Community Consultations – Level Crossings Caulfield to Dandenong

By Steve Dimopoulos on February 2, 2016 in Blog

I have provided a list below of many of the community consultations conducted by the Level Crossing Removal Authority since the middle of 2015 regarding the proposal for the Cranbourne/Pakenham line. Although this list is extensive, it does not include the many hundreds of one on one consultations with individual residents and businesses. The announcement of the proposed design for the 9 level crossing removals on the Cranbourne/Pakenham line will be made very shortly. Following that you will have even more opportunity to get involved in the process and have your say.

Visit www.levelcrossings.vic.gov.au for more information or to sign up for updates.

(Link: Level Crossing Consultation Report)

Level Crossing Removal Authority Consultations

Interactive Community Sessions

Carnegie Library – 4 August 2015

Clayton Hall – 5 August 2015

Murrumbeena Pavilion – 6 August 2015

Clayton Hall – 8 August 2015

Glenhuntly Park Function Centre – 12 August 2015

Sandown Park Hotel – 13 August 2015

Carnegie Library – 15 August 2015

Pop Up Information Stands

(June to November)

Carnegie Train Station twice

Murrumbeena Train Station

Hughesdale Train Station twice

Clayton Train Station

Chandler Road, Noble Park

Heatherton Road, Noble Park

Centre Road, Clayton

Dandenong Train Station

Oakleigh Train Station

Poath Road, Hughesdale (Outside Station)

Sandown Park Train Station

Westall Station

Douglas Street, Noble Park

Caulfield Train Station

Clayton Road Shops

Yarraman Train Station

Koornang Road, Carnegie Shops

Community Catch Up Information Stalls

Farmers Markets, Carnegie (Glen Huntly Primary) – Saturday 12 September

Noble Park Skate Park Opening, Ross Reserve, Noble Park – Saturday 19 September

Little Day Out, Ross Reserve, Noble Park – Sunday 27 September

Gloria Pyke Netball Complex – Greaves Reserve, Dandenong – Wednesday 7 October

Clayton Road shopping strip with City of Monash Council – Saturday 10 October

Monash University, Clayton Campus – Wednesday 14 October

Federation Square – Wednesday 14 October

Chadstone Shopping Centre (near Coles) – Monday 26 October to Sunday 1 November

Koornang Park (outside the Carnegie Swim Centre) – Thursday 12 November

Caulfield Farmers Markets, Carnegie (Glen Huntly Primary) – Saturday 14 November

Wallarano Primary School Fete (Noble Park) – Sunday 22 November

Hughesdale Primary School Fete – Friday 27 November

Trader Workshops

Carnegie Library – 1 September 2015

Noble Park Aquatic Centre – 3 September 2015

Murrumbeena Pavilion – 8 September 2015

Clayton Community Centre – 9 September 2015

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In addition, over 1700 doorknocks/letters were distributed to properties along the rail corridor in the middle of December 2015

Further letters were distributed to properties along the rail corridor in late January 2016

300,000 newsletters were distributed in 2015

Over 1500 pieces of community feedback were received throughout 2015.

Newsletters and updates which were distributed to our community throughout the second half of 2015 are available here:

Caulfield to Dandenong Update July

Caulfield to Dandenong Update September

Caulfield to Dandenong What We’ve Heard

Murrumbeena and Poath Road Update

Clayton and Centre Road Update

Grange and Koornang Road Update

Level Crossing Removal Update Jan/Feb 2016

9 Level Crossing Removals Between Caulfield and Dandenong

Latest Facebook Posts

There are few things more important than what we've been discussing all week in parliament - voluntary assisted dying.

We discussed this for 60 hours over three days.

Over the last few months I have had dozens of meetings with people of all persuasions.

I have read every letter. And every email.

I've met with medical professionals, local residents and families who have lost loved ones, often in horrible ways.

I have not made my decision easily nor did I take this issue lightly. And I won't shy away from that. But after carefully considering the legislation; today I voted in favour of Voluntary Assisted Dying. The legislation has now passed the lower house and will proceed to the upper house.

Here is what I said on this in Parliament.
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Victorian Hansard

There are many fundamental things that we all agree on in this very important debate. We agree that we do not want people to suffer. We agree that we want to give people as much choice as possible over their life and their medical treatment at the end of their life. We agree that palliative care is indispensable and is and should be the primary choice for everybody. Quite simply, we come from a place of love and compassion — all of us on all sides of this debate.

I have met with dozens of people over the last few months, as colleagues have. I read every letter and I read every email, even many of the ones not from my electorate. I want to thank the people I met with for their time. I want to thank them sincerely for their passion and compassion. Many of the people I met with work in the medical profession. They are people who live their values and their principles every day in the work they do. Many of these conversations and many of the concerns these people raised with me are part of the reason that the journey for me on this issue of voluntary assisted dying was perhaps more difficult. The issues these people raised with me prompted me to do further reading and speak to further people. Their conversations were important to me, and I commend them for their civility and the respect with which they engaged with me.

I have heard in the chamber and outside incredibly moving personal stories of loved ones dealing with horrendous pain and suffering and the impact this has not only on the person dying but on those who love and know them. I have also heard heartfelt and personal accounts from people of faith. I do not have a personal story. No doubt I will in the future, as the longer we live, personal stories about the death of people that we love become inevitable. I do not come to this debate from a faith perspective either. Both those reasons are perhaps partly why I took even longer to come to a position on this issue than some of my colleagues.

My view of government is that it should play as small a role as possible in the private lives of the citizens it is there to serve. I was attracted to politics to help make the lives of people better and to help provide them with opportunities that without a progressive, caring and compassionate government they may not have had.

But I was also driven to politics by a desire to help slow the seemingly inevitable encroachment of the state on the rights of the citizens it is there to serve. I do not support the state telling people who to love or who to marry. In order to be intellectually honest with that philosophical view, I have to also accept that it is not the role of the state to tell people when they can die in order to end their suffering. Yes, I accept that the stakes here in this debate are much higher — we are talking about the ending of a human life — but I also know that the capacity to relieve pain and suffering is perhaps at its highest at this critical time in a person's life.

My concerns with voluntary assisted dying were rooted in the concern for the vulnerable and the role of the state — even in the minimalist model I described — to protect vulnerable people. I worried for many nights over the issues of elder abuse, mental capacity, accessibility of palliative care and those real things that, if a system was to work perfectly, would all need to be completely covered off.

I trust that we will take the opportunity to pursue the implementation of the remaining recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry. Those things are of fundamental importance, and they are the things that I worry about. I know they have been covered in the ministerial advisory panel report, and earlier in the parliamentary inquiry, but can I guarantee that they have been covered off in a way that completely guarantees no person will end their life under duress, explicit or implied, or that no person considered not to have capacity to decide will be given the right to end their life? No, I cannot.

We need investment in palliative care. Particularly in the community, there is a huge unmet demand. Palliative Care Victoria advises that over 55 per cent of palliative care services in Victoria report they are not able to meet current demand for palliative care. I am also aware that, despite these deficiencies, we have been assessed to have one of the best palliative care services in the world. However, not having a perfect palliative care system or not being able to guarantee no person will be unduly influenced does not justify abandoning the pursuit of an opportunity for people at the end of their life to have the dignity of choice.

The reality is we cannot guarantee absolute outcomes in almost any area of public policy or life that we debate and legislate on in this chamber. We do not have the benefit of guarantees. We only have the opportunity of leadership.

There is a natural instinct in many of us to want to help and look after vulnerable people. This is normal, and a sign of decency and care. Sometimes in the context of public policy this decency and care can look like undue oversight and regulation. I heed the panel's warning that the desire for strong oversight must be balanced by the recognition that invasive requirements may have unintended consequences. For example, constantly checking up on the lethal dose of medication may inadvertently pressure people to self-administer the medication earlier than they had intended.

On the issue of capacity, which has occupied me greatly, I have spoken with medical practitioners and scholars who have said that this bill puts a greater spotlight on capacity than currently exists in the delivery of medical services and care. Thankfully we have moved to a person-centred care approach in how we deliver health services, including in mental health. The consultations conducted for the parliamentary inquiry and for the work of the ministerial advisory panel report found that people want their preferences and values to direct the end-of-life treatment and care they receive. Feedback confirmed that people believe the person receiving treatment must be at the centre of clinical decision-making, and that the individual's decisions about treatment must be respected.

While I do not think that we would ever find a perfect model, I have come to the view that this model, while not perfect, is safe and appropriate and needed. We do not have perfect now, despite the hard work and dedication of all those in the medical and nursing profession and carers and family members and loved ones. We do not have a perfect system now, so it is unreasonable to ask for a threshold of perfection before we are permitted to introduce this much-needed reform.

I want to thank the Minister for Health for her work and the Premier for his leadership. I want to thank my colleagues for their candour on both sides of the debate. I want to thank the ministerial advisory panel. I want to thank the people who took the time to share their stories, their perspectives. Your contributions genuinely educated me.

Leigh is a friend of mine. We met when we worked in the same organisation some years ago. I remember he would always speak about his wife with love, and when I would see them together I would often think, 'I hope my partner and I are as much in love as Leigh and Sandra appear to be after so many years of marriage'. Sandra passed away too young a few short years ago.

As I was writing this contribution yesterday — literally in the middle of writing it — I received a text message from Leigh. I had not heard from him in over a year. The message read:

I see the debate on assisted death has begun. Just my perspective here but from what I saw in Sandy's last days was that care is about helping a terminal person to determine their time to exit without pain and with dignity. Put simply I reckon Dan has it right!!

I could say a lot more; I could have said less. It is self-evident that I have not commented on every aspect of this bill nor every aspect of this issue, and I have not chased every rabbit down every rabbit hole — and there are many, but in public policy and in life there always are. I can think of few issues that we debate here and few laws we make within a context of full knowledge of every eventuality. Sometimes we have to proceed without an ironclad guarantee that it will all work out well and be perfect.

This is no different. What I know is that we have put our best foot forward in trying to construct a system that will do good and mitigate harm. What I also know is that, for all the power that this office I hold gives me, I do not have the power to tell another person how to live their life or when they can leave this earth. I commend the bill to the House. ... See MoreSee Less

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$1 million for bigger and better classrooms, expanded common interactive spaces and new learning spaces. 😁

#educationstate James Merlino ... See MoreSee Less

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To all those celebrating I would like to sincerely wish you a very Happy Diwali. May this Diwali bring you much happiness and prosperity and I hope you will have a memorable and enjoyable time with your friends and family in the coming days. Steve ... See MoreSee Less

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Community Consultations – Level Crossings Caulfield to Dandenong

Level Crossing Removal Authority Consultations

Interactive Community Sessions

Pop Up Information Stands

Community Catch Up Information Stalls

Trader Workshops

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