By XAVIER SMERDON
One of Wyndham’s key advocacy and lobby groups will be broadening its focus to include more issues facing Melbourne’s West, according to its Executive Director.
Members of the Committee for Wyndham were given a presentation by Chairman of the high level planning organisation MacroPlan Dimasi, Brian Haratsis, last month.
Mr Haratsis recommended that a Committee for the West be established, saying that by around 2025 land supply in the east and south-east suburbs would be exhausted, leading to a large shift in development to the West.
He also said that by 2031 the population of Melbourne’s West would reach almost 1.2 million people, requiring a total of 700,000 jobs.
Executive Director of the Committee for Wyndham, Chris Potaris, said the scope and charter of the group had extended to the broader West of Melbourne recently.
“The Committee are currently engaged in talks with a number of stakeholders regarding the need to broaden our scope and charter in relation to addressing key issues impacting Melbourne’s West as a whole,” Mr Potaris said.
“These talks are underpinned by the clear agenda and overarching objective to always maintain our focus on the broader needs of the Wyndham region as we see our region (Wyndham) and our organisation as being a strong and focused enabler of change in Melbourne’s West, as well as acknowledging that we are within the key geographic location to facilitate major change across the entire west of Melbourne.”
But the CEO of LeadWest, the largest advocacy group in the West, Anton Mayer, said he could not see the need for a second lobby group working for the entire western suburbs.
“I think there would be questions raised about overlap and duplications,” Mr Mayer said.
“If they are planning on expanding to become a Committee for the West, then it can’t be Wyndham-centric, and if I joined the Committee for Wyndham, then I would want it to be Wyndham-centric.
“I watch with interest at what they are going to do. The question is, would the council’s have any interest?”
Six western councils already provide LeadWest with between $85,000 and $100,000 annually.
Mr Mayer said he could see a vacancy for a lobby group focussing on businesses.
Mr Haratsis also said that Melbourne’s West could learn a lot from what had been achieved in the western suburbs of Sydney as it was an area that has its own identity and was driven by central business districts like Penrith and Parramatta.
