mrra-questions

Posted 13/8/10 Updated 20/8/10

Federal Election August 21, 2010

MRRA Questions to Candidates:

Bendigo & McEwen Electorates

Return to Federal Election 2010 index

see also: Lower & Upper House Candidates (and contact details) - Macedon Ranges Shire

see also: MRRA Media Release 13/8/10

Dear Bendigo / McEwen electorate candidates,

I write on behalf of the Macedon Ranges Residents’ Association Inc.

Congratulations on being a candidate in the upcoming Federal election, and being a part of Australia’s democracy.

As you would know, the Bendigo / McEwen electorate encompasses part of the Shire of Macedon Ranges.

Our association is highly concerned that during its 11 year life, the Bracks/Brumby State government has failed to deliver its promise to provide protection to the Macedon Ranges as an area acknowledged as environmentally sensitive at a State level.

Statement of Planning Policy No 8 – Macedon Ranges and Surrounds was produced in 1975 by the Hamer Liberal government and is a policy specific to protecting the environmental values of this area. There are recent attempts to overturn this policy which seeks to limit growth in the area in order to preserve and protect its environmental resources and assets for all Victorians.

We now find there seems to be an intent on the part of the current Victorian government to not protect but instead push population and development growth into this sensitive area. We believe this will compromise significant water catchments, high biodiversity and conservation values, and important landscapes. It is also a very high risk area for bushfires, as seen by, for example, the Redesdale fire on Black Saturday, and the Ash Wednesday fires before that.

For your information, the Macedon Ranges area has been the subject of two key Federal reports:

“Land Use Pressures in Areas Of Scenic Amenity” Case Study: Dandenong and Macedon Ranges, Victoria, April 1976, House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Conservation, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia – which recognised the area’s sensitivity and considered that the Statements of Planning Policy being produced in Victoria at that time could become a model for application across Australia;

and

“Change and Continuity in Peri-Urban Australia”, 2007, Griffith University and RMIT (Melbourne), funded by Land and Water Australia and the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Heritage. This a research project produced in 4 monographs which included a case study of the Bendigo Corridor, part of which is located within the Bendigo / McEwen electorate. Monograph 4 puts forward a scenario of changes to land use regimes needed within the study area if important values are to survive.

As a result of this interest at Federal level, our Association would like to hear:

What your views are on protecting Macedon Ranges as an environmentally sensitive area from over-development and over-population, and
What, if elected, you will do to provide long-term protection for Macedon Ranges at a Federal level, in the absence of protection from the current Victorian State government.

The Association thanks you sincerely for your attention to this matter, and looks forward to hearing from you. It would indeed be helpful if you could please respond in writing by Wednesday 18^th August.

Regards,

Christine Pruneau,

Secretary,

Macedon Ranges Residents’ Association Inc. A0034439T,

PO Box 183,

Gisborne, 3437.