Labor’s grab for planning powers has been allowed to pass in an Upper House vote which will see local communities and councils overridden on a raft of key planning decisions.
Labor’s draconian and undemocratic planning rules will mean communities will no longer have to be consulted and even basic notification requirements can be waived on so-called “state” projects. Third party appeal rights are stripped away.
Streamlined planning provisions open the way to corruption and poor planning outcomes.
The removal of checks and balances mean Labor’s secret state with planning decisions made in the dark will continue.
Under VC194 and VC198, Daniel Andrews and Minister for Planning, Richard Wynne, are silencing the Victorian public and granting themselves the excessive power to approve state infrastructure and state transport projects without the formalised process of a planning permit application to the responsible local council.
Labor and the Hinch Party’s Stuart Grimley and Tania Maxwell, Fiona Patten and Andy Meddick today voted against the following motion intended to revoke VC194 and VC198:
That this House —
- notes that —
- the Minister for Planning, on 25 March 2021 gazetted, and on 29 April 2021 tabled, Amendment VC194 to the Victoria Planning Provisions (VPP);
- Amendment VC194 inserts two new provisions at clauses 52.30 and 52.31 that facilitate state projects and local government projects;
- the Minister for Planning, on 14 May 2021 gazetted, and on 25 May 2021 tabled, Amendment VC198 to the VPP;
- Amendment VC198 introduces new provisions at clauses 52.35 – Major Road Projects and 52.36 – Rail Projects and makes other changes related to delivery of projects carried out by or on behalf of Major Road Projects Victoria and Rail Projects Victoria;
- both Amendment VC194 and Amendment VC198 diminish notification requirements for local communities and remove appeal rights from local communities; and
- pursuant to section 38(2) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987, revokes Amendments VC194 and VC198 to the Victoria Planning Provisions.
Victorians deserve accountability and transparency from the Andrews Labor Government, not endless delays and cover-ups. Only a Liberal Nationals Government will deliver that.
