President's address - AGM 2025

As David’s Secretary’s report outlines, we’ve had a very busy, successful year, with well-attended events, sometimes multiple, almost every weekend. Many thanks to our subgroups and committee members for their work organising these.
Tonight, I want to talk about a few things that may not be obvious to all members and the public, but have taken a considerable amount of committee time, effort and, in some cases, angst.

Urbanisation of the upper Merri and the need for wallan wallan Regional Park

The rapid urbanisation of the upper Merri catchment and its impact on the creek is of increasing concern and is occupying significant time for the committee. The state government has big plans for the Merri Catchment that not many people are aware of.

While redirecting urban growth from the urban fringe to established suburbs is welcome, as you can see in this map, under Plan Melbourne, almost the entire catchment area will still be urbanised.
Note:

• all the hatched areas are new suburbs;
• there is a major activity centre right on the Merri Creek at Lockerbie – think Box Hill, or Footscray, on the Merri!
• the massive Beveridge intermodal freight terminal and associated industrial and warehousing district;
• new outer orbital freeways.

Image: Department of Transport and Planning, Plan Melbourne Implementation Plan, 2050  Northern Region.

A key way to mitigate the negative impacts of urbanisation is to establish the wallan wallan regional park, as recommended by a DEECA feasibility study. This will make these new suburbs more liveable.  With a restored Hernes Swamp as its centrepiece, this will help protect the Merri from the massive amount of stormwater runoff these suburbs will generate. It will also connect to the marram baba parklands in the middle Merri. Government has been drip feeding the community promises on the park for over a decade. The need for it is now critical, as precinct structure planning processes are underway, which threaten to prevent its full extent and protect significant environmental and cultural assets.

Image: wallan wallan Regional Park as proposed by DEECA. Map courtesy of Yasmin Kelsall, MCMC.

With MCMC, the Wallan Environment Group and others, we have formed the wallan wallan Regional Parkland Alliance.

The Alliance’s aims are:

• developing a website to promote the park;
• launching a petition;
• developing an active social media campaign;
• lobbying all parties in the lead up to the 2026 election with the aim of securing a promise to establish the park in full.

So, stay tuned for updates and calls for action. We will need to build a movement to convince the government to declare the regional park.

Another concerning issue that has taken up a lot of the committee’s time is the troubling rise of the Sovereign Canine Movement in the inner north.
Sovereign canines assert that local government laws don’t apply to them. They’ve managed to convince their owners that it is their innate right to walk and run free anywhere in the parks, shared paths, and in some cases streets, of Yarra, Merri-bek and Darebin, regardless of the off-leash rules.  It seems to be a growing movement. There are sovereign canine gangs in some on-leash areas and dog exclusion zones along the Merri. Despite ignoring all the laws, the Sovereign Canines seem to have increasing influence over councils.

Seeing this on her walks, my 6-year-old Labradoodle, Polly, has told me she wants in on the action and would like to join the Sovereign Canines Movement. She said she is too smart to chase birds, but would love the opportunity to terrorise the neighbourhood cats, kill another rabbit, and go anywhere she wants without having to drag me along by her leash. She argues that council’s enforcement officers never go down to the creek, so she can do what she likes and won’t get into trouble.

Given this, we’ve had to have a serious talk!

I’ve had to tell her that becoming a Sovereign Canine and running free is not a good idea, because there is lots of evidence (which we have provided to councils), that it could be bad for her and the environment. Along the banks of the Merri Creek, there are lots of prickles and burrs that will get into her fur. The creek water is often polluted and fast flowing and there are territorial tiger snakes every 200-300 metres.

I’ve also told her that not everyone loves dogs as much as her family does. She didn’t understand that some people fear dogs because of traumatic past experiences and not everyone loves her to jump up on them like her family does. She also couldn’t comprehend why bounding up to bush kinder kids may frighten them, or that revegetation plantings were not established as a convenient toilet stop. She was dismayed to learn that some members of the Sovereign Canine movement are not very nice doggy citizens.  They have been implicated in dog fights that require a trip to the vet and even the murder of much-loved swans.

Seriously, this year, the issue of dogs at Tate Reserve, Coburg Lake, Strettle Wetland, Fawkner and other places has taken up way too much committee time and caused much angst for Friends’ members when it shouldn’t. It’s an avoidable situation. Council regulations state that:

• dogs must be on a leash in public except designated off-leash areas;
• dogs must be on a leash and be in control when they are within 10 m of cycling paths, play spaces, and shared paths;
• dogs are not allowed to enter within a playground, creek or waterway at any time.

Despite this, to our knowledge, there has been no enforcement of on-leash rules anywhere along the creek in living memory. Councils may be inadvertently encouraging dogs to enter the creek, through the provision of “dog beaches” in an attempt to control the erosion they cause. In the case of Tate Reserve, compromise fence solutions could also be seen as a reward for repeated destruction of council property. Would this be acceptable elsewhere?

The FoMC committee recognise the many benefits of companion animals to people. Many of us are dog owners ourselves. The massive increase in dog ownership brings challenges for councils and increased demand for off-leash areas. We believe there needs to be a balanced educative, “carrot and stick” approach to responsible dog and cat ownership. Currently, it's all carrots, which Polly loves! And no sticks. Without a realistic threat of enforcement by council officers at least occasionally patrolling creek parklands:

• Where will the space for wildlife be along the creek?
• Where will the many people who want to connect with nature and wildlife, which is so good for our mental health, do this?
• How will councils stop the Sovereign Canine movement? The problem will just get worse.

And now to some more positive things.

50^th Anniversary celebrations

We’ve got a lot to look forward to next year. According to the McGregors, who would know, late in 1976, the decision was made to form the Merri Creek Coordinating Committee, which was the precursor organisation to both the FoMC and MCMC. This means we are approaching our 50^th Birthday, or Anniversary. Consequently, we have started planning a series of commemorative, celebratory and advocacy activities for 2027.  

Why not 2026? I hear you ask.

It’s because, although the MCCC was formed in 1976, it took the 76’ers a while to hold their first meeting, which was not until Feb 1977. 2027 was also chosen because the State election is in November 2026, and we anticipate being quite busy advocating for the creek next year, trying to secure election promises - in particular in relation to the wallan wallan Regional Park.

Activities for which planning is well underway include:

• A book on the environmental and social history of Merri Creek that will document its destruction and restoration. We are excited to announce that we have commissioned environmental historian and semi-retired Victoria University academic, Chris McConville, to write the book. We believe there is a really nice synergy in this, because, as a masters student, Chris was one of the authors of the Public Interest Research Group Merri Creek study that recommended the formation of a Merri Creek Coordinating Committee.
• A return to the site of the first community tree planting event along the Merri at Clara St, in East Brunswick. There we intend to finish the job Bruce and Ann McGregor and many others started 50 years ago, as only 1 or 2 of the trees the community planted that day have survived.

There is a lot to look forward to and a lot to do in 2026 and beyond.  I would encourage any members interested in helping out to contact the committee via friendsofmerricreek@gmail.com  

Thank you.