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.


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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


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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.

See Tim’s speech in Hansard here.

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