Wednesday, 1 May 2024

 Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:38): (861) My adjournment is to the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop. The Suburban Rail Loop Authority has proposed the imposition of 40-storey towers in the heart of neighbourhoods in Glen Waverley, Box Hill and Burwood. This is not just a plan for infrastructure development, it is a clear case of prioritising concrete over community and developer profits over people’s preferences. The decision to build these towers is quite transparently a rearguard action to address the staggering $21 billion funding shortfall of the SRL project. Labor has already cancelled the airport rail link, hoping to scrounge enough money to cover the unfunded vanity project that is the SRL. Meanwhile, Labor’s federal colleagues have left them high and dry without funding their share.

Let us look at the scale of these development towers – towers that will cast long shadows over residents’ homes – because this is not merely an aesthetic issue, this is a significant quality-of-life concern. These structures are set to become barriers that block sunlight from our parks and playgrounds, increase traffic and pollution, strain our existing infrastructure and create wind tunnels throughout the area.

The process that led to these plans has been equally concerning, because of the more than 150,000 living in the affected areas, less than 2.5 per cent were even consulted. Their legitimate concerns have been brushed aside in a rush to build, build, build. This tells a story of ignored voices and sidelined concerns. It is utterly unacceptable for a government to attempt to backfill budget gaps by compromising the character of our neighbourhoods and the desires of its citizens and residents. This plan as it stands is a blueprint for discontent, designed without due diligence or genuine engagement. How can we stand by and potentially give our children a worse childhood than the ones we were fortunate enough to enjoy? I am demanding accountability. Yes, we need some increase in density, but that cannot be the entire solution and not in just a couple of suburbs. We are not offering choice, we are mandating towers, we are mandating that children grow up in flats.

But it does not have to be this way. It is a choice made by a central government program with no local mandate whatsoever. We need urban development that enriches our community, not overruns it. We must insist on a process that respects the voices of our communities. The action I seek is clear: why at the last election did Labor hide the fact that its SRL would bring 40-storey tower blocks, and will the minister overturn his decision to impose these blocks on our local community and return to proper consultation with the community before any high-rise building is approved?