NEXT OVAN MEETING:

Sunday 20th July, 3pm, at Exodus Community Centre, 273 Liberty Pde, Heidelberg West.
All welcome! Find out more about our organisation and how to get involved!

To OLC members and neighbours,

It’s been a challenging few weeks for many in Heidelberg West and surrounding suburbs. Since our last community meeting on Sat 28th June, the OVAN commitee has been laying groundwork for our three priority areas, as detailed in our last post. These form the basis for our three working groups:

We are currently seeking expressions of interest for 1-2 community leads within each working group to spearhead efforts. If any of these working groups catches your eye, please email us at [email protected] or speak to us in person next Sunday 20th at 3pm to chat more.

Banyule Council’s ordinary meeting was held on 14th July, including tabling of the Active Banyule 2025-2030 plan. The Save the OLC Pool group organised a rally outside the chambers before the meeting, challenging Banyule Council’s decision to decommission aquatic facilities at the OLC in October 2025.

There is much in the Active Banyule 2025-2030 report that resonates with us - safe spaces, extended opening hours, increased maintenance especially for leisure centres, programs and infrastructure for people living with a disability and the elderly as well as considerations for the CALD women and the LGBTIQA+. Perhaps if these had actually been introduced to the OLC it would be a thriving, activated space.

However, we do not believe that Banyule Council has demonstrated the ability and commitment to community consultation to enable this to be successful. Based on the recent events surrounding the OLC, with five days notice given before voting to decommission and zero consultation on the proposed alternative, we in West Precinct and surrounding areas do not feel seen, heard or valued.

OVAN secretary Alex Childs spoke against the recommendation as presented, calling for amendments acknowledging that Banyule Council has failed to effectively address equity gaps or engage in authentic community consultation in its active living work in the past five years, and calling for a report within 12 months specifically assessing progress in these domains.

Unfortunately, Council did not implement these in the final amendment which passed unanimously. We will continue to advocate for Banyule to uphold its commitments to consultation and addressing equity across the Council.

We see two primary goals within this working group. In the short term, we want to ensure that the immediate proposed redesign of OLC (post aquatic decommissioning in October) is useful and relevant for our community. In the medium to long term, we want to see the OLC comprehensively redeveloped, including reintroduced aquatic facilities.

• On Friday 4th July, OVAN commitee members, Cr. Mary O’Kane, and former OLC co-design participant Jessie Webb, met with Joseph Tabacco (Director, Community Wellbeing) and Nicole Maslin (Manager, Healthy and Active Communities) from Banyule City Council to discuss the proposed OLC plans and advocate for stronger community engagement and voice in the centre’s future. Our next meeting with Council is scheduled for Tuesday 29th July.

• We have obtained a draft floorplan for the proposed redesign of OLC post aquatic decommissioning. On first review, it is starkly underwhelming. We have requested Council to provide additional detail on the plans.

• We remain deeply concerned that, with the lack of community consultation and meagre financial investment, the centre will fail to activate through this redesign. In response, we worry Council will further reduce hours or propose selling the land altogether.

We need your help to keep on these efforts!

• We are seeking working group leads as well as volunteers to help maintain pressure on Council and to provide technical expertise from a local lens (e.g., architecture, building and planning, human centered design, sport and recreation).

• We are also keen to specifically explore Part B, Point 11 from Resolution CO2025:

  “Investigate how the Council owned area between the back of the OLC and Holstep Community Health be functionally incorporated into community space.”

  We have yet to see any proposals (or plans for consultation) and would be keen to put forward our ideas.

With the anticipated decommissioning of aquatic facilities at OLC, we know that many of the wonderful stories of experiences, connections, and learning through this facility may be lost. We are keen to help capture the photos, videos, and stories of this place as a living history, to help hold us together, and to use in future advocacy for long term development of the OLC.

In the course of OVAN’s work, we’ve already heard such amazing stories. One of the most memorable came from Keti Ivanovska, a longtime resident:

We know there are so many more. We need your help! We need volunteers and working group leads to help in this domain.

• Do you have a story to share about your history and experience at OLC?

• Do you have any experience in portrait photography, videography/video editing, or short form interviewing?

• Are you aware of any grants that might be able to help fund this work?

We want to hold Council to account for the impact of OLC’s aquatic decommissioning on our community’s most vulnerable residents. In particular, we want to focus on specific elements included in Resolution CO2025/77, Part B:

Ivanhoe Aquatic is the obvious choice for transitioning the women’s only program, and we are keen to mobilise and advocate within the Ivanhoe community for this to happen.

We also fear that Council will fail to accurately and appropriately assess the impact on the community, or will undersell these. To hold Council to account, we will need to independently capture statistics and stories to offer a counter-narrative.

• Do you have experience in disability support services, social work, or community outreach, to help identify and connect with the most vulnerable members at OLC?

• Do you have experience in community-based surveys or data management and are keen to help build systems to track these stories and challenges?

• Are you an Ivanhoe resident who is keen to advocate for a women’s only night at Ivanhoe Aquatic Centre?

While not directly affiliated with OVAN, we strongly support the work of the newly emerged Save our Pool group. We represent different approaches but the same goal: advocating for our community.

• More than 30 community members gathered at the Olympic Village Green on Saturday 12 July to continue the campaign to keep the OLC pool open.

• Current work includes linkages with other community pool campaigns, meetings with individual councillors, independent research and more.

• The Save our Pool’s next planning meeting is on Tue 15th July, 6pm, in the meeting room at Elsedeaq Mosque, cnr Lloyd and Elliot Sts, Heidelberg Heights.

• Interested community members can sign up for their mailing list, email [email protected], and join their Facebook and Whatsapp groups.

📝 [1] Petition of Support for OVAN

We at OVAN were incredibly heartened to receive an unsolicited petition of support with 48 signatures from OLC members:

We were humbled by this kind gesture - it definitely put a spring in our step, and reminded us what an amazing community we are serving!

🎨 [2] Commissioned artwork by local artist Niahm Dorrat

We’ve been enamoured by local artist Niahm Dorrat’s work on landmarks in Heidelberg West, and OVAN secretary Alex Childs recently commissioned a custom piece of the OLC which captures the beauty and complexity of the site. Prints are available by order through Niamh’s instagram (@n.d_bird).

🤝 [3] Resignation of Brendan Busch as OVAN Vice-President

On Sunday 6th July, Brendan Busch formally resigned as OVAN Vice-President. We thank him for his passion and service as a founding OVAN committee member and wish him well in his ongoing advocacy efforts in our community and beyond.

On Wednesday 9th July, the OVAN committee nominated and confirmed Jean Hellstern as the new Vice-President. Jean is an exceptional planner and analytical thinker, Olympic Village resident, former OLC co-design member, and a kind and thoughtful human. We are so grateful for you stepping up Jean!

Our next OVAN meeting will be held this Sunday 20th July at 3pm at Exodus Community Centre, 273 Liberty Parade, Heidelberg West. All are welcome - find out more about our organisation, our priorities and working groups, and get involved!

Until then, stay safe and keep speaking up for our community.

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Dr. Aiden Varan, MD, MPH, BSc(Hons)
Paediatric registrar &
President, Olympic Village Action Network
On behalf of the Olympic Village Action Network Incorporated Association Committee
[email protected]
https://ovan.org.au
https://ovan.beehiiv.com

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands upon which the Olympic Village is situated, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin nations, and pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging. Soverignty over these lands was never ceded; always was, and always will be, Aboriginal country. We aim to work in collaboration with our First Nations partners to create a better future for our community.