Doorstop interview - Footscray

DANIEL MULINO: … Member for Fraser, which incorporates Footscray and large parts of Melbourne's west. It's wonderful to be here today with Minister Catherine King, the Minister for Infrastructure, for a really significant announcement that will benefit Footscray's arts community and Melbourne's west more generally. Today, Catherine is here to announce significant support for Creative West, a project that has been in development for a considerable period of time. Creative West will provide for a significant performing arts and cultural space, and a rejuvenation of Footscray Library. This is something which Melbourne's west has been in need of for a considerable amount of time, and that's reflected in the fact that we have really key stakeholders from Footscray’s arts community here, Footscray Community Arts. We have the Women's Circus, we have the symphony orchestra, and there are so many other incredible arts providers and creators in this area and across my electorate, more generally. Performing arts and cultural space will provide them with great opportunities in order to do all that they do for our broader community.

So I'll introduce Catherine, and then after that, we'll hear from the Mayor. And can I just acknowledge that Maribyrnong Council has put a huge amount of work into this over a long period of time. And Sarah Carter, who unfortunately passed away last year, this was a project which she championed and put so much of her heart and soul in for a long period of time. She was a very long-term mayor and a councillor in this area, and so I just wanted to acknowledge all that she did over a very long period of time. But I'll hand over now to the Minister.

CATHERINE KING: Thanks very much, Daniel, and it's terrific to be here. And can I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather and pay my respects to elders, past and present. It's lovely to be here both with Daniel, but also, of course, our Mayor of Maribyrnong, Pradeep. And terrific to be back in Footscray. I haven't been here for a little while, and my brother used to live not far from here around the corner, so I spent quite a bit of time in this part of the world visiting him.

It's an incredibly beautiful place, incredibly multicultural. But what you can see from the surrounds is its CBD – it needs a bit of love. It's been a little while between 1980s, 1990s, until there really has been a significant investment in the CBD here in Footscray. And the Maribyrnong Council have come to government as part of our Urban Precincts and Partnerships Program with a proposal to develop master plan that will see the redevelopment of the CBD, redevelopment of the library, the performing space, but really bringing art and community back into the centre and heart of the CBD.

Part of what the Albanese Labor Government has been trying to do with the Urban Precincts and Partnerships Program is really look at how our cities, how our CBDs, how our regional communities when it comes to the equivalent regional program, how they're actually working for people. We've spent a lot of time over, particularly in the ‘80s, making sure we can move traffic and people can move around between suburbs and between cities, but we've not really focused on where people live. And putting those investments, whether it be in community infrastructure, whether it be improving pedestrian and cycling access, improving links to public transport or re-utilising some of the older, beautiful buildings that we've had that our ancestors built a long, long time ago and using them in a way now that we can uplift the CBD.

So today we're announcing $5 million will go to Maribyrnong City Council. They will match that money to develop the business case master plan, all of the detailed design work, to really transform what this is, a project called Creative West, a vibrant community and cultural precinct. This will facilitate the planning and design of a six-star rated 500-seat performance venue, a new contemporary library that brings more people into this space and a learning hub, as well as vibrant open spaces.

This hopefully will be the catalyst then for further investment in the CBD, whether it be in the form of new affordable housing or whether it be in new businesses coming here. I'm really delighted we've got a number of the arts community who are here, who will be absolutely critical to the consultation that's going to be undertaken on this project and getting it right. We know that arts plays a critical role in making sure communities are inclusive, but also that we have beautiful spaces that people want to be in. And so it's great to see this project come to fruition, and look forward to seeing the development of the project over the course of the next year and a bit. And I might hand over to the Mayor to say a little bit, and then we'll see if we've got any questions. Thank you.

PRADEEP TIWARI: Thank you. I'm Councillor Pradeep Tiwari, Mayor of the City of Maribyrnong. Firstly, I'd like to acknowledge that we are on the traditional lands of the Kulin nation, and I offer my respects to the elders of these traditional lands, and through them to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, past, present and emerging. I'd like to thank Minister Catherine King and Dr Daniel Mulino MP today for today's funding announcement. It's very exciting for us. Council, obviously, as you've heard, is matching that to support the Creative West project.

Footscray is vibrant and diverse - but also needs a boost to help reach its full potential. Our community would love to see investment that catalyses others to invest and bring renewal, more energy and vibrancy to this amazing area. Furthermore, Maribyrnong boasts a rich and diverse arts scene and is home to arts organisations of state, national and international significance. Footscray in particular is recognised as a creative hub within the Western Metropolitan region, but we know that our creative spaces are kind of lacking at the moment. That's why we've spent the last six years exploring opportunities to create improved infrastructure in Footscray to ensure our creative industries and our community continues to thrive.

Creative West is our response to those needs, and it would see a new performing arts venue, state of the art library, a beautiful new park right here in the heart of Footscray. Creative West will be designed to deliver a local solution to regional needs. Furthermore, it's a priority of LeadWest and the Western Region Councils, with the Western Metro region representing the fastest growing region in Australia with over one million residents, this is for the people who will be living in the West in coming years, and it will improve access to a range of cultural and community spaces that are currently lacking, and support our community in experiencing all of Victoria's cultural offerings.

Creative West seeks to deliver an inclusive place that welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds and invites residents, visitors and tourists to enjoy. Council is extremely grateful to the Federal Government for their support to help us through the design phase, a critical next step in realising our vision for our Creative West. Thank you.

CATHERINE KING: Thank you.

[Applause]

CATHERINE KING: I'm not sure if we have any journos, but we will- happy to take any questions. Hello. Hi.

JOURNALIST: hat sort of timeline [indistinct]? 

CATHERINE KING: I'll leave the council to answer that, in terms of the detail. We're making the money available now, but I do know this has been a project that has been on the books for a long time. Daniel has made representations about it, as has the former member for Maribyrnong, who's just recently retired, Bill Shorten. I was able to give him a bit of a heads up about this project and he was really delighted. So this has been something that is a long time coming, a long time coming for this community, and I'll leave the council to answer details about when the work will start for the detailed design.

PRADEEP TIWARI: Well, I might- yeah, invite the CEO for the questions for the timelines.

CELIA HADDOCK: Just to let everybody know we're ready to go. We have been working on …

CATHERINE KING: [Interrupts] We'll have to go onto Canberra, yes. [Laughs]

CELIA HADDOCK: Yeah.

CATHERINE KING: It makes it a bit tricky.

CELIA HADDOCK: Thank you. Just confirming as the CEO, we are ready to go. We've been working on this project for many, many years and it is just a delight today to have this announcement. So the detailed design will take, as they always do, probably around 18 months because we will need to- we have been out to the community already once, but we need to go out again. We need to check in with them and make sure it's a collaborative process. So- and then following that we will move into the construction phase.

JOURNALIST: So do you have any rough idea as to when maybe we could see this happen by, you know, maybe 2030 or something like that?

CELIA HADDOCK: Absolutely. Before 2030.

[Laughter]

CELIA HADDOCK:  Mr. Mayor, if I can promise that before 2030. So as soon as we get the funding agreement, and we can start work on that. We've also got a couple of philanthropic organisations that are interested in contributing to the construction, and we'll also be doing some lobbying around funding that- the whole project as well. So it's well over 100 million, so- the construction. So we will be doing some work on that as well.

JOURNALIST: And what will the centre provide for the community that it doesn't have now? Will there be any particular spaces or functions that are really lacking now that this will provide?

CELIA HADDOCK: Everything it provides the community doesn't have now.

JOURNALIST: Yeah.

CELIA HADDOCK: So we have- there'll be the performing arts- large performing arts centre. There's actually nowhere in the west of Melbourne that has 500 or more places for performing arts. There'll be creative spaces for our arts community to use. There'll be a new library that will be a much more of a community centre, living library model. So libraries aren't just about books anymore. And we're going to have a large civic space or public space where- that can be- we can have activities that people can come and relax in that can be used- that the community can use. So it'll really activate the area and be something for our community to be proud of.

CATHERINE KING: Thank you. Anything else?

JOURNALIST: Is it affected at all by the upcoming federal election? If there's a change of Government, will this be put in limbo in anyway?

CATHERINE KING: No. These are budgeted programs as is the Urban Precincts and Partnerships Program, which I think we announced back in our first or second budget. And this is part of the normal business of government. We're making this as a first batch we've done of the Urban Precincts and Partnerships Program. I was actually over in Broadmeadows on the weekend making an announcement there. Of course, though, you know, if there is a change of government at the federal election, they have in the past cut budgeted programs, they have threatened that they may do that. I would certainly hope that they don't do that, because that would be really pretty appalling to communities in the West.