Archive: State Election 2010
Last Updated 14/12/10
MRRA Post Election Media Release
2010 Victorian Election:
Liberal / National State Government
"Keeps Macedon Ranges Rural"
with STATE LEVEL PROTECTION
Thank you, Baillieu government!
Thank you to everyone who supported and helped MRRA,
and worked towards this result.
(23/11/10 - SG) Seems the State government still thinks Macedon Ranges is already protected, it's all working well, local residents can write a 'local' planning scheme, and Council already has the tools to control development. Anybody agree? Anybody at all?
There were no surprises in Labor's response to where the government stands on State level protection for Macedon Ranges. Sadly it has all been heard before, one way or another.
According to the State government, it seems: Macedon Ranges is already protected, MRRA is wrong, our council and community can create our own future (is that without any further bullying from the Department to lose the things we need?), and in a way, it's Council's fault. So when the teensy lots come up, the wall-to-wall units, the 3 - 4 storey buildings - it's never the State government's fault (see Gisborne AAMI Call Centre).
There's something really distasteful about the way this response says "if re-elected, the Brumby government would continue to support protection of the Macedon Ranges..." MRRA would like to know when they STARTED.
The people who live here know what's going on here, and how we are almost powerless to stop development that harms this place and our values. Now, with Labor's response, they know that the State government isn't going to do anything to help stop it.
Is it a case of they don't know, or is it that they don't want to know? Either way, as MRRA said about the government's attitude in 2005: Macedon Ranges, you're on your own.
Click here to see MRRA's comments on Labor's response.
MRRA Says:
Labor's response made it abundantly clear that nothing is going to move the Brumby government to give Macedon Ranges protection. Why give a place protection when the government says we already have it?
You be the judge of how protected you think Macedon Ranges is, how much your view counts when it comes to development applications. Not much, right? And that isn't going to change apparently, if the current government becomes the future government. See Candidates Responses
Letter To Editor - MP Responds 23/11/10
We also noticed a letter (apparently from Macedon MP Joanne Duncan) in this week's Express in response to a letter last week from Louise Whitefield. The author of this week's letter denies ever expressing the sentiments in Ms. Whitefield's letter: "the last meeting with our local member informed us that what we were asking for couldn't be done because we were asking to be made an exception.".
Louise Whitefield is a member of MRRA. The day after a meeting with Joanne Duncan last year, attended by MRRA President Brian Whitefield and Secretary Christine Pruneau, MRRA sent an email to its members, reporting on that meeting. The email describes the response MRRA received at the meeting, which corresponds with Ms. Whitefield's description. Click here to see the internal MRRA email.
(20/11/10 - SG) After 11 years in the wilderness, a State level protection lifeline at last! Thank you...
The Liberal National Party Coalition, will, as policy, give Macedon Ranges State level policy protection, and keep Statement of Planning Policy No. 8.
This is what has been needed in Macedon Ranges.
It is what the State government has, for 11 years, failed to do.
This week, MRRA contacted all candidates/parties running in Lower and Upper House seats that fall within Macedon Ranges Shire. All were invited to state their position on giving Macedon Ranges the State level policy protection it has so long needed. Along with the Liberal/National parties, some other candidates also expressed support (Greens Hans Paas, Kate Toll; Independent Lorraine Beyer; Country Alliance Gavin Greaves; and Sex Party Tristram Chellew), but the ALP, DLP, Family First, and Christian parties did not respond.
This means there is a clear choice for Macedon Ranges' voters in next week's election:
Macedon Ranges - a natural wonder; or
Macedon Ranges - a suburb.
MRRA Says:
The Liberal / National parties went to the 2006 election with a policy to protect Macedon Ranges. So this week's announcement shows a consistent commitment to protecting this place, and to recognizing the dire straits Macedon Ranges is in.
It was the Liberal Hamer government in the 1970s that first recognized the need to protect the irreplaceable features, resources and character of this area, and made that happen with Statement of Planning Policy No. 8, and strong (prescriptive) planning schemes. Most of those protections were lost in 2000, with the Bracks government's approval of Macedon Ranges' new format planning scheme.
MRRA's (and others') pleas to the Labor government to live up to its 1999 promise to protect Macedon Ranges have fallen on deaf ears. That government has instead taken actions that place Macedon Ranges under unbearable development pressures, and have left Macedon Ranges dangling with nothing with which to resist those pressures. Indeed, look around, there is a blatant excitement amongst those who stand to clean up at the thought of turning Macedon Ranges into a new suburb of Melbourne. And those suburbs are coming closer: Melton, Toolern... Gisborne? Connect the dots.
Residents also know all too well the heartbreak of a completely damaging or inappropriate planning application, and having to fight for what we believe in, often unsuccessfully. Not only do we find that we here in Macedon Ranges have no way of stopping that development, or even making it fit in better, we often have no rights to object.
We have no way to keep the Macedon Ranges rural, to make sure there is no over-development, over-population or suburbanization, no more loss of the things we all value and which make this place so special, and we haven't had a way for 11 years.
Now there's an opportunity to fix this problem we have. It's up to each of us to think about the things we value, the things we want in future, and how we can keep them. The Liberals / Nationals are saying they will make it happen.
This truly is our / your last-ditched chance to save Macedon Ranges. Without State level protection - and we now know it won't be forthcoming from the Brumby government - there probably won't be anything left worth saving in another 4 years' time.
Please, check out where candidates stand, and think very carefully when you vote.
Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group "Meet The Candidates" Forum 23 November
(20/11/10 - E) Woodend Hub, 7.30pm - Get your questions ready
The Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group will be holding a Meet The Candidates forum on Tuesday 23 November at the Woodend Hub (next to the Community Centre), 47 Forest Street, Woodend, starting at 7.30pm. The even will be held in the Sustainability Group's room at the rear of the Neighbourhood House.
MRRA Says:
We've got a couple of questions for candidates - about State protection for Macedon Ranges, and about whether candidates support other ways to generate windpower energy without using those gigantic tower turbines.
How about you?
(2/11/10 Updated 14/11/10 - SG) Unhappy with the State government about anything? Then this rally is for YOU...
Update 14/11/10 - Poster now available: "Don't get angry, get even" - click here
The front runners for this rally are the Clearways group (unhappy at changes to Clearway regulations).
They are asking for support from anyone who is likewise unhappy - whatever the issue - with the Brumby government.
"Sick of the arrogance, the secrecy, the waste and mismanagement?
Don’t like Myki, desal, Windsor planning sham, native forest logging, puppy farms, clearways, high rise towers, north-south pipeline, street violence, duck shooters, Hazelwood, public transport that doesn’t work, government spying on individuals, taking water from the country, government advertising and spin, VCA funding cuts?
Rally: 14 November - Make Brumby History."
Details are: "Make Brumby History" rally, Sunday 14 November, 2010, Steps of Parliament House (Spring St, Melbourne)
commencing at 2.00pm
MRRA Says:
We recommend this rally to Macedon Ranges' residents who are unhappy that the State Labor government, over its 11 year life, has never delivered its 1999 promise to provide State level planning protection to Macedon Ranges.
Macedon Ranges' residents know that the government has done nothing that stops the awful units, teensy subdivision, houses on rural lots etc. etc. In MRRA's view, the government isn't going to do anything either.
Now the Brumby government is showing definite signs of wanting make Macedon Ranges a growth corridor,
if not include parts of the Shire in the metropolitan area (like an outer 'outer' suburb of Melbourne).
(2/11/10 - P) Justin Madden (Labor) v Matthew Guy (Liberal)
The word is that Jon Faine will have an on-air debate in the Conversation Hour between Planning Minister Justin Madden and Opposition Planning Spokesman Matthew Guy on 10 November. This still needs to be confirmed but you should keep an eye (ear?) out for any announcements because you will have a chance to ring in with questions in the last 15 minutes. And if one thing's certain, there will be a lot of questions!
(23/10/10 - P) How many is too many?
Planning Backlash is sponsoring a population forum on November 7 (4.0pm) at the Richmond Town Hall, 333 Bridge Road, Richmond.
Speakes are Andrew McLeod, CEO of the Committee for Melbourne (which wants 8 million people in Victoria and the metropolitan area boundary expanded to include parts of Macedon Ranges), and Kelvin Thomson MP, Federal Member for Wills (and perhaps one of the most sensible speakers on the perils of over-population).
The Debte Panel will consist of Melina Sehr (Stonnington City Councillor), Rupert Mann (Melbourne Heritage Action Group), David O'Brien (Planning Barrister) and Mary Drost (Convenor, Planning Backlash).
Click ere for details.
(23/10/10 - CC) As Planning Minister Madden tries to claim the seat of Essendon, there's a few people who want some answers. This isn't just about Essendon, it's about planning in Victoria. November 6; 2 - 4pm; Ukrainian Hall, Essendon. BE THERE!
As Justin Madden tries to make the move from the Upper to Lower House of State parliament, it's only right that he faces ALL the people for what he has done, isn't it? Everyone who has ever had a planning issue, or cares about accountable processes, and residents' rights, is more than welcome to attend. Click here for more information.
