Jeff Kennett: Your city needs you, Eddie

As nice a person as Sally Capp may be, the time has come for a new leader with authority. Edward McGuire, that time has come for you.

We Melburnians, in fact Victorians, should not allow Ed to politely decline this opportunity. Picture: AAP

Is the recent suggestion by Lord Mayor Sally Capp for a Disneyland to be built at Fishermans Bend just smoke and mirrors or fantasy?

The idea was first floated in the 1990s; in fact, a great deal of due diligence and work was done on the proposal at that time.

It was proposed for land close to Melbourne Airport, which was plentiful at the time, and with accommodation on site it would have made it easier for interstate travellers visiting the theme park.

After a great deal of work, potential investors decided they could not justify the expenditure required to make it a year-round destination because of the weather patterns of Melbourne.

Sally Capp might have more information than me; she may have been talking to organisations or investors unknown.

If she has, she should let us all know, as the City of Melbourne could not afford such a proposal.

Sally Capp’s recent suggestion for a Melbourne Disneyland may be just smoke and mirrors. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Nor would it be a priority for the state government given its recent backflip on the Commonwealth Games and the horrific debt it has generated. So, instead of regurgitating old ideas, the Lord Mayor would be better advised to tackle the problems in the City of Melbourne that she and her colleagues in part created and have not solved since the city opened up after lockdowns.

To set the record straight, I actively supported Ms Capp when she first stood for election in 2018.

By her second election in 2020, I had become disillusioned by her priorities and lack of leadership, and the devastating impact on the thousands of small businesses in the city. I did not support her re-election.

Now she is apparently contemplating standing again in the council election due next year!

By her second election in 2020, I had become disillusioned by her priorities and lack of leadership. Picture: Dean Schmideg

Having recently had reason to drive through the city, the combination of massive tram stops bunched up together like bananas, bike lanes on both sides of the streets, and now lanes provided for delivery and construction vehicles, I found freedom of movement around the city virtually impossible.

To make matters worse – if that were possible – a lot of short-term street parking has been removed.

So, gone are the days when you could quickly stop, run into a shop to pick up an item of clothing, a quick meal or some other item.

Given the rate of decline in the city over the period of Sally’s mayoralty, if she gets another term, by the end of that period there is a real risk the city will be dead, perhaps sold off as a permanent film set.

Why would anyone want to go into the city? On Mondays and Fridays you could fire a cannon down Bourke St and not hit a soul.

Pleas from the Lord Mayor that employees should return to their city offices have fallen on deaf ears.

This is the case, in part, because the city is inhospitable. It is cold, cluttered, difficult to navigate, and parking is prohibitively expensive.

Why would anyone want to go into the city? Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

So, while we cannot blame Sally Capp for the pandemic, lockdowns and changing work practices, we can make the connection between her and her councillors’ acts of destruction that have exacerbated the decline of the city.

Nice person as Sally may be, the time has come for a new leader with authority, and an agenda to reopen the City of Melbourne.

I see Eddie McGuire’s name has been mentioned as a possible candidate, a proposition he immediately rejected.

That’s a pity, for regardless of him being a Collingwood man, he has some natural attributes.

Eddie McGuire has been mentioned as a possible candidate to be the next Lord Mayor. Picture: David Caird

He is an enthusiast.

He is an ideas man.

He is well connected to the government.

Finally, he is linked to all sections of the community, be it sport, the arts, commerce, entertainment and the media, which he can call on to reignite the life of this once great but dying city.

In life, sometimes an individual is called upon to serve.

Edward McGuire, that time has come for you.

Regardless of him being a Collingwood man, Eddie McGuire has some natural attributes.

Your city needs you.

I know that such an appointment would be somewhat inconvenient for you, wife Carla and your family.

Public service can often be that way.

But this city and state have been good for you, and you could achieve in one term as Lord Mayor what others have taken years to destroy.

We Melburnians, in fact Victorians, should not allow Ed to politely decline this opportunity.

It is time to light up the City of Melbourne again, to open the laneways, restaurants and bars, to fill the offices with people instead of tumbleweeds, but most of all to have fun.

So Sally, you have had a good run, but the city needs a person with authority who is connected, who has ideas, not in Fishermans Bend but where the real problems exist and have been worsened by your council.

So, thank you, declare you will exit with grace, and allow the next occupant of this once most prestigious and sought-after office to rebuild the city.

Onwards and upwards.

Jeff Kennett is a former premier of Victoria.