Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
1536 COUNCIL Tuesday, 31 May 2011
I allow the member to continue with the question. I
hope there is a specific question.
Ms MIKAKOS — I am getting frustrated by the
lack of response from the minister around these issues. I
want to ask the minister if she can provide us with some
details about this program: how many police, for how
long and how much will be involved? Can she provide
some specific details?
The PRESIDENT — Order! I am more concerned
now than I was before in so much as I am not sure that
this supplementary question relates entirely to the
original question. I think it takes a completely different
and far wider ambit.
Ms MIKAKOS — On the point of order — —
The PRESIDENT — Order! It is not a point of
order, but I will accept an explanation.
Ms MIKAKOS — Can I provide some assistance?
My original question related to how long Victoria
Police would be maintaining its presence at this
housing estate. My revised supplementary question
related to how many police would be in place and for
what period of time, and what funding would be
associated with this commitment, given that the
minister has failed to provide us with any information
around these specific questions.
The PRESIDENT — Order! My problem is that
this supplementary question is far broader, and I am not
sure that it is entirely related to the original question.
Nonetheless I will allow the minister to answer the
question on this occasion.
Hon. W. A. LOVELL (Minister for Housing) — I
think I gave a fairly substantive answer in my original
answer, and I am not responsible for police operational
issues. We are working with the police. We have
provided them with the resources that they have asked
for — the four closed-circuit television cameras and the
additional command posts for them to man on the
estate. I had expected bipartisan support for this
initiative, which will provide safety to residents on the
Richmond housing estate. I guess what particularly
disappoints me about Ms Mikakos’s questioning of this
initiative is her lack of support for her own constituents.
Ordered that answer be considered next day on
motion of Ms MIKAKOS (Northern Metropolitan).
Planning: Ballarat
Mr RAMSAY (Western Victoria) — My question
without notice is to the Minister for Planning, Mr Guy.
I ask: can the minister inform the house about actions
he has taken to increase the residential land supply in
Ballarat?
Hon. M. J. GUY (Minister for Planning) — I thank
Mr Ramsay for a very useful and informative question.
I announce to this house again that the commitment of
the Baillieu government to regional Victoria is solid
and that it is one which we intend to follow through on,
because we know housing affordability issues are not
just issues for Melbourne but they are issues for
regional Victoria as well, and they are issues which
require a government solution and government action,
not just government talk.
Members would be aware that Ballarat will be
Australia’s 20th city to surpass 100 000 people
sometime in mid-2012. Three years after that, in 2015,
Ballarat will be followed by Bendigo, with 100 000
people in its metropolitan area. It is exceedingly
important that this government responds to housing
affordability pressures which exist in regional Victoria.
We are doing that. Since coming to government we
have announced a number of measures on which we
will work with regional councils to bring forward land
release. Where the previous government had not
worked for the last 10 years, this government will get
on with the job of bringing forward land supply to
maintain residential growth in regional Victoria.
I can inform the house that recently I spoke with the
Ballarat City Council and fast-tracked the release of
750 hectares of land in the Alfredton West growth
corridor in Ballarat. Mr Ramsay and I were there on a
tour to see the growth corridor that would bring forward
the land that will provide 4000 new homes for Ballarat.
That is why this government is committed to land
release. We are not just talking about it as our
predecessors did; we are acting upon it. Mr Ramsay and
I made an announcement in Ballarat on the new suburb,
which is to be called Lucas. It is west of Ballarat central
and will be exceedingly important for the people of
Ballarat, the local economy and for residential land
supply in Ballarat.
The government made another important
announcement yesterday regarding the reform of our
local developer contributions plans. Those plans will
bring certainty once again to the market, investors,
councils, developers and to the people who live in these
growth corridors so that they know what will be
invested and when.
I thank Mr Ramsay for his question. All this is proof
positive that the Liberal-Nationals coalition government
is acting on issues of serious importance to regional
Victoria. We are not just talking about it as the previous
government did. The 4000 homes and 750 hectares of