Quiet words in minister’s ear is not easy listening
There’s a growing volume of letters to daily papers with story after story of community outrage at Victoria’s Planning Minister.
The illogical actions of Minister Guy last week over the Ventnor matter is far from a one-off as people around the state send in their particular tale of Ministerial interference or inconsistency.
SPA Vic President Jill Quirk says: “Surely a Planning Minister’s proper role should be to guide and implement good planning policy, not subvert it. Instead Victorians are being served up a series of “planning interventions”.
Parking spaces in Richmond or the design of a lifesaving club in Dromana are local matters and proper mechanisms already exist to deal with such trivialities. The Minister need not bother himself with such minutiae – but he has been.
Has the trigger been a quiet word from a Liberal colleague, a large donation to the Liberal party, or the tweeting tune of a starlet? Whatever the cause, it’s made all the worse by our addiction to population growth to drive the development and building industry to then drive our economy.
“Let’s concentrate on making Melbourne more liveable again. There’s plenty of good construction and planning jobs in doing that! And, “For all our sakes, it’s time to call a halt to runaway growth –it’s putting too much pressure on Mr. Guy, and causing his ‘Ministerial discretion’ to look more like Ministerial indiscretion”, says Ms. Quirk.
Sustainable Population Australia (Vic.) contact: Jill Quirk Ph. 0409 742927