Thursday, 19 February 2026

 Mathew HILAKARI (Point Cook) (17:28): (1548) My adjournment is for the Minister for Planning, and the action that I seek is to confirm that there are no plans to expand the urban growth boundary in relation to the RAAF base in Point Cook. The Labor government have consistently said we have no plans to expand the urban growth boundary. The RAAF base in Point Cook is outside of the urban growth boundary, meaning that the type of housing that we see across our community today is not appropriate for the RAAF base, regardless of who owns that land.

But not everyone in this Parliament thinks that way. The Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, the member for Caulfield, said that I am a hypocrite for ‘opposing future housing in Point Cook’ and specifically at the RAAF base. Point Cook has done its fair share, and we will continue to do our fair share in relation to homes. But housing growth must be fair, and what does unfair look like? It looks like the suburbs of Point Cook and Caulfield. Between 2001 and 2021, Point Cook grew by more than 65,000 residents over 20 years. In the exact same time period Caulfield grew by less than 1000 ‍residents. That is what is unfair. That is why this government has changed the planning system to see more homes built around places like Caulfield station, because it is unfair when Caulfield has a major transport hub, many tram lines, a university, employment precincts, major road infrastructure and sporting infrastructure. Of course that is the place where more people should be living because of those investments that have been made directly linking them to these services and the employment that they need. That is a good use of infrastructure.

While we are doing more work on Point Cook Road, including at the intersection with Central Avenue, the Liberal Party have no plan to fix Point Cook Road if elected. They have no plan for the infrastructure for our community, and they never have. We continue to suffer from the legacy of the Liberal member for Bulleen Matthew Guy, when he was planning minister, because he rezoned Aviators Field inside the urban growth boundary. He should never have done this. It is going to add 20,000 extra residents to the community that I represent, and we cannot turn that decision back. We cannot unscramble that egg. Do you know what the Liberal member for Bulleen said about that? He said, ‘I am the king of housing approvals,’ something he was so proud to yell in this Parliament. It is a disgrace. The Liberal Party should be about fairness in this place around housing. They should accept that their community should grow like the community that I represent has grown. Minister, I look forward to your response.