Wednesday, 28 August 2024

Petitions

Wonthaggi planning

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:35): I move:

That the petition be taken into consideration.

While most of us were preparing for the holiday season last year, many residents in Wonthaggi were about to enter one of the most stressful periods of their life. Days before Christmas, on 21 December, the Minister for Planning signed off on a retrospective environmental audit overlay that covered hundreds of properties throughout Wonthaggi north-east precinct. It was only when residents accidentally found out about the retrospective EAO being applied to their titles that they realised the consequences of this ministerial decision. For months residents were left in the dark about what the decision meant, what effect it would have on the value of their property and how this sudden and retrospective governmental decision could be rectified. The local community galvanised quickly, and the Wonthaggi north-east residents action group was established to coordinate their response and activities. This was the result of a government who blanked its constituents in their darkest hour and at their time of greatest need.

At this stage I would like to thank its members Helen, Pru, Liam, John and Alan and acknowledge their incredible and selfless work. This committee organised rallies, lobbied their council and parliamentarians and started the very petition that we are here discussing today. While the EAO has now been removed from almost all of the affected properties, the fact is that the stress this community has gone through should never, ever have happened.

It is clear that if the community, led by the five people I mentioned earlier, had not created a movement, the government would not have acted. The fact is they only removed the EAO to save face. This is selfish Spring Street focused politics at its best. Making this decision even more galling is the fact that not one single property was found to have any historical contamination at all. This whole nightmare was completely unnecessary. The minister deliberately kept people in the dark. The Premier tried to pretend that this was a longstanding issue and nothing to do with her government at all, and the local member went missing in action. The entire government dragged their feet on resolving the issue until the local community pressure made it impossible for them to ignore.

I was first contacted about this issue in April, when residents started getting advice that there was an overlay placed on their property which was making it impossible to build, extend, develop or sell their land. The local council even recommended no gardening until the all clear had been given. I heard terrible stories from people who battled through these past months under enormous stress and uncertainty – families who were uncertain about what their future held, their homes and their value being their biggest asset. One resident wrote:

The imposition of this EAO has taken a toll on my health and well-being. Recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, the added stress from the EAO has made managing my condition even more challenging. When I purchased my land, I considered it to be one of my biggest achievements and was very proud to call myself a landowner, I now consider it to be the single worst decision of my life (at no fault of my own).

…

How can this happen in the midst of one of the worst housing crises in our state’s history?

This is from a couple in their 60s who had bought what they thought would be their last home:

What should be a great time in our lives, we have had nothing but stress and anxiety since we heard of the EAO placed over our area. We cannot leave work now even when our house is finished as we do not know if we will get our Occupancy Certificate, therefore we still need to work to pay the loan, we are tired, run down and had enough. We cannot afford to pay for testing and just to add insult to injury, we received a $1600 Land Tax Bill from the State Revenue Office! For what, we cannot do anything with our land atm and they want to also slug us Land Tax?

These are stories from real people who have been tormented by this government.

In closing, I have had many conversations with the local community around this issue. At the last meeting I asked them: what would you like to see to conclude this nightmare? They gave me three points: (1) they want the EAO removed from all existing land throughout the precinct, (2) they want acknowledgement that there are residents that are still taking medication and are still having counselling to deal with the stress and anxiety that this disaster has caused them and (3) they want this government to take responsibility and for the Premier to apologise for what they have been through. These requests would seem to be the very least that this government can do to rectify the damage and stress that they have caused.

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (17:41): I want to start by acknowledging that there has been a lot of stress for residents throughout this process. There were those that were undergoing financing on their properties, those in the process of building, those looking to sell. As Dr Heath pointed out, there were those working on gardens – a variety of people at a variety of points along their path with their properties.

It has been a difficult time, but I think during this process local member Jordan Crugnale leaned in with residents and engaged the minister. The minister took briefings on a weekend, understanding the importance of the issue and the importance of getting on with dealing with the issue. Funding was made available to the council for the co-funding of preliminary risk screen assessments. Between the state government, the council, the EPA and the Victorian Planning Authority work was done to audit properties. As I said, it was a matter of urgency to go through and conduct those PRSAs and move through and clear properties to give owners and residents peace of mind about their properties going forward. I think it was really important to go through that process.

We heard calls of ‘A stroke of a pen to change an overlay’. But the point is that residents deserve certainty over their property, and we have done that work and been able to do that. I know sometimes perhaps it is a bit of a hangover from the Matthew Guy days – those in the opposition like to be able to strike a pen through planning and look at rezoning. But I hope there has been an understanding in the community of the work that has been done this year to work through those properties as a matter of urgency. We absolutely acknowledge the stress that many felt and faced with that uncertainty, but the funding has been put in, the work has been done and residents have been given certainty. I will leave my contribution there.

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:44): I am pleased to rise to speak to the petition tabled on behalf of the community of the north-east precinct in Wonthaggi by my Liberal colleague Dr Renee Heath, and I thank her for her work in this department. You hear the phrase ‘Your home is your castle’. It is the very foundation of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – to have a place of shelter, to have a place of privacy, to have a sanctuary free from intrusion and free from harm. These are the foundations of what it is to own a home.

At the end of last year, 2023, people had purchased homes. They had purchased lots to build homes. They were planning a future for their lives, for their castles, for their families or for their retirement – a whole range of issues – and they were going to live there and enjoy the wonderful place that is Bass Coast shire. When they looked at the section 32 of those properties, the land or homes, they looked at that with due diligence, and they found that there was no potential for land contamination due to farming activities on that section 32. So it was clear – they had done their due diligence and away they went. Move forward, as we have heard, a few months or a month into the summer period, and what do these people become? We see that they unknowingly become protagonists in the most nightmarish debacle not of their own making. Under the threat of an environmental overlay these people were thrown into chaos. There were approximately 600 homes and a couple of thousand people but still over 5000 blocks of land. And what happened because of this? They could not build. Their building was halted. They could not occupy their newly built homes. They could not access finance on these homes. If they were retirees, they could not redraw or build that equity in these homes. Who has a lazy $80,000, the maximum that would be required to remediate works to clear an environmental audit requirement? Who has that money? They were in freefall about this government and what it did.

We have heard from my colleague that there was no communication, and indeed the government took five months to go in and to explain, ‘Whoops, we’ve made a very big mistake.’ On 2 May I raised it in the Parliament in this house, and I called on the Minister for Planning to find a solution: ‘You have stuffed up monumentally. Find a solution.’ My colleague Renee Heath, with members of that community, instigated a petition that has garnered over 2000 signatures. The government’s response has been very tardy and dismissive. I have heard the complete opposite to what my colleague the Labor member over there Mr Tom McIntosh said about the local member. I have heard that people were frustrated and angry with the fact that the local member told residents, and I am quoting a local resident who sat and spoke with me: ‘This is a storm in a teacup, and it will go away in time.’ Well, let us look at what that teacup was: enormous financial stress. They could not sell their homes, they could not build their homes and they could not finish their homes. They could not even build a pergola or a garden shed. People were wondering, in relation to the contaminated land, should they let their kids go outside and play in the backyard? Could they put a stake in the ground to tie up a plant?

What we now see is that there was total incompetence between the Victorian Planning Authority, the Environment Protection Authority Victoria and this state government. People felt very aggrieved. As we have heard, and I concur entirely with the good residents that I have spoken to, they want an admission of wrongdoing, they want an apology and they want this overlay removed, period. There have been wonderful people who I have spoken with too, and some of them are Prudence, Helen, Ricky, Brian, Alliza, Paul, Brandi, and also I acknowledge the work of Mr Allan Brown. This is a shocking indictment of this government, and they should learn this lesson and apologise to the community of Wonthaggi.

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (17:49): I rise to support Dr Heath’s petition. I would say that this local member – I have never heard of this person who is the local member, obviously totally irrelevant – has failed the people of Bass, and this government has completely failed the people of Wonthaggi and the people of Bass. When the Minister for Planning approved the Wonthaggi planning amendment last year she exempted herself from providing notice to any of the affected residents. Really? What was that about – a conflict of interest, no less? She needs to fess up.

The only information released was a reference to the decision about the planning amendment in the Government Gazette and a press release from the Victorian Planning Authority on 18 January. However, both of these failed to mention the environment audit overlay. This government made no effort at all to let people know what was happening, and this lack of information just made the situation worse for many. On top of that, this government tried to avoid any responsibility. No surprise there – that is what they do all the time. This Labor mob are always trying to avoid responsibility and accountability. When the Premier was asked about this overlay in Parliament, she referred to it as:

… a planning issue that has been an issue for the Bass Coast community for a number of years now.

This was not the case, and I am proud that the Liberal and National parties stood up for the residents of Wonthaggi, especially their local upper house member Dr Renee Heath. At a rally in Wonthaggi the Leader of the Opposition, no less, committed to overturning the overlay. He said:

A future Liberal and Nationals Government … will not let Labor’s planning overlay stand.

We will rip it up. Labor has callously attacked the homes of Wonthaggi residents and we will fix it.

I am sure government speakers on the other side will stand up today, as Mr McIntosh did, and pat themselves on the back for belatedly addressing this cruel and unnecessary torture they have put the community through. The people who deserve the credit are the local community, and I congratulate them for the way they pulled together to create the enormous response we are debating today. This government needs to take note. And that local member, whoever she is – I have never heard of her, as I said before – clearly failed, totally failed the people of Wonthaggi and the people of Bass. She will not be there come the next election, that is for sure. This will kill her off.

We need to congratulate their local MPs, as I have said, Dr Heath and Ms Bath for standing up for the people of Wonthaggi. If Labor fails them continually, at least we have some people that stand up for them – Dr Heath and Ms Bath. They stand up for the people of Wonthaggi and the people of Bass. You lot totally failed them at every opportunity. You put them under stress and strain, as Dr Heath has told us. They are still suffering the mental anguish from what you have put them through. How do you do this to people? You do it all the time. You are forever riding roughshod over every community, every individual. It is outrageous. Anyway, you will get your comeuppance at the next election. People have had enough of all this shocking riding roughshod over everybody.

Michael Galea interjected.

Bev McARTHUR: You will be lucky if you are still there, Mr Galea. And Enver – you are failing all those prisoners as well, Mr Erdogan. Anyway, congratulations to Dr Heath and to Ms Bath for bringing this to our attention and for those wonderful people of Wonthaggi in that electorate of Bass, where they have been totally misrepresented by their local member – as I said, I have never heard of her – and this Labor government, who have failed them considerably. So well done to the people of Wonthaggi and the people of Bass and their local Liberal and National members. Without them, they would have been down the gurgler totally.

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:54): First of all, I would like to thank Ms Bath for her incredible contribution and also for championing this issue in the local community, and Mrs McArthur for her words there – thank you so much. I will come to Mr McIntosh shortly. While this house considers so many significant issues, for the people in Wonthaggi there will be no issue that is more important than this one. This issue has occupied their every thought. The whole fiasco was created by that government, and it was managed appallingly by the government.

First, no notice was given or provided to the people of Wonthaggi, the community or its residents. There was no consideration for what impact the environmental audit overlay would have on them, their mental health, their families or their properties. Next, the government denied the matter was caused by them and refused to take action, and we saw that again today. It is disgusting. And they were dragged kicking and screaming to finally take steps to rectify this situation. Lastly, the government have tried to claim credit for returning things to the status quo after they finally acted on the very situation that they caused – and, no less, they put the community through a whole lot of pain to get there in the first place.

A couple of comments I would like to say on Mr McIntosh’s contribution: I am glad that he finally acknowledged the stress, but to turn it around and to politicise it and use it as an example to take a cheap shot at Matthew Guy, of all people, is just a disgusting disregard of what this government put people through, and he should be ashamed of himself. Secondly, to talk about the government’s response – and by the way, where is Jordan Crugnale? If she cared that much, she could have come and she could have sat in the gallery and listened to the pain that she has put her residents through. Where is the Minister for Planning? If they really cared, they would be here. I just want to say you cannot pat yourself on the back for giving certainty when that is what you have ripped away.

Motion agreed to.