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The Minister for Planning, Mr Maclellan, has commented on Victoria's planning regime and announced a 25 per cent increase in private building work over the past 12 months.

Delivering his annual August Planning Statement, Mr Maclellan said private building work had risen from $5.6 billion in 1996/97 to $7.08 billion in 1997/98.

Mr Maclellan said Victorian society was in a state of transition with household sizes dropping from 3.47 people in 1966 to 2.69 people in 1996.

He said that nearly 20 per cent of this private sector activity, or $1.367 billion, was committed to regional Victoria.

Mr Maclellan said that through the planning reform process the State had been determined to create a planning system that protects Victoria's livability and its quality urban environment.

"One of the fundamentals is that local government is part of our society and should have a frontline role in making planning decisions," Mr Maclellan said.

"It is not Government policy to have medium-density housing in every Melbourne street.  It is not Government policy to have dual-occupancies on every street corner."

"The State does not want bad planning decisions, it wants diversity and we put ourselves in the hands of local government to achieve those objectives," he said.

Mr Maclellan said that one of the positives of the building boom was the enthusiasm with which the state's existing housing stock was being extended and renovated.

"During the 1997/98 financial year, 33,710 building permits, worth $869 million were issued for extensions and renovations."

Mr Maclellan said the State Government had a number of overall aims for economic growth.

"We want to be international, we want to be multicultural and we want to create rewarding and challenging jobs for people who want to work.

"Six years ago, in the midst of economic gloom, we recognised that no-one was going to rescue us, that we would have to save ourselves."

Over the past year one third of all new jobs in Australia were created in Victoria. More than 2.15 million Victorians are now employed.

Mr Maclellan said a number of the State's major projects were contributing to the growth in employment.

The Office of Major Projects' Agenda 21 Program is expected to create 7500 jobs between now and 2000. In addition, the eight Jolimont revitalisation projects are expected to create more than 7000 jobs.

During the year 149 places were added to the Heritage Register, which replaced the Government Building Register in May 1998. There are now 1687 places on the Heritage Register, including building, gardens, cemeteries, precincts and shipwrecks.

Mr Maclellan said that in June he had announced interim measures to ensure greater protection of heritage buildings from demolition.

"These included a practice note prepared by the Building Control Commission advising all building surveyors to seek written advice from councils on the status of any building proposed for demolition."

Mr Maclellan said that during 1997/98 he had called in seven appeals out of 2551 to the AAT. This is more than 50 per cent less than 1996/97.


(News Release, Minister for Planning and Local Government, August 20, 1998)