Friday, 28 August 2026

 Nick McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:02): (2579) Minister Symes, last weekend I was fortunate enough to visit Bronhill Road reserve. It is a little park in Ringwood East in my electorate, as you may be aware. There are 150 local residents. This was born from the local community and their concern for the fact that Maroondah council are currently seeking to sell that site. You heard me correctly: they are trying to sell a public park, a park used by children currently. I would ask you to join with me in approaching the Minister for Local Government to immediately apply an overlay on that property to restrict its use to ensure that it can only be used as a public park. As you and I both know, our public parks are absolutely critical, especially for the environment, because they provide important tree canopy, which is critical in our area, particularly given we have lost so much through both the Suburban Rail Loop project and the North East Link project. But in addition to that, there is increased density that is planned for our area. And if that were not important enough, it is also critical for our children to be able to play and our families to be able to have a public open space and to enjoy this beautiful park for ever more and not have it sold from underneath us.