Wednesday, 25 May 2022

Environment and Planning Committee

Inquiry into Environmental Infrastructure for Growing Populations

Mr FOWLES (Burwood) (10:32): It is extraordinary to be lectured on health policy by Mr Ivermectin over here, but I rise today to make a contribution on the Environment and Planning Committee’s inquiry into environmental infrastructure for growing populations. I would like to first acknowledge my colleagues on the committee, many of whom worked tirelessly to ensure a high-quality inquiry and subsequent report. That committee was chaired by you, Acting Speaker Connolly, and the members for Yan Yean and Box Hill are to be commended for their outstanding work. I thank too the member for Mornington for doing all of the heavy lifting for the coalition solo, but with his help and sound advocacy we have produced a bipartisan report on this important public policy area. I would also like to thank the stakeholders who contributed to the inquiry process, including the local councils, residents and ratepayer organisations, friends of parks groups, environmental groups, development and planning organisations, universities, healthcare peak bodies, water corporations, government and state authorities, and members of the community who participated in the public hearings or made a submission. This work is frequently unheralded, but it is challenging and time-consuming work and deserves to be acknowledged. Citizen and stakeholder engagement directly with Parliament is a very important part of our democratic system, and it should be valued and it should be encouraged. So to all of those who participated in this inquiry directly or indirectly, I say thank you.

Victoria’s population is expanding. The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, DELWP, provided population projections in its submission to the inquiry which indicate that overall the population of regional Victoria is expected to grow by 47 per cent by 2056, while the population of Melbourne is expected to grow by 84 per cent and Geelong 86 per cent. For Melbourne that means we are looking at a jump from about 5 million—it was 4.9 in 2019—to 9 million in 2056, 9 million people.

We know that growing populations bring many challenges, and these are the kinds of challenges best faced by a Labor government. The Andrews Labor government is already preparing Victoria for this growth by creating jobs and building for our future. We are building schools, hospitals, housing and vital transport infrastructure. Indeed this year’s budget invests $2 billion to build new hospitals and deliver upgrades to health services right across every corner of the state. We are also building 100 new schools and upgrading 36 special schools, and that means that we will have delivered a significant, a major, upgrade to every single special school in the state of Victoria since we came to government. I want to thank the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, who is at the table, for his outstanding work in delivering that very important round of upgrades. The Andrews Labor government has already committed $5.3 billion to the Big Housing Build, which will deliver 12 000 or perhaps 14 000 new homes for Victorians—14 000 homes. The Suburban Rail Loop is creating 8000 jobs for Victorians and delivering a 90-kilometre rail link, which will link every single major rail line, from the Frankston line all the way around to the Werribee line, via the Melbourne Airport.

Labor governments do not just meet the challenge of population growth. We rise to the opportunity. The future of Victoria’s environmental infrastructure is another opportunity that we will invest in. To clarify, when we talk about environmental infrastructure, we mean public open spaces such as parks, reserves, sporting fields, public forests and bushland, botanic gardens and wildlife corridors as well as beaches, rivers and lakes. Effective long-term planning will be vital to ensuring we are adequately providing new open space for communities as well as protecting and innovating the use of existing spaces. A good example is the green decking that we installed above the rail trench of the new Union station. Integrating the provision of new green open space into transport infrastructure projects, as the Level Crossing Removal Project has done so well, is one way the Andrews government is ensuring that we are futureproofing our suburbs.

Having accessible and open green spaces in and around our suburbs is not only important for our community’s health, be it physical or mental, but these spaces also provide the grounds for important biodiversity within Victoria’s ecosystems. Particularly, our report highlights that green space reduces wind speeds and improves air quality in urban areas, which are impacts that had near universal acknowledgement from stakeholders as being positive. And the creation of more green spaces is particularly crucial, as you know, Acting Speaker Connolly, within the suburbs west of the CBD, where a lack of urban canopy has seen a 3-degree difference in temperatures compared to those in the traditionally leafy eastern part of Melbourne. It is a terrific report. I thank you for your contribution to it, Acting Speaker, and I encourage everyone to take a look.