IBAC, the development industry and Australia's newest planning disaster

The Structure Plan shows nominal height restrictions of 30 storeys or lower affecting less than 10% of the total renewal area. Even these specified heights are qualified as ‘discretionary’. The remaining area of approx. 220 ha is zoned as ‘discretionary’ – i.e., there are no height controls at all and approvals are entirely at the discretion of the Minister. There are no provisions about affordable housing, about social housing, or about environmental and sustainability measures. And there are no minimum standards in areas like the size of apartments, provision of ventilation and access to natural light. No wonder the Structure Plan has been described by people around the Metropolitan Planning Authority as a “developers’ prospectus”.

A key issue at the heart of these planning decisions is that the two local Councils, Melbourne and Port Phillip, have effectively been sidelined as a result of the Capital City Zoning changes. Port Phillip can only deal with applications of four storeys or less, and Melbourne City Council with developments of less than 25,000 sq mts, a size exceeded by nearly all the high rise applications approved or to come. The existing Metropolitan Planning Authority is a creature of the State government, with no independent powers or capacity to influence government decisions. So in practice there are no objective and public standards which could constrain the Minister in assessing the many applications now on his desk, not only in Fishermans Bend but also within Melbourne City Council boundaries.

We are entering uncharted territory in Victoria. Any decision made by the Minister is unchallengeable – if there are no minimum rules or standards, how can any planning decision be wrong or inadequate?

With the State election just three months away, the Victorian planning system needs three substantive changes. First, an independent Metropolitan Planning Authority, based primarily on local government, is needed to create an effective planning scheme which balances Statewide and local interests within a transparent and accountable framework. Secondly, in an ideal world donations to political parties by developers should be banned by both parties. Realistically this is unlikely to happen until enough politicians have been exposed in taking bribes and giving preference to those developers boosting party funds. This won’t happen until the most important component is in place -  an effective ICAC, with all the powers of its NSW counterpart is an absolute necessity. In Victoria no one knows at present where the money goes, but it is clear that billions of dollars are being poured into Melbourne, that this process will accelerate over the next few years, and with the prospect of soaring profits in prospect it is inconceivable that future governments won’t be immune from the kind of actions exposed by the Fitzgerald Inquiry in Queensland and ICAC in NSW.