Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in this adjournment debate on a very pressing issue of concern to my electorate—particularly the community in which I live, the coastal town of Torquay. Late last year the Surf Coast Shire Council released a planning document which indicated that a strip of land that is undeveloped at the moment, a place called Spring Creek, would over the next 15 or 20 years be a likely place for future development of the coastal town that I live in, Torquay. The size of this coastal development would lead to Torquay being tripled in size. As a consequence of those planning documents which have yet to be developed by the council, the community engaged in a planned and coordinated campaign to ensure that every resident within Torquay and Jan Juc was aware of some of the thinking that the council was doing. This led about six weeks ago to a protest rally of around 2,000 to 3,000 local Torquay citizens coming together and demonstrating to the council that this development was excessive.

I rise in this adjournment debate to talk about the broader phenomena—that is, when some 80-plus per cent of Australians live on or near the coastline, how do we keep the character of our coastal towns and protect those environments? These are some very significant decisions that need to be made. How do we provide ongoing employment to thousands of local tradies who actually built these towns that we live in? How do we make these towns sustainable and livable? As a relative newcomer to Torquay who chose to move my young family there because of the character of that community and the environment, I would hate to see those aspects of the community change were we to move down this path of effectively tripling the size of the population. I am going through the normal processes at the moment of securing a block of land and I hope to be able to build there in the short term and enjoy the very fabulous coastal environment.

I think that, of any of the states, Victoria is doing an outstanding job in managing the very valuable and, of course, unique landscapes of our coastline. In the Victorian government’s latest strategy, the Victorian Coastal Spaces strategy, they are developing a broad policy framework as a shining example, I think, not only to Victorians but also to other states in responding to the challenges of protecting our coastlines, protecting the communities and the character of those towns and responding to the great challenges that come from climate change and a rising sea level.

The Spring Creek plan currently proposed by the Surf Coast Shire Council, in my view, is excessive. It is inappropriate to develop Torquay to such a substantial size. I know that the councillors, the mayor and the senior officers of the Surf Coast Shire are actively considering the various submissions that have been put forward by the community, and I look forward to the council making a decision on this development in the not-too-distant future. I certainly encourage them to abandon their current thinking.