Good afternoon everyone,
Professor Michael Buxton has summarised the absolutely catastrophic events that have transpired recently in Melbourne. Here are the details. I BEG all of you to take the time to read what is happening. For some of us, this nightmare is already in our backyards.
Labor will destroy a city that doesn't need saving
This week, the Victorian government passed new laws to transform much of Melbourne's suburbs into high and medium-rise precincts and abolish or severely curtail council and resident participation in the planning process.
The Labor government, Greens and some members of the crossbench teamed up to reject a Liberal Party attempt to disallow three major planning amendments that implement the most radical changes made to the Victorian planning system.
In siding with Labor, the Greens condemned the urban environments valued by millions of people as valueless, changing fundamentally the ways people will live.
They also abandoned democratic principles by supporting Labor's autocratic exclusion of citizens and local government from decisions about the future of their city.
Much of Melbourne's middle ring and established suburbs will be demolished and rebuilt initially around rail stations and shopping centres to a radius of about 1km. Up to 50 per cent of some municipalities will be reconstructed.
Developments of up to three stories will need no permit and commercial uses will be introduced into many residential areas.
A parliamentary select committee investigated over 13 planning amendments that comprise a new planning system. The government devised this system in secret with the property industry and imposed it without proper consultation or public exhibition.
A direct pathway now leads from developers to ministerial planning approvals. Traditional rights of objection and appeal are removed or severely curtailed. Councils and residents are largely excluded from the planning process. The decision to approve the amendments ignored a select committee finding they posed a serious risk to heritage values and the city's "magnificent heritage buildings and zones" should be protected.
Much of the heritage legacy that makes Melbourne and regional centres distinctive and productive will be progressively obliterated.
The government's own standing committee on activity centres advised that the amendments be changed to protect heritage. The government hid this advice for six months.
Melbourne finally has been handed over to property and powerful interests by turning a planning system designed to regulate into one government and property industry. In a major break with tradition, Colleen Peterson, the former head of consulting firm Ratio, was recently appointed head of state planning.
Ratio praised Ms Peterson for successfully representing property and development. She appeared at the select committee supporting the type of planning measures property industry leaders advocate.
Another connection is the use of consultants linked to the property industry to redesign the planning system. Mark Sheppard, a senior member of Urbis consulting, co-authored the key report that formed a basis of the government's activity centre redevelopment plans and controls, and with Urbis helped prepare the structure plans for the Suburban Rail Loop precincts.
He and Urbis then supported the government's proposals for activity centres in presentations to the select committee. Mr Shepperd represented the Victorian Planning and Environmental Law Association, which has strong connections with the property industry. Among the sponsors of VPELA gala dinners, for example, are Ratio, Urbis and Villawood Properties.
Labor and the Greens also ignored the findings of the select committee and the Green minority report that the government had no evidence its plan would increase the supply of housing or affordable housing.
Labor had proceeded without modelling the effects. It ignored evidence the planning system did not limit new housing and that increasing the supply of market-rate housing did not significantly improve affordability.
It accepted that tens of thousands of council planning approvals remain unacted upon because of high building costs. But ignored findings that construction industry problems, not the planning system, local councils or residents, are limiting new dwelling supply. The government imposed its amendments without any idea of their impacts on land supply, land price or broader impacts, driven not by evidence but blind ideology.
The question asked of the parliament was a simple one: why destroy a city unnecessarily to save it?
Why not achieve housing targets that can be met in better ways while retaining Melbourne's valued amenity and historic assets?
There is time to plan for growth while protecting what we most value.
The select committee recommended the planning amendments be modified upon consultation with councils and communities. This used to be called "proper planning". The government has replaced it, supported by the Greens, with a new authoritarianism.