MCG Watch

Yeah, but how many MCGs is it?

[mcgwatch]

"

Melbourne is growing – that’s not breaking news. Back in 2023, it was revealed that Melbourne was on track to overtake the Sydney by 2031. Last year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that Melbourne is currently the fastest growing city in the country, with Melbourne’s population growing by 142,600 people from 2023-2024.

So, where are all of these fresh new Melburnians going to live? For around 47,000 of them, we know the answer. The Victorian Government has approved construction of a whole new suburb in the city’s growing outer north – complete with thousands of new homes, eight schools and a whole lot of dedicated green spaces for residents to explore.

Melbourne’s new suburb – Beveridge North West – is due to take shape over the next ten years, with Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny approving a plan featuring 15,000 new homes, four town centres, eight schools and 79 hectares worth of parks and reserves (that's 13 times the MCG). Once complete, the suburb will provide homes for more than 47,000 Victorians and support an estimated 3,000 local jobs."

Editorial note - For MCG-measurement tragics, you'll be familiar with a continuing discussion about how many 'jobs' and MCG is. It has recently been ruled that the MCG as a measure of permanent staff is around 150, and as a measure of temporary or surge staff of 1,000. So in this case, we can say the suburb will provide 2.6 MCGs of local jobs.

This is a rare triple, as we can also employ the MCG to measure the capacity of the suburb. 47,000 residents at 10,024 people per MCG brings us to 4.669 MCGs of residential capacity.

A huge new suburb is being built in Melbourne’s north – complete with 13 MCGs’ worth of parks and reserves

The new suburb will be home to 15,000 new homes, four town centres, eight schools and a whole lot of green public space.

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"A massive new urban park will snake across Melbourne’s east, bringing families and communities opening up the equivalent of 18 MCGs with wide open spaces and trails connecting suburbs together.

Member for Glen Waverley John Mullahy representing the Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos today announced the construction starting of the new ngarrak nakorang wilam park running from Forest Hill, through Vermont and connecting to the Dandenong trail.

The new park will include a 3.5km shared-use walking and cycling trail, toilet block, and open recreational space for visitors to enjoy all year round.

The ‘ngarrak nakorang wilam’ name means ‘Mountain Meeting Place’ and was chosen by the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation. The name celebrates Wurundjeri Traditional Owner connections to Country and vividly expresses how parks bring people together.

A comprehensive vegetation strategy will also enhance the area’s biodiversity, with new plantings providing habitat for local wildlife including gang-gang cockatoos, kookaburras, and echidnas."

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"We’ve removed the level crossings at McGregor Road, Main Street and Racecourse Road in Pakenham, extended the metropolitan rail line by 2km and opened new stations at Pakenham and East Pakenham.

The crossings were removed by building a 2.5km rail bridge over the roads, creating 6 MCGs worth of new community open space for locals to enjoy for generations to come.

The open space, named Barring buluk Park, includes walking and bike paths, exercise equipment, barbeque area, half-basketball court, playground, and a Changing Places facility.

Around 63,000 vehicles passed through these former level crossings each day, where the boom gates were down for 30% of the morning peak.

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"Almost 500,000 people have visited the exhibition of celebrated Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama at the National Gallery of Victoria – a record number for any ticketed art show in the country.

The exhibition by the 96-year-old Japanese artist is the most popular ticketed art exhibition in Australian history, the Allan government said on Sunday.

Premier Jacinta Allan said it had brought “five MCGs’ worth of visitors to the heart of Melbourne”.

She declined to reveal how much her government had paid to host the exhibition, citing commercial-in-confidence restrictions as part of the government’s contract. A report on the revenue generated by the exhibition is expected later this year.

NGV director Tony Ellwood said the attendance figures had exceeded expectations, and the gallery would extend its opening hours this week to encourage final visitors.

“When we set out to do this exhibition, we had no idea it was going to be this well received,” Ellwood said.

“The other great message here is that we can see Australians love contemporary art, particularly here in Victoria.”"

‘Five MCGs’ worth of people’: Yayoi Kusama exhibition breaking records at NGV

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s exhibition at the NGV has drawn huge numbers of people during its four-month run.

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"Spring growth is well and truly underway across Mitchell Shire, with recent rain and bursts of sunshine creating perfect conditions for fast-growing grass in parks, gardens and along roadsides.

While mowing is continuing across the municipality, wet ground conditions are making it difficult to access many areas and slowing down work where mowing is possible.

Council teams are using all available staff, machinery and resources to maintain open spaces and prepare for the upcoming fire season. 

With the equivalent of around 150 MCGs worth of grass to manage, the task is significant."

[mcgwatch]

Dexus will install more than $25 million worth of batteries in new warehouses, equal to the size of 40 Melbourne Cricket Grounds, as it looks to future-proof its investment portfolio and help its customers reduce their energy costs and carbon footprints.

The installation of a $500,000 to $700,000 commercial grade base battery system (connected to rooftop solar) on all new warehouses is expected to deliver total annual energy savings of more than $4.6 million once more than 1 million square metres of industrial space is delivered over the next few years.

The battery program will remove about 27,450 tonnes of carbon emissions from the atmosphere every year, the equivalent of removing about 6500 petrol-powered cars from Australia’s roads.

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Infrastructure Victoria has backed a plan to leave school grounds open after hours to provide communities with additional access to green space.

Two thirds of schools currently leave their gates open when they close, but some principals cite security and vandalism concerns as reasons why they restrict access.

Infrastructure Victoria CEO Dr Jonathan Spear told Raf Epstein leaving school gates closed is a wasted opportunity. 

"There's 450 hectares of outdoor areas at schools, that's 110 MCGs worth," he said.

"There's a really big opportunity for us to unlock that value for the community."

[mcgwatch]

The Suburban Rail Loop could leave Box Hill with a “catastrophic” lack of parkland, according to the Whitehorse mayor who accuses the state government of shutting the council out of the planning process.

Mayor Denise Massoud said she was concerned that the Victorian government was neglecting the need for new parkland in Box Hill in its effort to boost housing supply.

However, the Suburban Rail Loop Authority’s draft precinct plan identifies the land as a “key site” for possible new housing.

Massoud said that between the Suburban Rail Loop and North-East Link works occurring in Burwood and Box Hill, the municipality was losing 15 MCGs of open space, which was devastating for liveability and biodiversity.

“You can’t just take, you have to give something back,” she said.

The two suburbs due to lose 15 MCGs of open space

A Melbourne mayor has warned the Victorian government, “you can’t just take, you have to give something back”.

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Revealed, the first look of the huge garden that will sit at the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation, Australia’s biggest cultural infrastructure project.

The urban garden will be roughly the size of the MCG and will connect the creative venues and food outlets across the precinct and be a new home for events and activations to be hosted in the centre of Melbourne.

Laak Boorndap will be open to the public 24-hours a day and will stretch from Hamer Hall to Southbank Boulevard with public artworks, plants, and a water feature.

The Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung name means ‘heaven’s beauty’ and reflects the garden’s role of bringing people together to celebrate culture and community. A First Peoples public artwork will be commissioned for Laak Boorndap, which will sit alongside contemporary sculptures from the NGV and Arts Centre Melbourne collections.

[mcgwatch]

"You might be wondering how many people are affected when unemployment ticks over by those apparently tiny decimal points. Well, my maths is imperfect but here’s a quick calculation. The Australian workforce was 13,753,200 in January, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. One per cent of those people is 137,532. To deploy a familiar measure, that amounts to a mass of humanity that would exceed the capacity of the Melbourne Cricket Ground by around 38,000 people. An unemployment rate of 3.5 per cent equates to maybe four MCGs’ worth of people.

So in January this year, roughly 27,500 extra people found themselves, by the arcane definitions formally deployed in this county, to be out of work, on top of the various MCG crowds already making do on their savings or the meagre largesse of the state. Or not making do at all, which is an increasing possibility.

The consolation – for families now struggling to make rent, or feed and clothe their children – is that this is all part of the plan. “As economic growth slows, unemployment is expected to increase.”" https://www.themonthly.com.au/the-politics/jonathan-green/2023/02/16/rate-expectations

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"New data from the council revealed 80,000 square metres of graffiti had been off cleaned since the start of the year after a blitz began in March.

A rapid response clean team has removed more than 30 per cent of the graffiti from the central city, with North Melbourne and Carlton accounting for about 25 per cent. West Melbourne and Kensington made up 17 per cent of total graffiti jobs.

Cr Reece said the clean-up crews had “done an incredible job” as the CBD welcomed more workers, students, and visitors – with nearly two MCGs worth of graffiti removed in less than four months.

During the blitz, he said nearly 90 per cent of the clean team’s work involved removing graffiti from privately owned buildings and assets.

The council’s graffiti blitz ran from March 6 to June 30 to combat illegal graffiti and tagging, improve public spaces and ensure the city was visually appealing."

[mcgwatch]

"Australian Greens Senator for Queensland, Larissa Waters, will host a public meeting in Gladstone tonight to discuss the future of the Great Barrier Reef, and the tourism and fishing industries that depend on it.

The rash of port developments planned for the coastline could result in 55 Melbourne Cricket Grounds worth of dredging, with some of the dredge spoil dumped in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, and more than one ship per hour travelling through the Reef.

The United Nation has has warned that the Reef could soon lose its World Heritage status if these risks are not addressed."

[mcgwatch]

"Three MCGs’ Worth of Green, Open Space Is Coming to Preston

A new amphitheatre, outdoor gym, playgrounds and more – a total of 60,000 square metres – are planned for the suburb as part of the level-crossing removal project.

Four such level-crossing removals are well underway at Oakover Road, Bell Street, Cramer Street and Murray Road in the northern suburb Preston. Giant concrete pillars made in Kilmore, Melton and Laverton North have arrived and are being installed to make a two-kilometre-long elevated rail line. And this week the Level Crossing Removal Project released designs for the open space that will be created underneath.

It’s big: 60,000 square metres. Or to use the increasingly standard Victorian unit of measurement for land area: about three MCGs big."

Three MCGs’ Worth of Green, Open Space Is Coming to Preston

A new amphitheatre, outdoor gym, playgrounds and more – a total of 60,000 square metres – are planned for the suburb as part of the level-cr

[mcgwatch]

"The government is also under fire this morning for approving the destruction of habitat needed by threatened species, according to a report from the Australian Conservation Foundation.

It found three-quarters of the land cleared — about 100,000 Melbourne Cricket Grounds’ worth — was approved for mining developments, Guardian Australia reports.

The most affected animal was the koala, which is already endangered in NSW, Queensland and the ACT, followed by the swift parrot, the greater glider and the spot-tailed quoll. "

Crikey Worm: Adding fuel to the fire

Energy Minister Angus Taylor will accelerate seven fossil fuel projects despite the UN chief describing such a move as "madness", and the WA

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"An MCG Worth of Vacancies - The Hospitality Supply & Demand Issue The talent issue is global. Nearly every major hospitality market in the world is experiencing the same issue, so waiting for an influx of foreign workers or some other form of supply is not an option.

​An MCG worth of vacancies

There are now over 95,000 open roles (that we know about) in the national hospitality sector. That is enough people to fill the MCG! And we are still not out of the pandemic.

​The Accommodation sector is still re-opening and conferencing hasn’t hit full swing, so you can imagine the demand that is building for chefs, managers and floor staff!

​To find a way out, I believe we need to shift the paradigm. If it’s a supply and demand issue, let’s shift the focus to improving demand rather than waiting for supply.

​The pandemic hasn’t impacted supply, but it has definitely reduced demand for work in the sector. I believe this shift in thinking will compel a more proactive response in that we can actively drive demand." https://www.hastingspeople.com.au/blog/2022/06/the-hospitality-supply-and-demand-issue-an-mcg-worth-of-vacancies

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"Sensitive bushland to be cleared to make way for road to Andrew Forrest's company's eco-resort road About six MCGs' worth of environmentally sensitive bushland, including parts of the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area, will be cleared under a plan to build a road which will help mining billionaire Andrew Forrest's private equity company Tattarang to develop a beachfront eco-resort."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-19/road-to-andrew-forrest-backed-resort-through-sensitive-bush/100227352

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"Capp’s latest pet project makes some dog owners hot under the collar

Melbourne’s dogs could be getting eight new dog parks, but tensions are mounting over the location of the off-leash areas, with some owners saying the plans have not been properly thought through.

On Tuesday night City of Melbourne councillors will consider designating eight new off-leash areas for dogs, adding 3.5 hectares to the existing 16 hectares of off-leash parkland across the city – equating to nearly 10 MCGs worth of space."

smh.com.au/politics/victoria/capp-s-latest-pet-project-makes-some-dog-owners-hot-under-the-collar-20220607-p5arni.html