Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am extremely disappointed with the City of Whitehorse, which has granted a permit allowing car parking dispensation for Deakin University’s new International Centre and Business Building. So disappointed am I that I have written to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal as an objector and have requested that they review the decision. By allowing Deakin University to reduce the number of car parking spaces it would normally have to allocate, traffic along Burwood Highway and Elgar Road will become even more congested than it is already. I feel that the Whitehorse City Council, in making its decision, has not taken into consideration the views of local residents, who are already extremely frustrated at the level of congestion on the roads in our neighbourhoods. Last week I wrote to the residents and asked them how they felt about council’s decision. Every single Burwood resident who has contacted me is fiercely opposed to it. They rightly fear that an increase in congestion will result in an increase in traffic accidents. They are deeply concerned about the dangers this will pose to schoolchildren, including those at PLC and Wattle Park Primary School. Here I must declare an interest, as my child goes to Wattle Park Primary School and I drive this intersection every day and know it intimately.

Local residents without garages already find it virtually impossible to find parking. Those who do find parking say that it is almost impossible for visitors and guests to do so. Local businesses are already losing trade because shoppers cannot find a place to park. One local business operator who has run a successful bike shop in my electorate for a long time is contemplating closing down because he fears that the further loss of public car spaces will force him out of business. I initially wrote to council on 28 February this year to express my opposition to Deakin University’s car parking dispensation. The West of Elgar Residents Association has strongly opposed car parking dispensation for Deakin University’s new business school, as have local traders, who have contacted me about this issue.

While I celebrate Deakin University and proudly proclaim in my community and in this place the great role it plays as a fantastic higher education institution, I do not believe that the university’s needs come before those of the local residents. I feel it should take responsibility for its own car parking, rather than place extra pressures on our local roads and public car parks. We have had an ongoing dispute with Deakin University, which will continue, about access to the university site and a proposal for a rather large and ugly bridge over our beautiful parkland. Again, I must declare an interest, as I walk my dog along that reserve most mornings when I am at home. This is a passionate local issue for me but it is one that is really having an impact on the local community. Previously, the site of Deakin University was a small teachers’ college. It has morphed into a university and it has not taken into consideration the fact that it is smack bang in the heart of suburbia. I strongly oppose this permit. I hope that it will be overturned. We must not ignore the negative impact that increased congestion will have on our local communities.