PJ KEATING Tusculum

3 MANNING STREET
POTTS POINT NSW 2011
AUSTRALIA

TEL: 61 2 9358 5466

FAX: 61 2 9358 5477

PO BOX 1265
POTTS POINT NSW 1335
AUSTRALIA

21 November 2018

Letter to the Editor of The Age

Victorians should record the high cynicism of the Liberal Party in not standing
a candidate in the electorate of Richmond.

There can be only one explanation for this strategy. And it has to be that the
Opposition Leader, Matthew Guy, is attempting to defeat Planning Minister,
Richard Wynne, by leaving the field wide open to the Greens.

And what motivation would Mr Guy have for such a strategy; obviously to do
the bidding of the property development industry, with whom he is so close.

The worst elements of the industry would decimate the ring suburbs of
Melbourne, as Mr Guy has already done to Melbourne’s city decorum.

The circle of inner Melbourne from East Melbourne through Carlton to South
Yarra, with its fine grained, two and three storey residences, would be
decimated if the property cowboys were allowed, willy nilly, to build fifteen to
twenty storey buildings, in those suburbs, now development within the city
centre has gone off the boil.

Only one person stands in their way: Richard Wynne.

Wynne has placed appropriate height controls in the sensitive areas, protected
heritage and has insisted upon better apartment design, both in size and quality.
He has also protected public open space.

In the face of a tsunami of money for residential development, policy

articulation of the public interest is the only protection the community can rely
upon.

As a minister in the Government, Wynne as member for Richmond is able to

achieve things which no independent member is capable of – Green or
otherwise.
If Matthew Guy really thinks he will win the Victorian election, he would not
need to worry what Wynne thinks on development issues or waste time trying
to beat him. He would otherwise be deciding those issues for himself. He
obviously thinks he is going to lose to Daniel Andrews but on the way down,
he will get a fix in for his property mates by knocking off the Planning Minister
who stands in the way of their greed and avarice.

With population pressures on Victoria, it is imperative that the state has a

planning minister with the civic interest uppermost in mind.

I believe it currently has that with Richard Wynne in the seat of Richmond.

P J Keating
Potts Point, NSW