Land (Revocation of Reservations) Bill 2012 – Second Reading Speech delivered in Parliament 19 April 2012
Mr PALLAS (Tarneit) — It gives me great pleasure to speak on this bill, the Land (Revocation of Reservations) Bill 2012. Bills of this nature come before this place every so often — every few years, generally — and they seek to make a number of amendments to land classifications in law, making sure that the classifications accord with the actual usage. Ensuring that consistency ultimately ensures the lawful use of the land. This bill seeks to revoke permanent reservations of Crown land over several parcels of land.
The particular section I want to address in my comments today is that section of land relating to Sneydes Road in Werribee. The reservation on this land is being revoked. It is a built road that runs through the Werribee State Research Farm. This is a critical piece of land.
Its appropriate classification is emblematic of the long-term usage that can be made of what is known as the Werribee employment precinct, which was the subject of very considerable work by the previous government aimed at the development and delivery of investment and ultimately employment-generating activities. Sneydes Road, Werribee, is a key and vital component of that.
Recently we have heard from the Minister for Planning a proposal to remove from the Werribee employment precinct all the land south of the Maltby bypass, commonly known as Point Cook West. Sneydes Road is a key component of that activity. Sneydes Road is identified in the precinct development plan as a place for the future development of an overpass providing access to Werribee for the soon-to-be residents of the 2000 housing lots that will be made available south of the Maltby bypass, so it is apt that Sneydes Road’s usage is appropriately clarified.
But perhaps more concerning for me and for my community is this: every year we see something like 12 300 people move to the local government area of Wyndham. At 8 per cent growth in absolute terms, it is the fastest growing local government area in the country bar none. Twelve thousand three hundred people moving to an area would be approximately consistent with the population of Benalla moving into that electorate every year.
Appropriately classifying land is one thing, but appropriately applying to public land usages that ultimately provide for good public policy outcomes for those communities is, might I say, paramount — it is even more important than the objectives that are currently being addressed in this bill.
The point I make is this: under the precinct structure plan directly affecting Sneydes Road and its future usage, where $20 million is required for an overpass, where a full diamond interchange is also required to be built in that area — —
Mr Katos — You were roads minister; why didn’t you do it?
Mr PALLAS — A profoundly uninformed contributor asks what the former government did. Well, we developed plans for the Werribee employment precinct.
In the local government area of Wyndham we invested $25 million a year in arterial roads. This year there has been $3.8 million of new investment in arterial roads for all of metropolitan Melbourne. To put it another way, in the city of Wyndham we invested six and a half times more in arterial roads than the current government has done for the whole of metropolitan Melbourne. That is a pretty good outcome on a per annum basis. Those opposite should hang their heads in shame for what they have done for the growth areas. Now they want me to speak on the bill!
Mr Watt — On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I know this bill is quite broad ranging and the debate has been broad ranging, but I am not sure that the amount of money that was or was not put into roads by the former government necessarily accords with the bill.
The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Morris) — Order! What is the point of order?
Mr Watt — It is a point of relevance.
Mr PALLAS— I am prepared to concede that I was straying from the bill. It is critically important that we recognise that if we are going to apply appropriate usages to this land, investment has to be made and employment needs to be generated around these key pieces of infrastructure — and Sneydes Road is exactly one of those pieces of infrastructure.
Recently we heard from the Growth Areas Authority as it was unveiling the precinct structure plan. Might I say that I am pleased to see that the current government is adhering to and indeed pursuing with some vigour, in the words of the Minister for Planning, the development of the Werribee employment precinct. That is a good thing for that community, and I hope the minister does in fact proceed down that path and produce a long-term strategy for employment generation in that area. It is critically important.
It takes pressure off freeway arterials and enables Sneydes Road and other roads in the arterial network to be used for the generation of economic opportunity in what is one of the more disadvantaged local government areas when it comes to employment being located there.
The Growth Areas Authority recently said it needed to sell more public land for the purposes of funding future infrastructure. Nothing could be a more disturbing admission. The selling off of public land should not be used for the purposes of generating revenue effectively to deal with the infrastructure that is required at the time of the release of housing blocks into the fastest growing local government area in the nation. I say that because we cannot have 2000 new housing blocks released and using Sneydes Road in circumstances where households will not have the opportunity to access appropriate infrastructure at the time when the houses are built.
For the Growth Areas Authority to say, ‘We will build more infrastructure only if we can sell more land’ is disturbing in the extreme, because these communities deserve the appropriate and timely release of infrastructure to assist the Werribee employment precinct policy, which was pursued by the previous government — and I recognise that this government is prepared to embrace and pursue this policy. I believe this policy will ultimately serve my community very well.
The final point I would make is that there is now, through the strategic release and clarification of
information on infrastructure usage in and around the Werribee employment precinct, a great opportunity for employment to be generated, and we are seeing it happen. For example, on Hoppers Lane we have seen the Suzanne Corey selective entry high school — an initiative entirely of the previous government’s — recently invested in and opened. There is a new technical training school that is funded by federal government contributions but once again will nonetheless open under the watch of this government. We have also seen private medical facilities open around Hoppers Lane. These developments will all generate employment.
What this government needs to do is recognise that the Werribee employment precinct is a marvellous asset. It is something like 900 hectares of state-owned land which is available — and Sneydes Road runs through the middle of it.
It is perhaps the largest piece of contiguous state-owned land in metropolitan Melbourne, and it provides an enormous opportunity for the community in general, the people of Werribee and the local government area of Wyndham. I urge the government to proceed with a view that this should not be about land sales.
The arrangements that have released the land south of the Maltby bypass are a disgrace. I think what has happened is that an arrangement has been struck — I hope at some point I can get an answer from the Minister for Planning about this issue — so that the proceeds from the sale of that land have gone into consolidated revenue but will not be applied for the development of infrastructure in and around the community area that will have to bear the consequent weight of a population increase and increased travel. That is the issue of great concern to my community.
I believe when you revoke land reservations and when you put in place rational structures for the use of the land you should also have a clear plan about how it will be used for the benefit of the local community. With those words I end my contribution to the debate.