Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): My adjournment is to the Minister for Energy and Minister for Environment and Climate Action, and I ask the minister to provide me with a briefing on our efforts to protect the Yarra riverfront at the site of the old Alphington paper mill. For years the future of this river frontage has been uncertain, as the developers who own the land have wanted to vest it into public hands but discussions were completely bogged down on who should take responsibility for it. In the intervening time, we saw significant degradation of the riverbank, with contamination and unstable soil continuing to erode this sensitive waterway. So last year, with the backing of our steadfast local campaigners, I went straight to the minister and pushed for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning to intervene to bring some certainty to this situation. I was thrilled to let my community know that the state government has now put forward a proposal to the City of Yarra which can see this area become Crown land and the council then appointed as committee of management. If it is achieved, this will be a fantastic outcome for our community that will ensure public ownership and access, amenity and connectivity, and most importantly protect the sensitive riverbank well into the future.
The problem is that even though the state has offered a resolution, Yarra council are now sitting on their hands in some pseudo stand-off with the developers, where neither is particularly interested in resolving this with any urgency. Yarra has the power to put this to bed and secure the long-term future of this riverbank, but they are still refusing to act after months, based on some fallacy about wanting the land rehabilitated first. Let us be clear: there will be no land handover to the Crown or council management if the developer does not do their part first in remediating this land to be safe, stable and ecologically sound. So this is all just more senseless stalling from Yarra council, and all the while the riverbank is suffering.
You know, the Greens talk a big game when it comes to the environment, but here we are with a Greens-controlled council who cannot even act to protect the environment in their own backyard. We are so sick of the posturing and the holier-than-thou sloganeering. These absolute fraudsters go around my community telling people they are the only ones that care about climate action. The truth is the only thing they care about is themselves, and when they are given power they cannot even wield it to do something as important as protect the Yarra River when they have the chance. Shame on them. The ones who really care about climate action and our riverfront are the locals in Alphington who I have been working with for over three years to get action on this issue. Yarra council need to formalise the agreement so we can get on with making sure this stretch of the Yarra stays beautiful, natural and public. And if you cannot even live up to your own stated values, then do us all a favour and get out of the way, you absolute scammers.
