Tuesday, 19 March 2024

 Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:56): The Australian dream has always been to own your own home – somewhere the kids can play, and you can know your neighbours – and in fact the presence of a backyard and a front nature strip and plentiful sports facilities is a technology that supports stable families and good citizens. My generation inherited a way of living from our parents, and I am ashamed to say that we will struggle to pass that on to our children. Victorians want the Australian dream, but this government, through their vanity project the Suburban Rail Loop, want to take that dream away from Australians and lock future families up in high-rise apartments. The Suburban Rail Loop Authority has released property overlays that consume whole suburbs, forcing residents to sell up or accept that they will have to live next to high tower blocks. Land ownership as a dream will continue to be the preference of Australians, no matter how the government would prefer us to live. In my electorate, suburbs like Glen Waverley and Box Hill have been earmarked for radical development, and residents are rightfully scared. Labor would rather push Victorians into concrete boxes as the expedient solution to a problem that they themselves have caused. As a society we will deeply regret this. This is not the solution for the housing crisis, it is not the solution for state debt, it is not the solution to cost of living and it is not the solution for lower taxes. The SRL should and must be paused.