The State Government bill to adopt an Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) and a new controversial Growth Area Infrastructure Tax appears to have been shelved after a it didn’t pass the Upper House a second time on 23 February.  It is currently assumed that the bill will be presented at a later stage, possibly after the next State election.

The Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett has given his in-principle approval to the expansion, through the Strategic Impact Assessment provisions of the EPBC Act, but has specified that detail of actions to mitigate impacts on matters of national environmental significance are still to be finalised.

For more details on this update, see the Environment Defenders Office website.

See below for more on the background to the proposed expansion of the Urban Growth Boundary.

Background to the proposed expansion of the Urban Growth Boundary

The State Government’s proposed expansion of the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) into the upper Merri represents a huge, 83% increase to the area of the catchment which would be within the UGB. A huge new Outer Metro Ring transport corridor (freeway and rail) will bisect and ‘cradle’ the mid upper catchment and a 1,000 ha freight & logistics precinct, with a new interstate rail freight terminal operating 24hours a day, is proposed east of Beveridge.

The expanded area includes many species and ecological communities that are protected by Federal legislation, so a Strategic Impact Assessment of the proposal is being undertaken which requires approval by the Federal Minister.

Within only 28 days, MCMC prepared a substantial submission as summarised below.

Main points in the MCMC submission:

• The background ecological data is insufficient for making such big decisions. Much more work needs to be done at the strategic level before any rezoning occurs.
• The proposal to clear native grassland in the Merri and locate the ‘offsets’ more than 60km away in new grassland reserves west of Werribee is unacceptable;
• There is no explicit proposal to establish an interconnected network of conservation reserves for the Merri;
• The extent, location and mechanisms for protecting areas identified as ‘non-urban’ are extremely unclear;
• The value of smaller reserves for biodiversity has been incorrectly dismissed;
• The impacts of urbanisation on hydrology, water quality and Growling Grass Frog habitat hasn’t been analysed;
• There’s a lack of detail for audit and review processes.

Overall the strategic impact assessment fails to adequately consider and provide for the biodiversity values of the upper Merri on matters of national environmental significance. MCMC believes it doesn’t meet the terms of reference for the assessment between the Federal and State Governments.

MCMC recommends:

• That Federal Minister shouldn’t endorse the program in its current form.
• That there should be further community consultation on the revised Strategic Impact Assessment Report.

Download MCMC's full submission on the Urban Growth Boundary (4.5 MB), with maps, in pdf format. Alternatively, download the text only (without the maps). You can also download the 3">http://www.mcmc.org.au/content/view/332/120/">3 appendices separately.