By Cameron Weston
HOBSONS Bay City Council last week continued its attack on the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal (VCAT), calling for a “complete overhaul” of the organisation.
Councillor Peter Hemphill tabled a motion that the council write to the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), other Victorian councils, major political parties and Victorian planning and police ministers, to gather support for a push to limit VCAT’s powers.
“VCAT is destroying our suburbs and it’s time to take action on behalf of the community,” an angry Cr Hemphill said.
The motion, which had substantial support at the council table, also called for the matter to be made official business at the upcoming MAV State Conference.
However, VCAT president Justice Stuart Morris defended the tribunal, warning that councils should be careful about responding emotionally to VCAT decisions.
He denied VCAT was trying to erode council planning powers, saying there had been no increase in rulings which overturned council planning decisions.
“It’s very easy to make superficial claims.
“Just looking at raw figures doesn’t really tell you the full story,” he said.
A recent study by the council revealed that VCAT overruled the council’s planning decisions 75 times in the past financial year, while upholding their decision 56 times from a total of 131 appeals.
The council said these figures showed the VCAT was undermining its power as the local planning authority, and was ruining the character of neighbourhoods.
Cr Hemphill told the council that a recent VCAT decision to grant a 24-hour liquor licence to the bottle shop at the Millers Inn, in Altona, showed a “total disregard for what local people have to put up with”.
The council originally agreed to extend the bottle shop licence by just one hour, from 11pm to midnight, prompting the owners of the Millers Inn to take the matter to VCAT.
Cr Hemphill said this decision was simply the latest, but potentially the most socially damaging decision the VCAT had made in defiance of the council’s wishes.
And he said a 24-hour bottle shop would prove detrimental to the area.
“What we have here is this all-powerful, pro-development body overruling the council’s decision.
“There is obviously something wrong with the system.”
Williamstown Ward councillor Angela Altair supported the motion, saying the VCAT should be nobbled and be forced to consider a council’s local planning schemes when making a decision.
“A part-time member of VCAT wields more power than the combined might of the 79 councils in the state,” she said.
But Cr Altair questioned the line of attack suggested by Cr Hemphill, saying she was fairly sceptical about the council’s chances of success.
She said it was the vague nature of state planning laws, and the imperatives of the State Government’s Melbourne 2030 planning document, which allowed VCAT to overrule councils.
She said Rob Hulls, the Minister for Planning, was ultimately responsible, and VCAT was the wrong target of the council’s objections.
“I don’t think Mr Hulls is going to be in a hurry to change the current powers of VCAT,” Cr Altair said.
