Wednesday, 12 August 2026

 John PESUTTO (Hawthorn) (19:07): (1773) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Planning, and the action I seek is for the minister to return decision-making power over proposed developments in my electorate to my local community and Boroondara’s democratically elected council. Let me be absolutely clear: we all agree that Boroondara can and will play its part in housing Victoria’s growing population. We support more homes and sensible development, but that growth has to be supported by the infrastructure our community needs, and local residents must have a genuine say in the decisions that affect them. Instead this government has stripped away local decision-making and handed extraordinary powers to the planning minister. Three proposals exemplify this.

At the former St Joseph’s site on Durham and Kent roads in Surrey Hills, a proposal for 76 dwellings containing two buildings of four storeys has been funnelled through the government’s development facilitation program. Around 70 residents recently joined me outside that site. They are concerned about traffic on narrow residential streets, parking, pedestrian safety, heritage and whether ageing drainage, sewerage and other infrastructure can cope, among other concerns. They are not opposed to housing, they are opposed to being ignored and overridden. At 50 Wattle Road, Hawthorn, residents face a six-storey, 35-dwelling development in a very narrow residential street. The government’s deemed-to-comply rules mean they have no real say over their precinct. Then there is 846–858 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn. Only months ago this government told our community that its new planning controls would allow buildings of up to 12 storeys on Glenferrie Road. Now a proposal for 16 storeys is being considered through the development facilitation program. That is 16 storeys. If the government announces 12 storeys and then entertains 16 through another process, why should anybody in Boroondara or elsewhere trust its word?

This is what happens when planning power is concentrated in Spring Street. Rules become negotiable, communities become an inconvenience, councils are bypassed and developers learn that there is always another door to knock on, provided they pay the appropriate requirements, of course. The development facilitation program increasingly looks like a mechanism for secret deals, allowing developers to circumvent ordinary local scrutiny and steamroll communities with the minister’s imprimatur. Boroondara can accommodate more homes, but we cannot simply double our population without investing in roads, drainage, schools, public transport, open space and community infrastructure. We should not destroy what makes our suburbs liveable in the process. There is another way. A Wilson Liberal government, along with its Nationals coalition partner, will scrap Labor’s activity centres policy. We will end the capricious use of the development facilitation program that overrides local communities. We will build more homes by working with communities, not against them.