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JASON DOWLING November 12, 2009 The Age
A HUGE expansion of Melbourne's urban boundary is expected to be held up by State Parliament, with the Opposition and Greens poised to block the move.
Planning Minister Justin Madden has released plans for a 43,600-hectare expansion of Melbourne to deliver 134,000 new homes, mostly in the north and west.
Mr Madden has told The Age he expects it to be the last change in Melbourne's boundary in his lifetime.
He described the plan to move the boundary as ''one of the most significant city-shaping initiatives that Melbourne has ever seen''.
The Government has tied the boundary expansion to the introduction of a growth areas tax to help pay the multibillion-dollar bill for new public transport, schools and hospitals in the growth suburbs.
It is believed the Opposition will oppose the new growth areas tax of $95,000 a hectare on new land brought inside Melbourne's urban boundary and is prepared to block the tax even if it means halting the urban expansion.
Opposition planning spokesman Matthew Guy said: ''We have very serious concerns about the current growth areas tax proposal - we offered to negotiate with the Government 10 months ago and that has never been taken up.''
Greg Barber of the Greens said his party was unlikely to support the movement of the urban growth boundary or the new growth areas tax before ''much further scrutiny''.
A joint State Government and Melbourne City Council commissioned report earlier this year estimated the cost of building new houses on Melbourne's fringe to be hundreds of millions of dollars more than building in existing suburbs because of the extra cost of infrastructure.
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