Construction industry
Mr HAYES (Southern Metropolitan) (10:25): I am repeatedly asked by residents why the government insists that Victoria’s only option for economic recovery from COVID is by stimulating the already rampant construction industry. Communities are well aware of the flaws that this favouritism is creating in the planning system, with negative impacts on local amenity and the environment. We see streets overloaded with construction vehicles, extensive tree canopy destruction, heritage demolition and huge amounts of construction materials taking landfill space, not to mention developments flouting design and development overlays and challenging council planning decisions. On top of this I see statistics from the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects that the building and demolition sector contributes almost 40 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions. One has to question what evidence the government has to support this economic obsession with the construction industry, given the continued detrimental impact on climate change. We obsess about reducing fossil fuel use, but what pressure has been put on the construction industry to at least reduce and re-use? Where is the government’s insistence on environmentally sustainable design? Dependence on one sector for economic growth is not a good strategy. There are better, sustainable economic options for long-term growth: smart manufacturing, agriculture, renewable energy exports, revegetation and recycling, to name a few.