Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Legal and Social Issues Committee

Inquiry into the Rental and Housing Affordability Crisis in Victoria

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:34): I rise to speak on the Victorian government’s response to the Legal and Social Issues Committee’s report into the rental and housing affordability crisis in Victoria, which was tabled on 12 September 2024. Recommendation 27 of the committee’s report says that the Victorian government should develop community engagement programs for areas where it plans to increase density, and that:

The programs should address community concerns and provide information on why density must increase, including its social and economic benefits.

The government’s response to this recommendation is to support it in principle.

The Labor government claims, as is its usual practice, to engage with the community and stakeholders for all significant strategic work, including areas where density increases are proposed, but we all now know that that is not true. The government response refers to the 10 locations and activity centres pilot program but fails to mention that activity centres are not the only places where the government hopes to increase density. Labor want to radically transform rural and regional towns, but they are not doing any significant work to engage the local communities. It has given housing targets to regional local government areas across Victoria that will push councils to accept increased density in rural towns but has never consulted properly with the rural and regional communities about how these changes will affect them. Mitchell shire has been told that it must increase housing in its area by 312 per cent. Similarly, Macedon Ranges Shire Council must accommodate another 12,700 homes among its small country villages. The Minister for Planning is currently entertaining developer proposals for increased housing density in rural towns where such density is completely out of keeping with the rural character of those towns and goes against long-term planning principles that were put in place to preserve the charm of small towns.

The government pretends that it wants to consult with local communities, but in practice Labor is busy changing the rules to force councils to approve radical development proposals and then stripping the rights of residents to appeal inappropriate developments. Everyone knows we need more housing, and there are some appropriate places for mid-density developments in metro and regional city centres as part of infill programs. But enabling microlot apartments and townhouses in greenfield rural developments is completely inappropriate. It creates car-dependent suburbs adjacent to rural towns where the infrastructure simply cannot handle the massive boom in the population and traffic.

The proposal under consideration for Amess Road in Riddells Creek, Macedon Ranges, would actually double the population of Riddells Creek. It would double the car traffic into town, double the commuters waiting for a train at the station, double the number of shoppers in the supermarket car park and double the number of kids needing a place in kinder or schools. The community of Riddells Creek have raised their concerns about this inappropriate development with the minister through their lower house member Mary-Anne Thomas, me and other upper house members. They are particularly concerned that the consultation conducted by Engage Victoria is flawed, as they were advised by Mary-Anne Thomas that only 118 submissions had been lodged when the figure was actually well over 1000. The community wants the flawed consultation to be scrapped and to start again, but instead of listening to the community the minister has pushed ahead, with Mary-Anne Thomas announcing yesterday that the minister has referred the application to Planning Panels Victoria.

This morning I delivered a petition of signatures collected over the past two weeks that bears the signatures of 1278 Victorians who are opposed to this application to the minister. I seek leave to table a copy of that petition now.

Leave granted.

Wendy LOVELL: The development plan in Amess Road is completely out of keeping with the character of the rural town and goes against long-term planning principles adopted by the shire to preserve the relaxed and spacious feeling of its country towns. This application was rejected by the Macedon Ranges council and then lodged directly with the minister via the development facilitation pathway. The minister must listen to the local community and the Macedon Ranges council, who know that this development will not deliver positive outcomes for current or future residents of Riddells Creek.