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BRN 2022 Election Forum with Brunswick candidates
 This Thursday, come along to meet, greet and quiz candidates bidding for election for the State seat of Brunswick, at our regular and popular pre-election event. Candidates for Brunswick are invited to speak on key areas like planning, infrastructure and traffic.
The forum will be chaired by Brunswick resident Dan Ziffer.
Candidates speaking
Tim Read MLA (Greens, sitting member)
Mike Williams (ALP)
Nahui Jiminez (Victorian Socialists)
Rachel Lamarche, Animal Justice Party
Shea Evans (Reason Party)
(Apology: George Georgiou, independent)
The actual forum starts at 7.00pm and will include a short introduction from each speaker, and questions from the audience (you can send your question now if you wish, but you need to be there to ask it, thanks to those who have already sent theirs). These face-to-face forums provide an opportunity to meet and hear directly from candidates and assess their policies, and areas of interest, enthusiasm and expertise.
We will also live-stream and record the meeting, but we urge you to attend in person if possible so that you can meet and ask questions in person. BRN is not aligned with a political party and does not endorse candidates during local or state government elections, but we organise these election forums so you can check out the people vying for your vote!
Come from 6.30pm to also meet with Upper House candidates for Northern Metro. (upper house candidates are welcome to contact us, to confirm attendance and for more details).
Thanks to Brunswick Uniting Church for providing their lovely venue at 214 Sydney Road.
WHAT: BRN Brunswick election forum
WHEN: Thursday 20 October, 6.30pm: forum 7.00 – 8.30pm
WHERE: Brunswick Uniting Church, 214 Sydney Road
FACEBOOK EVENT: Invite and share at https://fb.me/e/267RCoXWY
EMAIL QUESTIONS: brunswickresidentsnetwork@gmail.com.
INFO: Nancy on 0490 182041 |
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| Not sure if you are in the seat of Brunswick for November’s State parliament elections? Here are the new boundaries for Brunswick, released earlier in 2022: including North Carlton and most of North Fitzroy. People living north of Moreland Road in Brunswick are in the State electorate of Pascoe Vale. |
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BRN forum on planning issues: video
 Leading planning expert Stephen Rowley gave an eloquent presentation in this well-attended Brunswick Residents Network pre-election briefing on 10 October.
The main focus of the one-hour session was the possible threats to resident rights of notification, appeal and review, and community input on planning applications. The Andrews government has discussed a new performance assessment model (PAM) that may reduce community input into planning applications and the issuing of planning permits. Merri-bek Council staff have been briefed on the PAM system, raising concerns it may be rolled out after the elections.
Questions also covered other flaws in the planning scheme, VCAT, housing affordability and the EPA.
Thanks to our speaker Stephen Rowley, the author of The Victorian Planning System: Practice, Problems, and Prospects – a comprehensive guide to planning in Victoria; and one of Victoria’s leading planning experts.
Listen to the video of our Zoom meeting, and raise these questions with your candidates.
https://youtu.be/7YxMcO9tSq4 |
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Our walking wish list
BRN has been working with local community groups concerned about walking in our municipality – and how to improve safety, accessibility and mobility for pedestrians. Our Walking Working Group has drawn up a brief wish list for the November elections. Of course the list is not complete: but we’ve highlighted six issues where the State government has the power to make important changes.
They include making 30kph the default for local streets (which minimizes deaths without impacting travel times); and slowing the traffic in shopping strips on roads controlled by the Department of Transport (like Melville Road and Grantham Street). And fixing Sydney Road!
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Transport forum for Brunswick: video
The Metropolitan Transport Forum, together with Merri-bek Council, hosted a pre-election forum on transport issues for our municipality, held at the Brunswick Town Hall on 4 October.
Four candidates spoke: three were lower house candidates for Brunswick: Labor (Mike Williams); Greens (Tim Read), Reason (Shea Evans); along with the Liberal candidate for the upper house seat of Northern Metro, Evan Mulholland.
And still to come, an active transport forum for Pascoe Vale
Merri-bek Bicycle Users Group (BUG) members have organised a forum for candidates standing for the State seat of Pascoe Vale in November’s election. Six have confirmed. The Pascoe Vale district now includes the suburbs of Coburg, Coburg North, Pascoe Vale, Pascoe Vale South and some parts of north west Brunswick (see boundary map above).
The forum will discuss walking, cycling and public transport and will be held on Zoom on Wednesday 26 October 26 at 7pm. Come along to quiz candidates on their policies around active transport!
Please share details of both of these forums!
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Consultations and launches
Two new parks!
Designs for the small park at 260 Sydney Road (almost opposite Brunswick Town Hall) are still up for discussion, but the survey closes at midnight tonight (Monday)!
We suggest that of the three options presented, only the “Glow Forest” responds to residents request for more greenery. In this west-facing site, the other two options (Civic Stage and Clay Ground) don’t have many large trees and look like they will be hot on summer days. Anyway, have a look yourself, and make your opinion known.
Good also to see the shovel being turned by Mayor Mark Riley, and Environment minister Lily D’Ambrosio, on the new Frith Street park in Brunswick. You can view the plans (which could do with more detail but give you the general impression) and follow the project on Conversations Moreland.
Have your say on sporting facilities . . .
At its meeting last, Merri-bek Council resolved to review the current ‘Allocation and Use of Sporting Facilities, Grounds and Pavilions Policy’.
As the first step in this process, they have developed a Discussion Paper highlighting issues that must be addressed to ensure Council continues to meet obligations across various policies. It also provides suggestions to be incorporated into a new policy.
- As always, there’s only two short weeks to have your say, so check out the Discussion paper at the Conversations Merri-bek website, and complete the brief survey by 31 October.
. . . and on library services for LGBTQIA+ communities
Merri-bek Council want to hear from members of LGBTQIA+ communities who live in our municipality or visit our Libraries, to improve library services, programs and collections. Not a library user or member? That’s okay, they want to hear from you about how the library service could be more relevant to you.
This survey has been created by the Lee Ellis Working Group; an initiative comprised of LGBTQIA+ identifying staff from within Merri-bek Libraries.
. . . and an appeal launched for Brunswick Voice newsPAPER
No, its not for us. Brunswick Voice is the local Brunswick newspaper launched online last year. They provide an excellent and professional news service, and would like to reach even more people with a paper edition.
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History corner
The History of Trams in Brunswick
On 5 November, the Brunswick Community History Group will host a meeting with Mal Rowe, talking on ‘Trams in Brunswick’.
Brunswick’s public transport started with horse drawn omnibuses around 1870. The railway came in 1884, but from 1887 to the present day it has been the four tramways running through Brunswick that have provided the most accessible and busy public transport in oiur neighbourhood.
Mal Rowe is secretary of the Council of Tramway Museums of Australasia, and will trace the history of those tramways in the context of the pressures and opportunities of the times in the suburb ‘between the creeks’.
WHAT: The History of Trams in Brunswick
WHEN: Saturday 5 November, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
WHERE: Siteworks, 33 Saxon Street, Brunswick
INFO: 0407 050 870 or email: bchg1983@gmail.com |
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Merri-bek Council stuff
We are now officially in the municipality of Merrri-bek. Email addresses will be changed over to Merribek.vic.gov.au
Regular Council meetings – held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month – are normally held at: Council Chamber, Merri-bek Civic Centre, 90 Bell Street, Coburg.
Future dates are:
- 9 November
- 29 November – Mayoral Election (Tuesday)
- 7 December.
Meeting details are available on the Council website.
Council meetings can be watched online, either live, or later – you can find details here along with the agenda for the next Council meeting when it’s posted on the Friday before the monthly meeting. You can register there to receive an alert when the agenda is posted. |
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Email us!
Please note our email address: brunswickresidentsnetwork@gmail.com. And write to tell us what you think of the newsletter. We love feedback.
If you are able to offer some time to volunteer to help organise our campaigns, and support our work, please get in contact. Our work includes organising meetings, leafleting and letter boxing, graphic design and publicity, and research; on planning, greening Brunswick and traffic management.
[Wondering why this email comes to you from nfip@optusnet.com.au? Our Mailchimp email service doesn’t like a gmail sender’s address, so we use a member’s address. Add this address your contacts so our emails don’t get filed as spam, but don’t write to it) |
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MAILING LIST AND FURTHER INFORMATION
Welcome to new readers! To contact organisers of the Brunswick Residents’ Network, or to offer help with future activities, please email brunswickresidentsnetwork@gmail.com. (This gmail is our preferred address, rather than replying to this email). Thanks to those who have contributed to this edition.
Please forward this e-letter to neighbours who’d like a say in the way their community is changing. It’s easy to sign on, or edit your details to include your interests – just go to http://eepurl.com/VX4a9.
For meeting details, survey and newsletter archives, go to: https://brunswickresidents.wordpress.com
Check out our Facebook page for a range of lively discussions: Brunswick Residents Network. Help us reach more people by liking our page, commenting, forwarding this newsletter, and tweeting it using the links below.
Election commentary authorised by N. Maclellan, c/- 135 Albert Street, Brunswick, Victoria 3056. |
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Brunswick Residents Network 