Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Environment and Planning Committee

Inquiry into Securing the Victorian Food Supply

Mathew HILAKARI (Point Cook) (10:24): Sadly for you, Deputy Speaker, this may well be my last contribution on the report of the inquiry into securing the Victorian food supply that was handed down in November 2024 by the Environment and Planning Committee. It is a sensational report and really important for the community that I represent. I know how keen you are on hearing more about this report, so I am sorry to disappoint you that this may be the last contribution I make on it.

I would like to thank the committee members – the chair, the member for Wendouree, my chamber neighbour; the deputy chair, the member for Morwell; and the members for Bass, Monbulk, Ripon, Croydon and Warrandyte – all of whom contributed to this report and delivered what I think is a very good report that is already being taken seriously by government, and I will come to that in a few moments.

I hear the thanks for the secretariats of committees, and I acknowledge the secretariat of this committee, in particular Igor Dosen. But I would like to just give a shout-out to Caroline Williams, the executive officer of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. PAEC is about to lose Caroline Williams to the Northern Territory, where she will be heading off to assist the Northern Territory Parliament, and their gain is certainly our loss. Caroline, I hope you have a wonderful time up in the NT. I hope you come back to Victoria at some point. I know you will be warmly welcomed.

In terms of this report itself, it goes to the fundamentals of supporting the green wedges and protecting green wedges particularly related to agriculture. That is where it intersects most poignantly with the community that I represent. I was recently at a forum that was thinking about the community of Wyndham and how they may progress their industry and agriculture and what the community really needs. I met some people there who have land in Werribee South which is green wedged, an important agricultural area producing 10 per cent of Victoria’s crops – as the Deputy Speaker knows, our wonderful cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, all those wonderful vegetables that he eats every day at his lunch, and it is very important that he does so – and a couple of people approached me about seeking to develop land in the area of Werribee South. I told them what I tell everybody who talks to me about planning issues – that I really hope that they have engaged with the planning department well in advance of purchasing the land, because it is a very sad situation for many people who seek to develop land, whether for great community services and assets such as religious facilities or sporting facilities, or for development for houses or business, that they do not always see the planning department first and often their dreams are dashed, but also their dough is dashed because they have spent their dough on what they would like to see happen outside of the planning rules. I encourage all those people who are about to purchase land and who are thinking of developing it to engage with planning departments early.

Unfortunately for these people, my advice to them was to become farmers – and become very good farmers – because the area of Werribee South is for farming. There are some other uses that go on there, but it is primarily a farming area, so I hope that they do become very good farmers. I hope they get engaged in the agricultural industry. It does not mean they have to get into the mud. There are lots of ways that they can get involved in horticulture, in the development of plants and in the development of seedlings across that area, and there are some very thriving businesses who are doing a wonderful job, and I have spoken about some of those before.

I will go to recommendation 9 of this report, which discourages discretionary uses – this is talking about green wedges – that have no nexus with agriculture or the environmental values of green wedge zones and directs local governments to consider the total impact of all discretionary development across green wedges. These are very important recommendations that go to preserving and protecting the agricultural needs of Victoria and Melbourne. Werribee South is within 30 kilometres of Melbourne, and it is amazing to have that in our area for food security primarily but also for employment and a diversity of employment across our community.

I will end on recommendation 11, that the Victorian government make a strong and unequivocal commitment to maintaining Melbourne’s urban growth boundary in the new Plan for Victoria. That was done. That is part of the Plan for Victoria, and I am so glad to see that it is part of the Plan for Victoria because we need to increase density but at the same time protect our wonderful environment and our wonderful farming communities.