Letter to Premier

 

The Hon Steve Bracks MLA
Premier of Victoria
1 Treasury Place
EAST MELBOURNE  VIC  3002

30 March 2006


Dear Premier

I am writing to you to draw your attention to a recent poll undertaken by the Kensington Association regarding the splitting of the Kensington suburb between the Cities of Melbourne and Moonee Valley.  By way of background, in 1993 Kensington was split into two geographical areas: one part stayed with the City of Melbourne, the other part went to the City of Moonee Valley. The dividing line is the middle of Macauly Road, Kensington.

The 'boundary' issue, as it has become known, has been on the local community's agenda for many years.  The Kensington Association has a stated position on the matter: we believe that the current situation of Kensington suburb being divided between two local governments is administratively burdensome and not sustainable, and we believe the suburb should be reunited under one local government administration.

But we wanted to know what other Kensington residents thought on the matter. We decided to conduct a poll of residents and traders.

We letterboxed every resident and trader in Kensington to give people the opportunity to have their say on this issue.  The poll was conducted for two months late last year in which the following questions were asked:

  • Did the resident/trader wish the suburb of Kensington reunited?
  • If so, would they like to be reunited under the City of Moonee Valley or the City of Melbourne?

The poll results overwhelmingly show that those who replied want Kensington reunited under the City of Melbourne, as in 1993.

Approximately 2,500 surveys were distributed which produced 604 valid replies.  This represents a return of nearly 25 percent of the households in Kensington - a percentage that is almost double the number one would normally expect in such a poll.

Key results were:

  • 594 or 98% of respondents want Kensington to be reunited.

  • Of those who want reunification, 94% indicated that Kensington should be part of the City of Melbourne.

I would ask you to take these results as a clear expression of the will of the local community and to alter the existing boundary to their pre-1993 position.  A spokesman for Local Government Minister, Candy Broad, said recently [Melbourne Times 5/10/05, p.10] that the Minister only responds to calls for boundary change where there are data and research that would justify it.

Well we now have the data.  In response to the Minister's spokesman's comment, we have undertaken the poll and have data to prove the need and desire for boundary change.  The poll results confirm our view that Kensington people do not want a divided suburb, and are very firm in their preference of which local government they wish to be represented by.

The Kensington Association asks you as Premier to act on these results, and to work with the community to facilitate the reunification of Kensington under the City of Melbourne.

Your government has spoken many times about the importance of community.  We call on you to assist the local Kensington community in working towards the reunification of the suburb under the City of Melbourne.

I can be contacted on 0414 292 470 to discuss this matter further.

Yours sincerely


Richard Reilly
Chair
Kensington Association