Relief as minister backs down
Protest party: Bass Coast Shire councillors Jane Dore Daly, mayor Cr Veronica Dowman and Phil Wright celebrate with Ventnor farmer Anne Davie and Shadow Minister for Planning, Brian Tee, after a controversial coastal housing development was knocked on the head.
WHEN State Planning Minister Matthew Guy rang Bass Coast mayor Cr Veronica Dowman on Thursday morning and said he’d changed his mind about rezoning farm land at Ventnor, she nearly dropped the phone.
He had been due to gazette the rezoning that very day.
His plan was to release the coastal Phillip Island farm for residential lots.
Cr Dowman was preparing to go to a protest rally on the site when she took Mr Guy’s call.
By the time she reached Ventnor, she was greeted by a champagne cork rocketing into the air and a cheering crowd dancing on the grass.
Mr Guy has denied the involvement of glamorous young Hollywood star Miley Cyrus in a concerted campaign to save the land had anything to do with his change of heart.
But Shadow Planning Minister Brian Tee did; his view shared by many at the rally.
Cr Dowman told The Star she had a long phone conversation with the minister.
He told her he had decided not to rezone the Ventnor site because a Bass Coast Shire planning document awaiting his approval showed sufficient land elsewhere in the shire would be released, satisfying the State Government’s wish for more affordable residential sites.
Cr Dowman said that document, called C93 would release 10,000 blocks across the whole shire over 15 years.
“He said C93 would go through unchanged.”
The mayor also said Mr Guy acknowledged the council’s campaign on the Ventnor issue had been “brilliant and honourable”.
“You presented your case very well. I have listened to your council and
community.”
The campaign started last week with a failed deputation to Mr Guy, then a council and community blitz of radio, television and city press.
Teen star Miley Cyrus took the protest to the world stage, tweeting her message, “Phillip Island is such a magical place, it would be a shame to see it change,” to her 2.5 million fans.
She is the girlfriend of Phillip Island’s Liam Hemsworth.
Cr Dowman said she thought Miley’s support had ensured the interest of the commercial media.
The mayor commended Mr Guy’s courage and said, “I really want to thank the minister.”
Speaking at the rally, Cr Phil Wright said, “It is a good decision by Minister Guy. I didn’t think it would happen but it is a win for the community, for the shire and for Victoria.”
Long time Phillip Island conservationist Margaret Hancock greeted the change of heart “with a sense of great relief”.
“We have been working with state governments for 10 years to ensure appropriate development and this proposed housing could have proved a potential disaster to our native wildlife.
“We would have had to consider going to the Supreme Court and that is beyond the purse of most.”
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