Thursday, 3 April 2025

St Joseph’s Christian College

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (18:01): (1584) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Planning, and the action I seek is for the minister to end the uncertainty and the stress for the Assyrian Church of the East community in my electorate and call in the decision to approve St Joseph’s Christian College in Yuroke on Mickleham Road and finally allow this school to be built. The church community have complied with every request made by the state government: they have downsized, they have agreed to change an intersection – they have been told they cannot build there because of a tree. They are still waiting on a VCAT decision after battling with the minister’s representative and her department in a long and protracted case with the Department of Transport and Planning. And when Labor members of Parliament and Labor ministers are asked to show their support for the school, they whisper platitudes about general support but shirk blame on an independent planning process – except it is not. The Minister for Planning has the power to call this in, a ministerial period power she is happy to use and should now.

I will go through a few examples of how the minister has used this power in the past: she overrode the City of Melbourne over the development of Shell House; called in a controversial rezoning of Sandown racecourse for a 7500 home estate; ignored Bayside council and rezoned the former Xavier College site in Brighton; made Whitehorse council lodge an FOI request to find out she had approved a 50-storey development in Box Hill; approved a massive solar farm near Little River and blocked the right of residents to appeal; called in and approved a significant project in historic Humffray Street in Ballarat; and waited until the day Merri-bek council voted against an apartment building before calling it in and approving it – and the list goes on.

Clearly the minister is not afraid to call things in, so it is time to approve this school. The minister, Labor MPs and Labor ministers and members in the northern suburbs cannot say this is an independent planning process, because we know they have used the powers before in ways that are not independent. Unfortunately, this process, which has seen the church spend over $300,000 in legal fees in a long, protracted case – this process that you are putting the Assyrian community through is a choice, and we know it is a choice because the minister has these powers. I was at the Assyrian new year festival in Craigieburn over the weekend with about 4000 people from the community, speaking with one voice about how they want the minister to approve this school. So I seek the action of the minister again: stop being so contemptuous and approve the school.