Wednesday, 31 August 2022

 Mr RICH-PHILLIPS (South Eastern Metropolitan) (18:17): (2099) I wish to raise a matter for the attention of the Minister for Planning in the other place. It follows a recent visit to the Keysborough Turkish Islamic and Cultural Centre in Keysborough, accompanied by Phil Pease, the Liberal candidate for Mordialloc.

Dr Bach: Excellent candidate.

Mr RICH-PHILLIPS: Yes, he is an excellent candidate, Dr Bach. This was a return visit to that centre, which is doing a fantastic job supporting not only the Islamic community in Keysborough but also, more broadly, the broader community in the Keysborough area. It is a facility which has a community centre, a mosque and an early learning centre as well as a school located on the site on the corner of Greens Road and Perry Road. The community is seeking planning support to expand that facility to include an aged care facility for members of the Islamic community in the Keysborough area. The piece of land adjoins the cultural centre. It is over the road from current residential land on the north side of Greens Road and on the west side of Perry Road, but it is currently zoned industrial. It would be inappropriate for there to be industrial development on this particular site as it is next to the cultural centre and wedged by residential zones on the north side and the west side. What the community and the landowner have been seeking is for that land to be rezoned as residential in order that an aged care facility can be constructed adjoining the cultural centre.

This has previously been considered by the Minister for Planning and rejected because of the current zoning, being industrial. However, given the location of the site next to the cultural centre, adjacent to existing residential zones, what I am seeking from the minister is that that decision to reject the rezoning be reconsidered to allow the development of an aged care facility for the Turkish Islamic community adjoining the cultural centre. There is a shortage of aged care facilities generally in the area as well as of culturally appropriate aged care. So the action I seek is for the minister to reconsider that decision and allow that site adjoining the existing cultural centre to be developed as an aged care facility to support that community.