Democracy frustrated again

Recently Victorians were invited to make submissions on the proposed extension to the Urban Growth Boundary. Closing date for submissions was July 17th 2009 An interested citizen this week rang Dept of Planning and Community Development (a 1800 number) to find out where he could view the Urban Growth Boundary Extension submissions- He was told that submissions will not be available on the web-but instead a report will be prepared and made available making mention of all the points made by submitters. This method of disseminating the information re expressed public opinion via the filter of a government report hardly ensures communication of the volume, frequency and force of concerns raised in submissions nor how many submissions were received. This person in fact asked how many submissions were received and was told that this information could not be given out. However he gained the impression that there may have been about 2000. If this is the case it would indicate that people are most concerned about the proposal to extend Melbourne's Urban Growth Boundary to accommodate massive population growth and that the extent of the concern will most likely not be conveyed in the government complied summary of submissions. August 29 2009