Tuesday, 6 February 2024

Polwarth electorate

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (14:48): (474) My question this afternoon is for the Minister for Environment. The people of Polwarth would like to know about the compulsory acquisition orders that have been set against private land at the world-famous Twelve Apostles in Port Campbell. My question, Minister, is will that land be purchased from the Geelong City Deal funds that were allocated to my region back in 2018, or will in fact extra government resources or funds be used from consolidated revenue in order to purchase that land? It is estimated this land may well be worth many, many tens of millions of dollars, which would make a significant difference to the budgeting along coastal communities for other planned upgrade works. The question is quite simple: how will the compulsory acquisition of the land at Port Campbell be paid for in order to facilitate the development of the new visitor centre at the Great Ocean Road/Twelve Apostles precinct?