About Our Ideas and Outcomes

“I would be hard-pressed to find someone in Melbourne who has not been touched by our work. If you have visited the Docklands, driven on CityLink, or flown from Melbourne Airport you have benefitted from one of the many contributions the Committee has made to Melbourne’s community.” – Mr Jack Smorgon AO, Chairman, Future Focus Group

CfM has been involved in many activities and outcomes over the years. Here are just a few:

Private sector collaboration

CityLink

The Committee pushed to create more efficient links between existing freeways. The City Link project was financed and overseen by a Committee-led initiative: Infrastructure Bonds

Melbourne Practicum Program

A priority identified by the Higher Education Taskforce is the need for greater integration between our university and business sectors. Melbourne Practicum Program was established in partnership with the University of Melbourne, to allow both high-achieving local and international graduate students to work on real projects in conjunction with local businesses to develop their skills and knowledge base.

Green Buildings

To encourage the retrofit of existing commercial buildings and tenancies to meet new green objectives CfM facilitated retrofit building workshops by providing our members with information on how to reduce energy costs through behaviour change and retrofit measures

Shaping government policy

Transport

Melbourne’s traffic congestion alone is estimated to cost about $4 billion annually. So, the Committee assembled an expert group, including senior representatives of all public transport modes, to recommend what is needed to achieve a positive change. Our Five Year Public Transport package sets out the Committee’s priorities for the period to 2011.

Utility debt

Explore the relationship between utility debt and poverty, and to identify social and regulatory frameworks and policies to assist people at risk The Utility Debt Spiral Project harnessed the expertise and involvement of business, government, regulators, and civil-society partners to examine and identify potential means of ameliorating the impact of electricity, gas and water bills as a direct cause of, or an exacerbating factor, in the debt spiral.

City Circle tram

The Committee wanted to raise Melbourne’s image as a tourist centre so we supported the creation of the free City Circle tram line specifically for tourists.

Docklands

The Committee was passionate about the idea of marketing Melbourne as a water front city with the Docklands as the central focus. The Committee invited Reg Ward, Chief Executive of the London Docklands Authority to assess the site for our docklands. This led to a joint venture with the Labor government to commission the ‘Recommendations to Government’ document. The Committee was the initial driver of the Docklands development and appointed a Melbourne Docklands Authority in 1990.

Establishing organisations

The Committee’s past initiatives that have successfully developed to become self-sustaining organisations. A sample of these appear below.

Culture Card Victoria

Culture Card Victoria provides a great way for international students, who are enrolled at post-secondary school institutions, to enjoy what is on offer in Victoria through a great mix of special offers at sports, arts, and many other events in our community. Culture Card Victoria was created to welcome international students choosing to study in Victoria. Many of Victoria’s top cultural organisations and tertiary education providers are involved to make sure the program is a success. The actual wallet-card style Culture Card is free for international students, but must be registered via this website at prior to use. Activities on offer by participating organisations are designed specifically to welcome international students and therefore be unique to the Culture Card program. The Culture Card program also provides an opportunity for international students to meet outside of study.

Melbourne Open House

Melbourne Open House is a not-for-profit incorporated association whose committee has run annual events over the last two years providing the public a free-of-charge and rare opportunity to discover the often hidden wealth of architectural, engineering and historic buildings nestled around the city and associated program.

BioMelbourne Network

A 185 member network initiated by the Committee in 2001 and now self sufficient. It connects Victoria’s biotechnology research institutes, public and private companies, and service providers, to promote the capabilities of this dynamic local biotech industry on a global basis. Half of Australia’s biotech industry belongs to the network, whose activities not only assist individual members, but helps shape government policy.

Melbourne Prize

A Future Focus Group-led project developed in 1998-1999, the annual Melbourne Prize recognises and rewards excellence and talent through one of Australia’s richest arts prizes in Urban Sculpture, Literature and Music; and following its third successful year. The Melbourne Prize Trust is now independently run at the Victorian College of the Arts.

UN Global Compact Cities Programme

Initiated in 2002 to serve as the Melbourne-based International Secretariat of the UN Global Compact Cities Programme and now partnered with RMIT University’s Global Cities Institute who has international research teams investigating various areas of urban management. The Cities Programme leads an international UN urban program currently involving 12 cities around the world.

Moving Galleries

In 2005, the Committee for Melbourne gathered a team of volunteers who created a project to foster young and emerging Victorian artistic talent and make creativity accessible in Melbourne’s public spaces. The first Moving Galleries featured parallel programming of both student artwork, and public poetry on the Melbourne train system and saw 480 artworks travel around Melbourne on 20 Connex trains. The inspiration for Moving Galleries came from public transport art and poetry initiatives from other countries.

Overwhelming community appreciation and support for Moving Galleries subsequently attracted funding to the project. In 2007, the project secured long-term funding enabling it to evolve from a ‘one-off’ exhibition to into an ongoing non-profit initiative dedicated to promoting creativity in Melbourne’s public spaces.