards and is perceived to be unsafe, with Ringwood Station consistently being perceived as one of the most unsafe locations within Maroondah. Coupled with traffic calming along Maroondah Highway, pedestrians which total approximately 10,000 per day would be able to conveniently travel between the transport interchange and the residential/commercial precincts of Ringwood.

The Eastern Transport Coalition has recognised Ringwood’s importance as a regional centre and as a council we must support our neighbouring municipalities in calling for greater investment in public transport. There is strength in Maroondah being part of a concerted regional push, whereby one million residents across the eastern suburbs, recognise the importance in redeveloping Ringwood Station. Let us hope that the State Government heeds this call and delivers this essential upgrade to the station.

On the 11th of July I attended the Maroondah NAIDOC week celebrations which commemorated council’s permanent flying of the Aboriginal flag and I would like to congratulate the many community groups, the Indigenous networks and the Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place for attending the ceremony.

The theme for this year’s NAIDOC week is ‘Advance Australia Fair?’ It is important to note that the organisers intended this theme as a question, since it is a timely reminder of the health, education and wellbeing inequities that exist between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australia. Council’s Reconciliation Plan, which is included on tonight’s agenda will hopefully assist in bridging this gap and ensure that we as local government are working towards reconciliation.

On the 12th of July I had an afternoon of music, firstly with Enjoying Planned Retirement’s Hidden Talents concert. Where EPR’s unveiled the diverse singing, comedy and music talents of its expansive membership. EPR states that they are ‘recycled teenagers’ although I don’t think my teenage years were ever that fun! I would like to congratulate EPR on yet another fun filled event and look forward to the next Hidden Talents concert in September.

That evening I attended the Ringwood Eisteddfod, marking its 54th year of showcasing the immense musical talent that exists within our community. I would like to commend the many people involved in organising and performing within the Eisteddfod.

While the Premier Cabinet held a community cabinet session in Karralyka on the 15th of July, I was busy chairing the Maroondah Partners in Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee. With the year half over it is encouraging the see the continuation of the strong networking that exists within the committee with a number of agencies and organisations, such as Connex and the Department of Education, assisting council in undertaking activities for Community Safety Week in October. Do watch this space for details on the council activities for Community Safety Week.

Eastern Transport Coalition - securing public transport improvements for eastern Melbourne

Published by Alex Makin on Thursday 17th of July, 2008

Tonight’s Eastern Transport Coalition discussed the recently held public transport summit and the State Government’s new transport plan which is due in November of this year.

Following from the public transport summit, The Eastern Transport Coalition recently presented its priorities to the Premier John Brumby and the Minister for Public Transport, Lynne Kosky. This briefing reinforced the need for new rail extensions, upgraded public transport interchanges, such as the redevelopment of Ringwood Station, and vastly improved bus services.

The Government is now seeking a list of projects from the Eastern Transport Coalition which will hopefully form part of the State Government’s new transport plan. The Eastern Transport Coalition is calling on the State Government to invest heavily in public transport so as to provide relief for rising petrol prices and mitigate worsening traffic congestion. It is critical that the State Government delivers a plan that commits to the target of improving public transport patronage and delivering a level of service that meets the needs of Melbourne.

The recently released Emissions Trading Scheme green paper was also discussed, with the Eastern Transport Coalition calling on the Federal and State Governments to work together over the next five years to ensure that public transport services are improved. Federal leadership is required to reduce car dependency and to tackle the rising levels of greenhouse emissions that are caused by the transport sector.

The Eastern Transport Coalition’s public transport summit served as a call to action to State and Federal Governments. It is imperative that governments listen to this message and deliver the public transport improvements demanded by the community.

Maroondah Leader: Premier push for station

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 15th of July, 2008

The Maroondah Leader has reported on the recently held Eastern Transport Coalition Summit and the renewed advocacy campaign for the upgrade of Ringwood Station, amid the arrival of the Premier and Cabinet for a community cabinet at Maroondah’s Karralyka Centre.

Councillor Alex Makin told an Eastern Transport Coalition summit earlier this month that a firm commitment to the station redevelopment was urgent.

The redevelopment of Ringwood Station is critical to ensure the revitalisation of Ringwood into an accessible and sustainable urban centre that is well served through public transport.

Cr Makin said a lack of State Government funding for the project threatened the revitalisation of Ringwood.

“The Government claims it is ‘committed’ to Ringwood but its words are meaningless without a financial commitment,” Cr Makin said.

The State Government cannot expect the community to believe its promises when it constantly fails to deliver funds to redevelop the station. While the State Government provided minor funding in previous budgets to undertake feasibility and design works it failed to deliver a single cent to deliver the necessary works to redevelop the station into a safe and accessible transport interchange.

“Ringwood Station is consistently rated as one of the most unsafe locations within Maroondah it fails Commonwealth accessibility standards.”

The Eastern Transport Coalition stands united in its call for the upgrade of Ringwood Station. It is imperative that Maroondah City Council holds the State Government to account so that the station redevelopment is delivered as part of the overall revitalisation of Ringwood.

Maroondah Journal: Boost trains, users urge

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 8th of July, 2008

Amid the recently held Eastern Transport Coalition Public Transport Summit, the Maroondah Journal has continued to explore public transport issues, particularly, in regard to the need for service improvements along Melbourne’s rail network.

Eastern Transport Coalition spokesman Cr Alex Makin said evening services would be an easy fix. “There’s nothing stopping the Government from saying tomorrow it will provide additional inter peak services. It would be instant relief for families struggling with increasing fuel prices.”

Inter peak services (services that are between the morning and evening peaks) beyond Ringwood currently operate at a half hourly frequency, severely limiting the opportunity to use public transport outside of peak hours to travel to and from the Ringwood Transit City.

Likewise evening services after 8pm operate at a half-hourly frequency limiting choices available for people that work late.

He said more frequent evening and inter peak services were critical for people to get to and from activity centres, such as the Ringwood Transit City.

The fact that weekend services operate at a 20 minute interval demonstrates that more frequent inter peak weekdays services are possible. For example, it is absurd that people wishing to travel between Croydon and Ringwood at 10am on a weekday are required to wait up to half an hour for train, when on a Saturday or Sunday they would be waiting for 20 minutes.

The government has stated that it will be revising the train timetable next year, hopefully they rectify these anomalies within our train timetables and help reinforce the importance of public transport within the Ringwood Transit City and the outer east.

Eastern Transport Coalition Public Transport Summit

Published by Alex Makin on Friday 4th of July, 2008

The Eastern Transport Coalition represents one million residents across the seven eastern metropolitan councils within Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

Today’s summit highlighted the need for public transport improvements within the eastern suburbs to become sustainable and accessible through providing transport choice for residents facing worsening traffic congestion and rising petrol prices. The theme includes the infrastructure needs of the region and included presentations on the need for new rail lines serving Rowville and Doncaster, as well as required improvements to the Belgrave and Lilydale rail lines.

The keynote speakers, Professors Peter Newman and Graham Currie, spoke about the importance of public transport in reducing greenhouse emissions and mitigating the effects of rising petrol prices. Both speakers reiterated the trend of rising petrol prices and demonstrated quite clearly that such increases were only going to continue.

While the Premier was unable to attend, Rob Hudson, the Parliamentary Secretary for Public Transport, stated that the Government would release a new transport plan by the end of the year. While the State Government released Meeting Our Transport Challenges in 2006, the plan was widely condemned as being inadequate and failed to plan for any infrastructure improvements in the eastern suburbs. It is hoped that the government’s next plan will rectify these shortcomings.

The Opposition Leader, Ted Baillieu, spoke about the government’s litany of public transport plans and the increasing cost of inaction. While the opposition leader did not make any commitments, he did highlight the need for rail lines to Doncaster and Rowville.

The summit was extremely well attended by community members, as well as local councillors, State MPs and members of local environment and transport groups. Time was provided to allow attendees to discuss the needs of the eastern region and during this time the need for accessibility improvements on public transport was mentioned.

I spoke on the needs of the Belgrave/Lilydale lines and Ringwood with Cr. Samantha Dunn from the Shire of Yarra Ranges, who spoke about the need for rail duplications to improve the reliability of the line.

My presentation focused on the need for rail improvements between Box Hill and Ringwood and the importance of Ringwood as a regional centre within the eastern region. The expectations of eastern Melbourne and its 1 million residents were conveyed at this summit. The State Government must act and deliver the much needed public transport infrastructure, including the redevelopment of Ringwood Station, that is urgently required for the region

Please continue reading to view a copy of the speech I delivered at the summit.

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