Wednesday, 9 September 2026

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:51): (2790) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Planning. The action I seek is for the minister to adhere to all the findings of the Golf Course Redevelopment Standing Advisory Committee in relation to the Kingswood golf course redevelopment, including implementing flood controls, considering the nearly 2000 submissions sent by residents to Engage Victoria in April 2025, ensuring that the development is at least halved in number and retaining the entirety of flora and fauna on the site and a lot of the canopy. The Kingswood golf course redevelopment does not put Victorians first; it puts the state government and a developer’s greed before residents. Recently I led the petition debate in this chamber about the proposed redevelopment of Kingswood golf course. Dingley Village residents have been battling this inappropriate development for more than 12 years. The original development plans, which, importantly, were much smaller than the current plans, received 8000 objections. AustralianSuper was the developer that made these plans. They gave up after nearly a decade of being locked in battle with residents, selling to Satterley for $200 million.

With this history, how can this Labor government be so delusional as to think that they can get away with an even bigger set of development plans? They cannot. That is why they set up the golf course redevelopment committee. The Labor member who spoke on the petition described them as independent experts. Well, my constituents have told me the real story, and let me tell you, just like everything else this government does, this committee was dodgy. It made 100 resolutions, some of which were completely reasonable, but the Carroll Labor government only seized one – that Kingswood could be built on. It ignored all 99 other resolutions. More recently, Kingston council produced over 1000 pages on what is wrong with the Kingswood redevelopment plans, but this Labor government continue to do what they do best: turn a blind eye.

These 942 houses are not for Victorians. They are there for the Carroll Labor government to simply tick a box and desperately salvage their promise of building 80,000 homes in 10 years. The 3000 Victorians who would live in this development will have their houses flood. They will not be able to insure their houses. They will not be safe in an emergency. They will have no school to send their children to, no medical centre close by to go to when they are sick and no local shopping centre to duck down to, and they will constantly be stuck in traffic.

This Carroll Labor government does not care about livability. It does not care about Victorians. Victorians deserve better. It is time for a fresh start. A Wilson-led Liberals and Nationals government will give planning decisions back to locals through our ‘more homes, more choice’ policy, because Victorians should get to choose where and how they live.