Wednesday, 13 November 2024

Wonthaggi planning

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:30): (1280) My adjournment is for the Minister for Planning, and the action that I seek is for the minister to put aside whatever her personal dislike of the member for Bass is and stop penalising the people of Bass with this rolling campaign of attacks on their rights.

Last summer, while most of us were enjoying Christmas, watching the cricket or having some family time, the Minister for Planning quietly placed a retrospective environmental audit overlay across a lot of Wonthaggi North. Residents and homeowners found out by accident, and the overlay was only removed due to an incredible push and efforts from locals. The whole scenario was completely unnecessary and revealed just how ineffective the member for Bass is.

Now we have another example of the Minister for Planning seeking to decimate another town within the electorate of Bass, and again locals are telling me that the member for Bass has been either unwilling or unable to assist. Labor’s proposed strategic extractive resource areas, or SERA, planning controls will remove the rights of residents in Lang Lang to be informed of, object to or appeal against new or expanded quarries in the area. The people of Lang Lang are not anti quarry and they are not anti jobs. They simply seek a reasonable and sensible balance between their rights and potential expansions. These locals also think that it is reasonable to consider all of the impacts of the new and extended quarries on the town without pretending that the planning proposal can be considered in isolation.

The Lang Lang bypass has been promised for years and has been a significant component of any plan to expand the quarries to allow extra truck traffic. However, under this government people are not even allowed to raise the bypass as part of their submission against these proposals. Locals were told by the Department of Transport and Planning at an information session that if they bring up an issue that is beyond the planning reforms in the submission, it will not be reviewed by the department of planning. One local told me that they are only asking for submissions about the proposed legislation and nothing else, but they could also be asking for submissions about the other interlinked issues as well, such as the bypass, air quality testing et cetera. This government is not interested in hearing from the people that are affected by this. They only care about the decisions made within the Spring Street bubble and 1 Treasury Place.

Nothing better sums up the priorities of this government than a quote by the member for Bass that a member of the public told me. She told people that she would try to help even though they do not vote for her. That is really all they care about – not your rights, only votes.

The PRESIDENT: Can I check, was that action for a minister to stop being mean to a member of Parliament?

Renee HEATH: To stop her rolling campaign.

The PRESIDENT: Sorry, can I just hear the action again?

Renee HEATH: Yes, sure. My adjournment is for the Minister for Planning, and the action that I seek is for the minister to put aside whatever dislike she has for the member for Bass and – this is the action – to stop penalising the people of Bass with a rolling campaign of attacks on their rights.

The PRESIDENT: I will just review it tomorrow. I heard the first bit and I thought that was a weird action.