Brimbank council has updated its advocacy priorities for 2025 to 2027, which council said includes topics that provide benefits spanning across Brimbank and beyond.
The updated advocacy priorities were adopted in an August council meeting and determined using a community survey and workshop.
The priorities have been ranked into gold, silver and bronze tiers.
Council said this ranking ensures its focus remains on the most important priorities, as well as those identified as being at a tipping point.
Gold priority topics include providing more safe and affordable housing for homeless people, increasing access to mental health services, and leveraging major infrastructure projects – such as the $4 billion Sunshine station redevelopment – to deliver generational community benefits.
Examples of initiatives in the gold tier include calls for increased funding for youth mental health and wellbeing programs, and a push for the Keilor East train station to be built, which the state government committed to ahead of the 2022 election.
Silver priorities include delivering an efficient road and public transport network to meet the growing demand of the west, building long-term, sustainable solutions with legislative backing and investment from all levels of government in response to the climate emergency, and developing approaches to address growing community concerns about crime, youth disengagement and family violence.
Examples of initiatives in the silver tier include improving bus connections and the frequency of bus services in the municipality, increasing Brimbank’s canopy cover, and seeking out more funding for safe housing options.
Bronze priorities include commitments to community infrastructure development, calls for stronger reforms and investment to reduce gambling harm, and addressing government constraints on council by stopping the continued cost-shifting that council said is eroding its capacity to deliver services.
Brimbank mayor Thuy Dang said the advocacy priorities have been adjusted to reflect what’s most important to the community and projects that are most likely to have long term benefits for Brimbank.
“We’re seeing a once in a generation investment in major infrastructure projects in the west and we want to make sure that these have the maximum impact for our community,” mayor Dang said.
