Dear friends

A small change to the planning scheme by the State Government last week may allow Techno Park residents to securely remain living in our homes.

Some background: internal documents revealed by the ABC showed that in 2022, Hobsons Bay Council knew people had been living at Techno Park for more than 15 years and were entitled to existing use rights to remain. When Council decided to “enforce the planning scheme” last year, they could have done this by inviting applications from owners to formalise these rights. Instead, they attempted to—in their words—“extinguish” our rights, and to force a mass eviction by sending notices accusing each household of unlawful residential use, and demanding we leave our homes immediately or face legal action.

The change in the planning scheme last week essentially means that after 15 years of continuous residential use has passed, a council no longer has the power to take that right away.

Our fight isn’t over. What happens next depends entirely on Hobsons Bay City Council, who are now fully empowered to recognise our existing use rights based on the more than 15 years people have lived in Techno Park homes, which they have themselves already acknowledged. 

If you live in Hobsons Bay, can you take 3 minutes to tell Mayor Tyler you want him to stand up for residents? 

You can use that email as a template and call, text, or email the other councillors too.

Over the last months, nearly 500 people wrote to the Planning Minister, urging her to intervene on our behalf. We don’t know what impact this had on her decision this week. We do know the impact of your solidarity and care on residents—it gives us heart, and keeps us going.

Thank you.

If you'd like to know more, you can:

Read the ABC story about council’s internal documents
Read The Age story about the change in the planning scheme (paywalled)
Listen to a conversation on 3CR about this news
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