Victoria’s union-backed left-wing Labor premier has been heckled by angry residents after announcing a plan to build high-rise apartments in 50 neighbourhoods across Melbourne.
Premier Jacinta Allan on Sunday said high-density housing would be fast-tracked across 50 transport hubs designated as “activity centres”, and revealed the first 25 sites, mainly located in the city’s east and south-east, saying it would help young people buy homes.
Ms Allan, a proponent of mass immigration who recently made a trip to India where she announced several initiatives to keep Indian student numbers high, was booed by residents of Brighton who chanted “shame, premier, shame” before her press conference unveiling the high-rise plan.
Opposition planning spokesman and local MP @newbury3186 outside @JacintaAllanMP press conference announcing 50 new activity centres. Was leading locals in chants of “shame, premier, shame”. Middle Brighton has been identified as one new centre. #springst pic.twitter.com/5lO0vrPZpx
— Kieran Rooney (@KieranJRooney) October 20, 2024
“Building more homes around 50 inner-suburban train stations means young people have more opportunity to rent or buy a place that’s directly connected to public transport,” Ms Allan said.
“I know it won’t fix everything, but it will deliver more homes and new life to inner suburbs that are full of jobs, transport and services – where young buyers and renters are currently locked out.”
The 50 new centres add to 10 initial ones revealed in August in Broadmeadows, Camberwell, Chadstone, Epping, Frankston, Moorabbin, Niddrie, North Essendon, Preston and Ringwood, and the Activity Centres plan aims to add 300,000 high-density home by 2051.
The first 25 will be located in North Brighton, Middle Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham, Toorak Village, Toorak, Armadale, Malvern, Hawksburn, Hawthorn, Tooronga, Glen Iris, Carnegie, Murrumbeena, Hughesdale, Oakleigh, West Footscray, Mitcham, Auburn, Glenferrie, Darling, Nunawading, Broadmeadows (superhub), Sunshine (superhub), and Clayton (superhub).
Upset locals in wealthy areas of the city’s southeast said they feared the high-rise developments would cause overcrowding and make their neighourhoods unrecognisable.
“It’s just not really right. We’ve lived here for so many years, it’s just going to turn into chaos if this goes ahead,” a Toorak resident called Nick told the Herald Sun.
“None of us want these high-rise buildings in our area,” said a Bayside local named Vickie.
“It’s wrong. They can’t just steam roll everybody all the time.”
Another Melbourne resident told Noticer News the plan was a blatant attempt to funnel more money into the unions by creating massive construction projects which would be inevitably controlled by the CFMEU, which is riddled with corruption and linked to organised crime.
“The Suburban Rail Loop they want to do doesn’t stack up. It just keeps the union blokes employed on high salaries. It’s nuts,” he said.
The NSW Labor government has a similar Transport Oriented Development plan intended to supply 170,000 new high-rise homes, upsetting residents in small towns set to be transformed by high-rise housing towers.
