Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): I am pleased to rise today in support of the Building and Planning Legislation Amendment Bill 2022. As someone who has grown up in, lives in and represents an inner-urban area that has changed dramatically over the last three decades, I know my community take an acute interest in building and planning matters. Densification has had a real impact on our suburbs. Currently over 67,000 people reside in Northcote across an area making up just 21 square kilometres, and while the footprint has not changed, the population has increased by about 10,000 people over the last decade. As we have grown and welcomed new families, it has also put pressure on services, public infrastructure and, critically, open space.
It is safe to say that we are pretty proactive and protective of our inner-north patch. We will push back on inappropriate development and we will fight fiercely for our unique natural assets, like the three waterways and parklands which border our suburbs. Indeed this is something that I have had to do right here in this place, calling on Yarra council to do the right thing and work with the state government to protect the Yarra riverfront from degradation at a site down in Alphington. Disappointingly, the Greens council, including the Greens member for Richmond during her time as a councillor on Yarra, have refused to work collaboratively with the state on this issue. The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action has a standing offer to turn the site over to Crown land with council as committee of management. This would put it in public ownership and protect it into the future, but true to form, the Greens are all words and no action. Well, actually, today it looks like they are not even words, because they have not been here. Where are they? It is a bill on protecting our green wedges and they have not even rocked up. The riverfront down in Alphington remains at risk, and I do wonder whether the member for Richmond will now use her position in this place to finally put her virtue signalling into action and lobby her Greens friends on council to come to the table and protect the Yarra River. I raise this issue because that sense of protectiveness does not stop at our electoral borders. It extends right across our state, and that is why this bill is of great interest to my community.
The bill will not only provide critical improvements to how the building and planning systems in Victoria work but will also deliver on the Andrews Labor government’s commitment to strengthening legislation protections for Melbourne’s green wedges. Melbourne is surrounded by a ring of 12 green wedges that provide a precious barrier between the bustling city and the landscapes beyond. These are not just pretty sites but play a vital role in supporting our economy, feeding our growing city, supporting approximately 16,500 jobs and, critically, preserving biodiversity habitat. From world-renowned wine regions to precious wetlands and protected habitats, these wedges serve as critical preserves of biodiversity and give balance to our outer-urban ecosystems. In a way they are the vital valves of our city. They regulate hydrology, purify air and water and nurture life. Melbourne’s green wedges also play a pivotal role in mitigating the impacts of urbanisation, like heat island effects, soil erosion and stormwater run-off, while providing essential functions like carbon sequestration and air purification that benefit both the environment and our health. They are critical to maintaining the character and quality of life in Melbourne, including our famously tasty drinking water, and it is imperative that they have strong protections against overdevelopment.
Northcote is of course not within a green wedge, but we are nestled between two important waterways, the Merri Creek and the Darebin Creek, which highlights the interconnectivity of our ecosystems and the need for upstream protection which ensures downstream benefits and a resilient urban environment. This is something I have spoken about at length with our local environmental groups, including with passionate advocates like Nick Williams from the Friends of Merri Creek and Graeme Hamilton of the Darebin Creek Management Committee. Our waterways are continuous living, breathing, flowing ecosystems that should be seen as such in our regulations and our legislation. That is why it meant so much to me and my community when the Andrews Labor government announced that we will be introducing vital planning controls to permanently safeguard our creeks from inappropriate development.
This is something that local advocates have been calling for. It will ensure our creeks remain thriving wildlife corridors for generations to come. Not only that, it is backed by a $10 million Green Links fund to support revegetation along Victoria’s creeks, waters and riverways. I mention this because I firmly believe that we must do more to protect our state’s habitat and biodiversity, and that is exactly what this bill will do. I think it is important to emphasise that the protection of our green wedges is not just crucial for the urban fringe but for the entire state. The bill introduces a legislative requirement for local councils to prepare and review green wedge management plans. The bill will empower the minister to ensure important directives to councils in relation to the preparation and content of these plans, adding another degree of oversight and accountability in protecting Melbourne’s green wedges against inappropriate development decisions by councils.
We all know that across our fair state there are also distinct regions of breathtaking environmental, cultural and economic significance – places like the Macedon Ranges, the Surf Coast and, as Acting Speaker Crugnale knows, the Bass Coast and the Bellarine Peninsula. The newly appointed member for Bellarine articulated this quite beautifully yesterday in her inaugural speech in relation to her local community and its importance. These distinctive areas and landscapes hold a special status and now require a statement of planning policy, or SPP, which is a 50-year plan to safeguard the unique qualities of these areas while balancing housing, tourism and infrastructure. SPPs have already come into effect for the Macedon Ranges, while other distinctive areas, including the Bellarine and Bass Coast, are going through the development of those as we speak. What we have learned through the experience so far, however, is that the process can become unnecessarily slow because there is no time frame specified to obtain the requisite endorsements for these SPPs. This bill changes that and streamlines the process, requiring endorsement from responsible entities within a time frame of 28 days.
The bill also makes some changes and supports the implementation of automatic mutual recognition in Victoria such that building practitioners, licensed plumbers, land surveyors and architects working under AMR are protected by the appropriate insurance required by Victorian laws and making registration details of practitioners working under AMR available to the public. This bill ensures that we are moving towards meaningful changes to our legislation to improve our planning and building systems. It provides purposeful protections for Melbourne’s green wedges, distinctive areas and landscapes. It also promotes greater consumer protection.
As we debate this bill in the next couple of minutes and consider the impact of population growth on our state, the need to support jobs, housing and transport, the imperative to protect Melbourne’s legacy of livability, sustainability and cultural heritage significance, I am reminded of an incredibly moving documentary which I watched last year. It is called The Lost City of Melbourne, and it was produced and directed by Gus Berger, who is the owner and operator of our very awesome independent cinema, Thornbury Picture House, in the electorate of Northcote. Back in September last year I had the honour of joining Gus and speaking at one of the first screenings of this outstanding film. Gus uses rare footage and photography to weave a truly captivating history of Marvellous Melbourne and the property boom of the 1850s onwards, which saw Melbourne propelled onto the world stage to become an epicentre of film culture, theatres, restaurants and hotels. It also covers the tragic demise of some of our significant architecture from that period. Many old theatres and picture houses were destroyed in a wave of modernisation that saw grand structures like the Padua Theatre on Sydney Road in Brunswick demolished. I learned so much about our city watching this film. It was a stark reminder of how much evolves over time, how taste, circumstances and economics can lead to irreversible decisions and the responsibility we have to preserve and protect our city and our state for future generations. I am thankful that we still have establishments like the Princess Theatre on Spring Street and the Regent Theatre on Collins, and closer to home in my electorate the wonderful Westgarth theatre. I have run out of time, but I would like to commend this bill to the house and thank the minister.
