LUNCHEON - 9TH APRIL 2014

Speaker: Cr. Ken Ong – Chairman Melbourne City Council Planning Committee

Topic: Planning, Visions and Future of the Most Liveable City in the World

Chairperson: Max Hardman

Ken Ong has been a Melbourne businessman and community volunteer for more than 28 years.

Re-elected as a Councillor in October 2012 for his second term, Ken has been reappointed Chair of Planning, and was previously Deputy Chair of Future Melbourne (People and Creative City) and (Finance and Governance) Committees. Ken also chaired the City of Melbourne's Major Projects Advisory Board which oversees Council's major capital works projects.

Ken is the City of Melbourne's Councillor representative on the Committee for Melbourne, the Metropolitan Waste Management Group (MWMG) and the Inner Melbourne Action Plan (IMAP). He also chairs the Disability Advisory Committee.

He is a Life Member of the Chinese Association of Victoria (CAV). His previous experience included serving as President of the CAV for four years, and Public Relations Officer for the Federation of Chinese Association (FCA) for 10 years. Ken was Chairperson of the Chinese New Year Festival committee from 1999 to 2006 and is the Finance Director of the Australian Chinese Events Committee, which raises funds for charities, hospitals and other causes.

In 2007, Ken was awarded the Lord Mayor's Community Service Award. He has an engineering degree and a Master of Business Administration.

In 2012 Ken was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Community Leadership by the World Chinese Economic Forum.

Synopsis Of The Lunch:

Last week’s Guest Speaker City of Melbourne Councillor Ken Ong gave an enlightened address on the intricacies and challenges before him on a daily basis as Chairman of Council’s Planning Committee.  The City of Melbourne Strategic Statement incorporating the clearly different areas of the metropolis including Docklands, the City North encompassing the University and major public hospitals, East Melbourne, the St. Kilda Road sector plus Southbank all need sympathetic planning for the future uses of the precincts. High rise apartment accommodation is rising exponentially greater than ever experienced in the past. Planning approval has been granted for 17500 apartments to be constructed with a further 8000 awaiting approval.  A further 25,000 apartments are planned over the next 10 years.  This unprecedented growth on inner city living places the infrastructure under great stress.   Water, sewerage, power, drainage, pedestrian traffic, vehicle parking, public transport and other ancillary public services will be stretched to the limit.  A Housing Strategic Discussion Paper is pending Public comment with housing affordability being a key driving factor in the future growth of the City of Melbourne.

Ken was forthright in his comments, his vision is clear and he is a civic leader who understands the challenges and responsibilities of leading the Corporation of the City of Melbourne into the future. He acknowledged the difficulties, high expectations and disappointments often experienced by prospective investors but gave confidence to all in his presence last Wednesday that he accepts his place in the final decision making processes of ensuring Melbourne remains the Most Liveable City in the World. He left the dais with the best wishes and good will of all present encouraging him to maintain his drive and energies to achieve that goal.