Thursday, 12 September 2024

 Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (10:19): I rise this morning to again put on the record the very, very strong concerns of the Torquay North community about the Mind Australia–Haven Foundation 12-unit mental health facility that they plan to build in a suburban street. It is great this morning to see the Minister for Planning is here. She will be hearing directly some quotes from surveys and from feedback around the community that say, ‘We know our community needs this facility. We fully support having this type of care located in our community, but we don’t support putting it on such a tiny parcel of land next to a school.’ The reason this is inappropriate is because we are putting 12 self-contained units on a parcel of land. There will be no outdoor space and no car parking. We are literally building a large two-storey block smack bang in the middle of a rural, regional country town street. There is no parking. There are only two car spots in the street available. There will be visitors. Many of the residents slated to be in this premises will be coming from outside the Torquay area. They will have visitors and family and friends coming to visit them. There may even be specialists and therapists coming to visit them. There is no access. It is poorly located. This government cancelled the Torquay community health centre. There is a parcel of land nearby that would be more suitable and provide a better opportunity for those residents to live in.