Special Council Meeting catchup - 12 November 2025

Council meeting agenda

• OUTGOING MAYOR AND DEPUTY MAYOR ADDRESS

  OUTGOING MAYOR ADDRESS
  Councillor Crawford addressed the meeting:

  Firstly, thank you to my fellow Councillors for the honour of being Mayor in this first year of the new term. When I was first Mayor back in 2020 to 2021, it was in the throes of COVID and lockdown, so I spent most of my mayoralty online or in the in this building, by myself, because my home internet was average. I missed out on lots of the fun aspects of being the Mayor, like attending events, interacting with community, getting to say a few speeches, opening some buildings and getting to be out and about generally. This time there was a lot of fun. That included some really special openings including Madden House and the EcoCentre. I've been making the joke lately, if you hang around long enough on Council, you get to see the delivery of your decisions from two terms ago. Councillors, when I took the role of Mayor last year, I said that my goal was to help you navigate the difficult terrains of becoming a Councillor, which is like nothing you've ever done before and help set the tone for the group and the culture for the group. I didn't do that on my own, but we did that. So I’m very grateful for your willingness to do the hard yards and work on being an effective working group. We had our ups and downs, but we survived well and I guess there's three more years to do a lot more hard work and I hope we can continue to do that. Particularly, I’d like to thank the Deputy Mayor, Brian Mears. You really did step up and really were instrumental in setting the culture too. I couldn't have done it without you. I think we got the balance between us, our principles and our working relationship, right. So thank you.
  
  These are difficult times and intense times that we're all living through for the community at large, and I think our Councillor group really felt this. There are a couple of things that I’m really proud of, I'm really proud that I was able to stand beside our Jewish community at one of the most difficult times that they've had locally. With obviously the terrible attack on the Adass Israel Shul and the horrendous rise in antisemitism. I just want to say I’ll continue to stand by you, but I’m really glad I was there at that key moment. I’m also really proud that I we as a group, with me as the front person on it stood up to misinformation and online targeting. Unfortunately, we are seeing online some of the worst of humanity, as well as a lot of good stuff. I think it's important to value facts and decency and treating each other kindly as best we can, knowing we're not perfect and calling it out when it really crosses the line, but also knowing that we all make mistakes and giving each other a bit of grace and space to do so.
  The biggest thank you to Chris, the Executive Team and all the Officers. In the role of Mayor. you actually get to see a lot of the inner workings of the other side of the building up close and you realise how much work happens on that in that half of the building, especially when you're bringing a new Council to bear. So thank you for your flexibility, your innovative problem solving and your professionalism and frank and fearless advice. Which there's going to be more of obviously.
  Finally to the community, I feel so chuffed to have been your Mayor. I mean, who wouldn't want to represent the most engaged, most creative, and passionate people and residents in Melbourne at large.
  We started the Council term well and I hope that we continue that way because our community needs us and they are the priority. Thank you.

  The CEO thanked Councillor Crawford for their service and presented them with a gift.

  OUTGOING DEPUTY MAYOR ADDRESS
  Councillor Mears addressed the meeting:

  I'd be remiss if I didn't really reflect on my time this year with my fellow Councillors. A lot of what occurs on Council is unseen, unheard, and the one thing I can take away from this year is that the community at large have a group of Councillors who are absolutely dedicated to their communities. They are persistent on asking all the questions and probing and doing all of the things that are necessary for good governance on the monies that we're entrusted with for our communities. So I'd like to acknowledge the fact that I've been fortunate I was elected with this group, they they've done an outstanding job.

  I’d also like to reflect on my time working with Louise as Mayor. I observed on many occasions Louise has had a lot of unfair and unreasonable commentary directed at them and they have been stoic. There are other people in the organisation as well, but I principally want to acknowledge that Louise has weathered the storm with character. I've enjoyed very much working with you and you've done a great job. To the Council officers who are very resilient and they have to be, particularly when you've got Councillors who will devise new and different ways to ask questions.

  It should be noted that at the end of this term, there have been significant achievements. Albeit some of them embedded in our system and in a few years’ time, you'll start to see the outcomes of those decisions. I'm particularly proud of a number of those that we've gone through this year. In closing, I'd like to thank the community. The community expect much of us, quite rightfully, and you should continue to feel that way about us going through the next three years. 
  I think we are forming up to be a good Council and if I can be part of that at the end of this term, I will be most proud of that achievement. Thank you.

  The CEO thanked Councillor Mears for their service and presented them with a gift.

• TERM OF MAYORAL OFFICE

  In accordance with Section 26 (3) of the Local Government Act 2020, before a Mayor is elected, the Council must determine by resolution whether the Mayor is to be elected for a 1 year or a 2 year term.

  Moved Crs Cunsolo/Crawford

  That Council:
  Determines the Mayor to be elected to serve a 1-year term.

  A vote was taken and the MOTION was CARRIED unanimously.

• ELECTION OF MAYOR

  The Chief Executive Officer called for nominations for the position of Mayor.

  Councillor Jay nominated Councillor Makin for the position of Mayor. Councillor Halliday seconded the nomination.

  As there were no further nominations, the Chief Executive Officer declared Councillor Makin elected as Mayor and invited the Mayor to address the gallery.

• MAYORAL ADDRESS

  Mayor Makin addressed the meeting:

  Thank you very much. This is a truly humbling experience, both in terms of the optics in sitting in this chair, but also going through this process, and thank you to each of you for your confidence in me over the year ahead. I do want to open by acknowledging the year that was, the dedication of Councillor Crawford as Mayor, the dedication of Councillor Mears as Deputy Mayor. This year has been a lot about building the foundations and the scaffolding that we will be able to build in future years.

  That is not an easy task in bringing together 9 strangers in coalescing around a vision and what our priorities are in the year ahead. So can we please just once again acknowledge Councillor Crawford and Councillor Mears for their work. A lot of that work is hidden and the coalescence of nine individuals. It is working with the Council officers, setting that vision and being the front face which is a really challenging position at times. So I do just want to once again acknowledge the dedication of Councillor Crawford and Councillor Mears by the those roles. They are very, very big shoes to fill in keeping, once again, nine individuals together and building on the momentum that has been created. If there is a theme I would like us to capture for the year that will be it is now we have an opportunity to be bold, but we have that opportunity to be bold based on the foundations that have been built.
  It's not always widely appreciated that as Councillors we have many competing priorities. We have Council commitments, we have work commitments, we have life commitments, we have family commitments, pet commitments and a whole range of other commitments. In between it all we have had a dedicated group of Councillors who have come together and given the time that they've been able to provide, being able to really mobilise and articulate what our priorities are.

  There has been comments around the online commentary and I if I can ask our community, please be respectful of the competing demands on our times. Be respectful of the fact that at the end of the day we are nine individuals. Local Government is a Council for a reason. We are not a Parliament, we are a Council of people with disparate lived experiences coming together to negotiate the best outcomes for the Community. That is truly what unites each of the nine of us, not because we all think the same way, but because trust me, if all of us thought the same way, it would be a very scary place. But because we have a difference of opinion because we're able to articulate that opinion and represent the issues and the communities that matter to us. That is why we are here. So please, in terms of the online commentary, let's be mindful of those demands. Let's be mindful of the fact that there are many juggling priorities that we need to coalesce around in being able to look in the future ahead.

  I've mentioned about being bold. We have such great opportunities here in the City of Port Phillip. We have the opportunities to build on the good governance that we have come together and united upon in terms of how we make the City of Port Phillip lead into the future. My Council ward, as many of you would know, covers Fisherman's Bend, an area that is forecast to have an additional 80,000 people by the year 2050. We have challenges around climate change and rising sea levels and what that means to our foreshores and other areas. We have a whole range of organisations that need our support. I want to reach out to our peak community organisations, meet with each of you and understand what your visions are so that we can start to continue the dialogue. Not because we're necessarily going to solve everything in this year, but because we're going to put together the road map.
  One of the initiatives I've spoken really highly about is our Community Infrastructure Plan. It is a road map that sets us up for the future. It is the road map that will allow us to look back and say, look at what we've been able to achieve, look at how we've been able to build from our successes into the successes of Councils of the future. As a Council we want tomorrow to be better than today. We want today to be better than yesterday.

  We have done a lot of that work in building the good governance, building quality assurance, building processes so that we can be confident in today. Now we can focus on tomorrow. How do we shape tomorrow so that the City of Port Phillip can be the best municipality it can be. We're going to have an exciting time. We're going to have times of highs, times of lows, but together we can achieve marvellous and amazing things and I look forward to working with each of you, including Council offices in the journey in the years ahead.

  Thank you very much. Once again a truly humbling experience. Thank you once again for the confidence in each and every one of you. Thank you to our community in the confidence that you're putting to me. I hope to be able to build on my experiences back in the City of Maroondah back where I was Mayor, and learn from those experiences. Being Mayor is very, very intensive and exhausting and it was a challenging process back when I was in the City of Maroondah. I was 25 when I was elected, I was 30 when I was Mayor, I left Council when I was 32.

  Upon reflection, what I've been able to find in this term in the City of Port Phillip, and because of each and every one of you helping me along that way, is that balance. We all need to find that balance. We all need to use our time as wisely and effectively as possible so that we're not working harder, we're working smarter. We're going to have an exciting year ahead. We're going to have a year of challenges, but together once again we can achieve fantastic things. Thank you to each and every one of you. I really look forward to the year ahead. Thank you.

• ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPUTY MAYOR OFFICE

  In accordance with section 20A (1) of the Local Government Act 2020, a Council may establish an office of Deputy Mayor.

  Moved Crs Thomann/Jay

  That Council:
  Establish an office of the Deputy Mayor to align with the length of the Mayoral term.

  A vote was taken and the MOTION was CARRIED unanimously.

• ELECTION OF DEPUTY MAYOR

  The Mayor called for nominations for the position of Deputy Mayor.
  Councillor Hardy nominated Councillor Mears. Councillor Thomann seconded the nomination.

  As there were no further nominations, the Mayor declared Councillor Mears elected as Deputy Mayor and invited the Deputy Mayor to address the gallery.

• DEPUTY MAYOR ADDRESS

  Deputy Mayor Mears addressed the meeting:

  Thank you, Mayor Makin, and in addressing my fellow Councillors and the community, the group here tonight, my focus in coming into campaigning and coming onto Council was my community specifically in Lakeside Ward, but as the year has progressed, it is clear, as with all of the Councillors, our responsibility lies with the community in the City of Port Phillip at large. Nevertheless, this coming year, my focus will continue on what's occurring in Lakeside, which is a fairly significant development all the way up St Kilda Road and Queens Road.

  Nevertheless, I welcome the opportunities to work more generally across the community and give my support to ward Councillors and receive their advice and acknowledge their experience and understanding of their own specific communities. I look forward to supporting them going forward for the betterment of our community to improve amenity and to improve where possible the living conditions and circumstances of our community in general. It has been an exciting time in the last 12 months, I look forward to that excitement and interest continuing. Finally to my fellow Councillors, thank you for your support and I look forward to the year ahead. Thank you very much.

  
  As there was no further business the meeting closed at 6:57 pm.