MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENTS
797. Mr T.J. HEALY to the Minister for Planning:
I
refer to the McGowan Labor government's commitment to deliver
responsible development that supports jobs as well as provides housing
choice for Western Australians, and the Leader of the Liberal Party's
question yesterday regarding apartments.
(1) Can the minister provide the house with further
examples of schools that are in close proximity to mixed-use precincts
that involve multiple-unit dwellings or hospitality venues?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house whether it is correct that people living in
apartments are a threat to children, as asserted by the Leader of the Liberal Party
in this house yesterday?
Ms R.
SAFFIOTI replied:
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for Southern River for that question. It was an incredible
performance yesterday by the Leader of the
Liberal Party, when he basically said that those living in apartments are a threat
to children. He said that people
living in apartments are a threat to your children—that is what he
said. Let us go through the Leader of the Liberal Party's
comments and his views. His view is that there are some suburbs that people
should not be able to move into. There should not be new residents in some
suburbs—that is the Leader of the Liberal Party's view. Over
time, we have seen a lot of different approaches to development in the state. There is the possibility of
continuous urban sprawl. There is the approach of subdividing every
property outside the western suburbs, which was the approach taken by the
Liberal Party—the wholesale subdivision of all suburbs except some
parts of the western suburbs—or there is the approach that we are
taking, which is housing choice and diversity in our suburbs. That means
ensuring that not every block in WA is subdivided. In fact, the majority do not
change, but we are creating active housing precincts across our community and across our suburbs. We do not believe that any
suburb should be off limits. We actually believe there should be housing
choice in every suburb. Yesterday in this place, the Leader of the Liberal
Party asked me to give him some examples —
Ms S.E. Winton: No, he said
one.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: He asked me to give him one example,
which we did yesterday, but I will give him some more today. Yesterday, he
asked for an example of a school that has an apartment building opposite.
Dr D.J. Honey: No, no—adjacent
to the oval.
The SPEAKER: Order, please,
members!
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: The member is
refining it to a nothingness now. But yesterday, it was about overlooking
schools. The member for Roe, who is sitting opposite, knows Wesley College
pretty well. I gave the quick example of Wesley College, where the early
childhood centre is overlooked by a block of apartments. As members of this
place will know, we did a little straw poll today, did we not? We said, ''Look,
you know your areas; give us some suburbs where your school may be adjacent to
some apartments or a liquor store or a bar.'' We did a quick straw poll; I thank members for their quick response. We
asked for suburbs that have high schools, primary schools, public schools and private schools and might have some
apartments or mixed-use developments nearby. This is just a quick snapshot:
Kelmscott, Armadale, South Perth, East Fremantle, Fremantle, Victoria Park,
Shenton Park, Mosman Park, Claremont, Floreat, Perth, Karrinyup, Darch,
Belridge and Woodvale. That is just a quick list from a quick straw poll of
where we have primary schools and high schools adjacent to mixed-use
developments.
Member,
we know that the Liberal Party is good at trying to create division and hatred
in the community. We know that is the approach, but we have a shared and
collective responsibility to build homes for future generations. This is not about today; this is about our children and
our children's children into the future. Where will people live? We
are taking an approach that we believe there
should be diversity of housing choice and that older people can continue
to live in their own suburbs in a smaller place, that young people should have
the opportunity to buy in the suburb that
they grew up in. That is our approach. The fear and divisiveness of the Leader
of the Liberal Party in trying to scare
people about people living in apartments is a disgrace, and we will point out
to everybody living in an apartment what he thinks of them.