Whittlesea

Melbourne’s outer suburbs have accommodated almost half of Victoria’s undemocratically imposed population growth during the past five years, yet they have been allocated only seven percent of the Napthine Government’s 2014/15 budget for key infrastructure.

The Interface Scorecard 2014, prepared by Essential Economics, shows the rest of the budget’s infrastructure allocation, 93 percent, has gone towards supporting the other half of Victoria’s population growth, being hosted by the metropolitan and regional/rural areas, most of it 78 percent, being allocated to the metropolitan areas.

Cr Bob Fairclough, Mayor of Wyndham City Council and spokesperson for the Interface Councils will be presenting the research to Deputy Premier Peter Ryan today.

“Why is it that less than 10 percent of the budget is allocated to support one half of Victoria’s growth, while the other half qualifies for more than 90 percent? This translates to a shortfall of $695 million in the urban fringe areas,” Cr Fairclough said.

“In real terms, this means they have been short-changed four buildings for early childhood centres, 10 new secondary schools, three new TAFE campuses, five new hospitals and they are unable to cater for more than 9,000 new public service users.

“Its wide-ranging negative impacts create a downward spiral which may be impossible to reverse if allowed to continue.”

For example, according to DEEWR statistics, these areas suffer much higher unemployment than their metropolitan and rural counterparts and there is only half a job available for every job seeker. The research reports that urban fringe areas have 6.5 percent unemployment, while the metropolitan areas are sitting at 5.7 percent, with one new job provided per labour force participant, and the regional areas enjoy the lowest unemployment of 5.4 percent, with 1.07 new jobs for every job seeker.

Private investment in the area is also falling. Data from the Building Commission of Victoria shows investment in the commercial sector has fallen by 64 percent or $194 million in the past three years, and in the retail sector, by 24 percent or $60 million.

Cr Bob Fairclough said,

“Over the current 4-year budget period an estimated $1.831 billion in investment is required for critical infrastructure in the urban fringe areas. While the majority of this funding is a State responsibility, funding support is also required from the Federal Government and Council’s, and some will be provided by the private sector.

“State funding allocated in the 2014/15 budget during the past four years represents just $1.021 billion or 56 percent of this requirement. A further $695 million in investment is required from either unallocated State funding, or from non-State funding sources in order to meet the identified needs of the interface communities over this period.”

Community groups from the outer suburbs are planning to rally at five community meetings in July to discuss their unfair treatment by the Napthine Government’s 2014/15 budget. For more information about community meetings, residents of Melbourne’s outer suburbs should call their local council.

Interface Councils is a group of ten municipalities that form a ring around metropolitan Melbourne. They represent some of the fastest growing areas in Melbourne, comprising Cardinia Shire Council, City of Casey, Hume City Council, Melton City Council, Mitchell Shire Council, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, Nillumbik Shire Council, City of Whittlesea, Wyndham City Council and Yarra Ranges Council.

This advertisement from Kuala Lumpur shows how development companies are not only selling Australian houses in Asia but are offering Australian taxpayer-funded government grants to further entice Kuala-Lumpurans to buy here. These grants were intended to help young Australians get into the housing market but instead the developers are offering them to foreigners. The ad is for housing in the Whittlesea area of Victoria, but the reality is that the same thing is going on all over Australia.

How can politicians tell us we have a housing shortage? If we did, they could sell the houses here and not have to go to foreigners. Why is the government allowing this land way out of town to be built on at all and then sold to foreigners?

We are being taken for fools.

This ad has been sent to Matthew Guy, the Victorian Minister for Planning, and to a local federal mp. How about sending it to your MPs as well, if you feel it is wrong.

The advertisement says, "Hurry, get the AUD$13,000 Australian Government Grant." Foreign buyers can also save on stamp duty.

Whittlesea is just north of Mill Park, where wildlife activists and residents unsuccessfully tried to stop government slaughter of displaced kangaroos last year. To get to Plenty Road from the city you pass through some of the densest populations in the world, and then past endless suburbs, many of them only built within the last two to five years. Wildlife activists have deplored the fate of wildlife as the greedy developers and complicit state governments have turned a blind eye or aimed a gun. Residents have watched in horror as completely undemocratic decisions have been made to maim and mutilate the countryside, overpopulating it, rapidly increasing demand for services and resources, driving their prices beyond the reach of all but the well-off. At the same time, salaries are not increasing but job insecurity is increasing. Australians have little slack and nowhere to turn except to demand that their MPs start to represent them and stop this abuse of the system.

Whittlesea residents need to take out an ad in the Kuala Lumpur paper where this offensive ad for Whittlesea land and housing was run. The ad should politely inform Kuala Lumpurans of the situation and that Australians did not agree to have their taxes used to facilitate foreign investors making the situation worse for wildlife and for the homeless and the mortgage-burdened.

Contact your local MP and ask him/her what he is doing about this further pressure on the green wedges and on housing prices and this funelling of Australian taxes into foreign purses. Then write to candobetter.net as a comment to this article and tell us what your MP's answer was. We will publish it. Exert pressure. The situation is unacceptable. It is scandalous and has population impacts which may lead to ordinary Australians becoming destitute due to inflated power, land, and housing costs within the foreseeable future.