Wednesday, 18 February 2026

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (10:21): I rise to speak on the Legislative Assembly Environment and Planning Committee’s report – a bit of a throwback – on securing the Victorian food supply. It was actually the first committee that I served on and the second report that I was part of from start to finish. The member for Wendouree has gone now, but she is the chair to this day; the member for Ripon is on it, and I think the member for Bass is still on the EP committee. I served with them, and this report examined population growth, urban sprawl and overdevelopment issues that go to the heart of Victoria’s and specifically my electorate’s future. It examined and looked at findings around the green wedge. I am a proud defender of the green wedge. It is a Liberal idea that came from former Premier Rupert Hamer, who spoke about the green wedge being the lungs of Melbourne, something that I mentioned in my maiden speech and something that I am an ardent supporter and defender of, because it is so vitally important.

In a seat like Warrandyte the backdrop of our electorate is the beautiful Warrandyte State Park and state forest, a beautiful area. If you have not checked it out, I would encourage people to go and check it out because it is beautiful. It is live on all trails – lots of different trails that you can take there – and it is to that end that I rise to speak about this committee report today, given that parts of the electorate are in these bushfire-prone areas because of the state forest, because we do have large acreages and because it is what is considered a peri-urban area. In fact there was a fire there yesterday in my electorate, on Tindals Road in Warrandyte. This is why it is so pertinent that we look at these matters and we examine them, because these are areas that are at bushfire risk. On that note, that was a fire that happened yesterday where more than 21 trucks turned out. There were all of our local CFA crews – the North Warrandyte crew, the South Warrandyte crew, the Warrandyte crew and I believe the Wonga Park crew – as well as many others from neighbouring areas to fight this fire. I give a big shout-out today to them and all of our amazing CFA volunteers who do the incredible work that they do and are so selfless in giving up their time but also sacrificing. Sometimes it is putting their lives on the line to be able to defend our communities. It was in this instance a grass and brush fire that could have escalated and gotten much worse if it had not been for the responsiveness of captain Will Hodgson, so I thank our local community and all of our local CFAs for their work there. This is why I will always stand with my community.

All of these findings that we have, and all of these committee reports that look to defend the green wedge and defend these environmental areas from overdevelopment – this is why I stand with my community. We have to consider these risks. We have to consider the bushfire risk zones. These environmental protections are there for a reason. This is why we do not densify the area with population – because it is at risk of bushfires – and I will defend my community and their right to be consulted and to have a say. I will fight for appropriate development and for it to fit in with neighbourhood character. Despite whatever misconstruing of our words on this side of the house that the government would love to use against us, the fact of the matter is clear: on this side of the house we stand with our communities. We stand with Victorians. We stand on the side of our communities and their right to have a say, their right to have community consultation, whether that is the Park Orchards Ratepayers Association, who I recently met with and we talked about these planning matters as per recommendation 9 on amending the green wedge zone, or whether it is the Warrandyte community association that I got to meet with and speak to. These are incredible advocates for our community that indeed this report spoke to in chapter 6, discussing how community owned and led groups have the best on-ground knowledge when it comes to development in their area. This is what we believe on this side of the house. So let that be known.

On indulgence, in the final moments of today, as it will be the only time I think I will be able to say this today, I would like to wish everyone a very happy Lunar New Year, happy Chinese New Year, xīn nián kuài lè, gōng xǐ fā cái, kung hei fat choi, nián nián yǒu yú. And to everyone that celebrates of Asian heritage, including me, I hope you had a most wonderful day for your family reunion dinner on Monday night, the first day of Chinese New Year. Yesterday I did not get a chance to speak, so I am going to take this chance now to wish everyone a very happy Lunar New Year.