A story is unfolding in Melbourne's Western suburbs that, unlike the happy ending in that seminal Australian movie "The Castle", where an Australian "battler" was able to use the Australian constitution to stop his home being forcibly acquired by the local council, 162 families in Rockbank in the West face the very real prospect of being forcibly evicted from their homes.
The Victorian government, faced with an explosion in Melbourne's population by 2030, released four proposed land use and transport projects in 2008 to try to deal with this pressing problem. It will be making changes to the Urban Growth Boundary in Melbourne's west, north and south east, establish a regional rail link from the west of Werribee to Southern Cross Station, build an outer Metropolitan Ring/E6 Transport Corridor and create two nature grasslands reserves in Melbourne's west.
The two native grasslands reserves will be established to offset the destruction of nature grasslands that will be lost as private developers acquire and develop land made available for development as a result of the revised Urban Growth Boundary. Instead of making the corporations that will be making a tidy profit from their 4.5 billion dollar real estate development in the west, who by law should be responsible for replacing the grasslands they have destroyed with new native grasslands, pay the Brumby government will be destroying the lives of 162 families, many of whom own small farms that produce food for Melbourne.
Although the Victorian government is using the Acquisition and Compensation Act to forcibly acquire their land and homes, nobody seems to be asking why should battlers be asked to foot the bill to pay for the damage caused by corporations?
Desperately needing the Greens support in the Legislative Council to pass their Urban Growth Legislative agenda the Victorian government has hastily drawn up a plan to establish two native grasslands in Melbourne's west on poor quality land that has little chance of growing native grasses while the already established Kororoit Creek wetlands will be destroyed for urban development.
The sacking of the Brimbank Council (which covers much of the disputed area) by the state government, the shifting of the new proposed freeway to protect the developer's interests in that region and the decision to forcibly evict people from their homes to establish "new" native grasslands on what increasingly looks like unsuitable land to offset the destruction of already established wetlands raises serious questions about the cosy relationships that currently exist between the state government, developers and council.
Under the Australian constitution - the Commonwealth government has the power to acquire "property on just terms from any state or person for any purpose in respect of which the Parliament has power to make laws"; under the Victorian constitution no such protections exist. The Victorian government has slapped a 21 year ban on development in the areas they are forcibly acquiring in Rockbank, in Melbourne's west.
The imposition of this development ban has left the residents in limbo. They are not able to sell their land or build on their land but will be expected to pay the increased council rates as their rates rise due to the development that is going on around them. They will face an uncertain future as developers, councils and the state government rake in the revenue.
The Victorian government's divide and rule tactics have been successful in driving a wedge between conservationists and local residents in this dispute. This dispute is essentially a battle between powerful unaccountable interests who have the ear of government and ordinary people who, due to no fault of their own, are being asked to carry the cost of private development.
Conservationists who mistakenly believe supporting the government's tactics will deliver the public new native grasslands may soon find the public will be left with parcels of land that will be unable to grow native vegetation, while established native vegetation is removed to placate the developers demands.
This is an issue that effects all of us. Today the residents of Rockbank are being forced to pay the cost of development, tomorrow the Victorian state government could legally force you to carry that cost.
Reprinted from Anarchist Age Weekly Review No. 859, 2nd November - 8th November 2009
Related:
- Submission to DPCD/Growth Areas Authority Delivering Melbourne's newest sustainable communities From Western Region Environment Centre, July 2009 to the EPBC Strategic Assessment - expansion of Melbourne's Urban Growth Boundary
Comments
Re: Disturbing development in Melbourne's western suburbs
Poorly researched story. Fact 1. All of the remaining native grasslands are on private land - so some people need to be evicted to protect consolidated areas of the endangered grassland ecosystem in a reserve if this is considered desirable. This would be necessary irrespective of the scale and sequence of development. Fact 2. Little or no food is produced in this region of Victoria. We are discussing the fate of very marginal land from an agricultural perspective. Fact 3. Many of the landholders the article sympathises with are property speculators hopefully they will lose their gamble.