Council
8 May, 2024
Bev McArthur waits eight weeks for response
MEMBER for Western Victoria Region Bev McArthur MP has slammed Minister for Development Colin Brooks for the “unhelpful, obstructive, time-wasting, and disrespectful practice” of some government ministers.
On February 8, Mrs McArthur directed a constituency question to Mr Brooks in the Legislative Council regarding the government’s compulsory acquisition of 32 hectares of farmland for the Twelve Apostles precinct development.
She said, despite parliamentary practice dictating Mr Brooks had 14 days to reply, he did not.
Instead, he replied to Mrs McArthur 56 days later, on April 3, to say he was unable to answer Mrs McArthur’s question as it fell outside his portfolio.
“This is why people have little regard for politicians,” she said.
“Lives are going to be impacted, taxpayers are going to be fleeced and Minister Brooks sits there and shrugs his shoulders of any responsibility.
“If Minister Brooks genuinely believed that my original question had fallen out of his portfolio, then he could very easily have passed it on to his colleague, instead of wasting eight weeks before replying simply to say ‘not my problem’.”
Mrs McArthur said Mr Brook’s actions were an example of “obfuscation at its finest”.
“Let’s just remember what’s at stake here. A Victorian family is set to be forcibly evicted from their land, lose their historic asset ‘Glenample Homestead’ and have their tourism helicopter business and livelihood adversely affected,” she said.
“Instead of addressing this very serious issue, Minister Brooks is deciding to play politics.
“The family who own this land have said multiple times that they are willing to develop, fund, and manage a state-of-the-art visitor and education centre.
“Outrageously, Labor appears hellbent on proceeding with their compulsory acquisition campaign and wasting at least $108 million of taxpayers’ money on a publicly funded precinct that could be developed privately.”
Mrs McArthur recently raised the issue again in Parliament, this time seeking clarification from the Minister for Regional Development.
“Minister, on this long-planned project, which surely requires total transparency, I ask again: will the land acquired by Development Victoria be leased or sold to any third party – for example, the Eastern Maar corporation or an overseas entity?”
Mrs McArthur said the Nessler family have wrote to her saying the State Government valuers were expected to attend the property last week.
Mr Brook’s office was contacted for comment about why there was delays in responding to Mrs McArthur’s question, but no answer was forthcoming.