Tears and an eftpos machine: Bayside residents take to the streets in high-rise protest

3 weeks ago 12

Susan McMillan is afraid to go on camera in case the tears start coming. Sure enough, within a couple of minutes, they’re gently rolling down her cheek, as she’s putting into words her fear of losing what she has worked hard for.

“I worked seven days a week for four years to save up for my home,” McMillan says, standing in front of a crowd of about 2000 protesters in Brighton on Sunday.

Susan McMillan, a Brighton resident of 45 years, joined about 2000 protesters on Sunday.

“I’ve lived in my house for 45 years. I bought it when I was a single female, and they didn’t want to give home loans to single girls.

“We need suburbs where people aspire to a better lifestyle, and work hard, and save, so they can live in that suburb.”

Bayside has become a housing battleground. Residents have repeatedly rallied against the Allan government’s housing agenda, which includes a plan to allow buildings in the area up to 16 storeys as part of the activity centres program to boost density around public transport hubs.

Their frustrations were compounded when Precincts Minister Harriet Shing last month added locations to the government’s Small Sites program, which opens up blocks of surplus government land to the private sector to develop.

Brighton MP James Newbury led protesters in a march through the rain.

Residents fear this program could lead to the scrapping of 80 spots out of 110 in Middle Brighton and 75 out of 120 in North Brighton, depending on developers’ plans.

Under the government’s activity centre precinct maps, released in September, buildings as high as 12 storeys could be allowed next to both stations. Larger buildings, up to 16 storeys, are proposed for parts of Hampton.

Residents who marched from St Andrew’s Anglican Church to Male Street in Brighton on Sunday argued the plans would overrun the populations of their suburbs without adequate infrastructure or their consent.

The protesters, led by Brighton Liberal MP James Newbury, chanted “Towers, no, Jacinta must go” and “We are Bayside, not the Gold Coast”. Federal MP for Goldstein Tim Wilson joined the march, as did southern metropolitan Liberal MPs Georgie Crozier and David Davis.

Volunteers passed around an eftpos machine to collect donations in the rain.

Newbury urged protesters to sacrifice one $150 dinner they would otherwise buy on Church Street, and instead put the money towards signs and advertising to aid the campaign against high-rise development.

The government has allocated 50 activity centres for higher-density development near transport hubs across Melbourne. Consultation on the zones, including Brighton and Hampton, is scheduled to finish early next year.

Businesswoman Tina Nettlefold, who joined the march, said: “In this Bayside community, we do not have the infrastructure to allow for these sort of tall high rises, and to ruin our community without our consent.”

Nicole Urquhart, who held a sign reading “Stop state Labor’s towers”, said she didn’t want Brighton “overtaken by massive towers”.

“We’ve put a lot of time, money and effort into our beautiful houses,” she said.

“Our daughters went to Gardenvale Primary School, and it’s full to the brim. Where are those children going to go to school?”

The Victorian government maintains that its overhaul of the state’s planning laws – the biggest “in decades” – will make the housing market fairer, while it has said the Liberals continue to fight to “block homes from getting built”.

“[Opposition Leader] Brad Battin and James Newbury need to explain why they want to lock generations of Victorians out of the housing market,” Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny said in a statement.

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