Posted 11/9/08
Planning: residential zones
Mr GUY (Northern Metropolitan) — I want to take this opportunity to place on record my appreciation of the many hundreds of concerned Victorians who signed the petition tabled today under my name in relation to the Labor government’s new residential zones policy discussion paper. The new residential zones have arisen from the population estimation failures of Melbourne 2030 and this government, as well as Labor’s chronic inability to plan ahead for our city’s needs.
Because of those failures Labor wants to remove third-party appeal rights, something that has never happened before in Victoria. Labor wants to destroy the urban character of many suburbs — outer suburbs, inner suburbs, middle suburbs, new suburbs, old suburbs. It wants to mandate high-rise and high-density development right across our city.
There is a place for high density, but it is not in every cul-de-sac, it is not in every lane, it is not in every street and it is not in every shopping strip, but that is what we are going to get under Labor’s new residential zones policy.
I take this opportunity to commend the Planning Backlash group for standing up for what they believe in and for taking a stand against development that threatens urban character in suburbs where it is not appropriate. I commend the many hundreds of Victorians and the many thousands of Melburnians who are now rising up against the new residential zones policy.
Hon. J. M. Madden Be careful, be careful!
Mr GUY — The policy the minister says we should all be careful about criticising. ‘Be careful’, he says. We have every right to criticise Melbourne 2030. It is a dog of a policy, and it is destroying our suburbs’ urban character. He is presiding over it, and this government will bear the electoral cost for its failures.
If you would like to contact Matthew Guy, here are his contact details:
Matthew Guy MP
Shadow Minister for Planning
Member for Northern Metropolitan
03 9457 5328
03 9455 2968 fax
0400 001 282
matthew.guy@parliament.vic.gov.au