The Basin Music Festival

Every March the peaceful quite suburb of The Basin at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges gets disrupted by the by the loud noise and bright lights of The Basin Music Festival.

The Basin Community Festival runs for three days over March in The Basin Triangle and surrounding shops attracting many visitors to the live music and community stalls, heading into its 7^th year the festival has been moved back a week from its usual time due to St Patricks Day so now the festival will be from the 23^rd to the 25^th of March.

Across 7 venues festival goers will be treated to many different styles of music that are found in the local region from Folk music to Rock, Blues to Jazz , and even Death Metal Mongolian Throat Singers as John Mortimore President of The Basin Music Festival association would say to describe the range of music that the festival offers.

Another major component of the music festival has been the Big Break Youth Stage which has offered young musicians an amazing opportunity to perform in a fun professional environment as they start their way into the music world, the youth stage is run with an opt-in competition with past winners going onto performing in a variety of music concerts around Victoria. The Big Break Youth Stage has been moved to its own weekend in July (21^st to 23^rd July) to better benefit young musicians.

The festival is the largest community music festival on the east side of Melbourne, been supported by the local Council (Knox City Council), community groups and local businesses The Basin Music Festival is a music event you can’t miss! Especially with half the stages been free to enter and enjoy, but we would like a donation to help pay for it all!

If you would like any more information about the festival check out http://www.thebasinmusic.org.au/

Anthony Osborne

Youth Coordinator

The Basin Music Festival

Re: Integrate them in the suburbs (Herald Sun Opinion10/1/12)

Ms Savage’s opinion on social housing is based on emotive misinformation; which is unfortunate when the actual situation in Social Housing is completely different.

Low-Income earners do pay tax, so do the people who live in social housing. I myself am classed in the low-income bracket and I pay tax every year on my income so do my retired parents who live in social housing.

The analogy of crime been associated with social housing is like saying all rental properties are grow drugs to sell on the street! The majority of people living in social housing actually happens to be retired seniors who have paid tax and contributed to their community all their life and in their retirement don’t earn enough to live in rental properties so hence social housing is their only housing option available to them, the same goes to disabled members of the community who also heavily rely on social housing as they are unable to earn the massive incomes that “inner-city elites” get due to their disability.

You would also find by doing in-depth research that the “second and third generation on the dole milking the system” is a small minority and most actually live in rental properties.

Social Housing always get the bad knock with misinformation been represented as fact, having met and spoken to a lot of residents in social housing I can tell you that they are nice hard working members of the community and it does upset them greatly to constantly see the housing choice that they live in attacked by NIMBY’s, politicians and councillors who don’t understand the situation that they are in and social housing in general.

I do agree however that the rent-buy scheme should be reintroduced by the Ministry of Housing, but then you need to be able to ensure that the residents are able to afford the Council rates and taxes and that there is more social housing been made available to the those in need, there is after all a two year waiting list.

Anthony Osborne

Advocate for Social Housing

Re: Council, take us seriously

I had been hoping to start my blog off with an article on the Importance of Social Housing, but I'm still writing and reviewing the article before I publish it.
So for the mean time I'm going to post some opinion articles that I have written for the Knox Leader and the Herald Sun.

Re: Council, take us seriously

I thought we elected councillors to be the community leaders? Or are they not up to the challenge?

I don’t believe the council officers are the ones that think only ratepayers get to have a say and get to know information, believe it’s more that certain councillors have the mentality that you can’t have an opinion unless you directly pay council rates.

The mentality that only those who directly pay rates are outdated, every resident pays rates in some form or another for those who rent they pay every rate rise when the landlord has to up the rent.

I believe that every resident and citizen of Knox has the right to have their say and that it be heard, it is time that we end this “ratepayers only” mentality!

Anthony Osborne