Greg Barber MLC

 Introduction and first reading

Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) introduced a bill for an act to amend the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 in relation to the imposition of certain minimum housing standards and for other purposes.

thanks to Peter Campbell for the image of Armstrong Ck

Forests: Armstrong Creek catchment

 Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) -- A number of salvage logging coupes have now been scheduled for the catchment of Armstrong Creek, which is a tributary of the Yarra River and is currently a closed catchment. Of course, top scientists would advise the minister that salvage logging is the worst environmental outcome.

In January of 2007 the Department of Sustainability and Environment made an extraordinary decision to conduct research through Auspoll into what does and doesn't swing community support for planning applications.  Before the global financial crisis was putting the squeeze on major and minor developments, the State Government felt that developers and their proposals needed a leg up in creating positive spin for ideas that the community would normally reject.

In the spirit of transparency and accountability, Greg Barber has applied for the Auspoll report under Freedom of Information Laws and is now happy to share the results with the general public for the first time.

 Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) -- It is a pleasure to speak on this subject. I would be surprised if most members had not had a chance to start thinking about the content of this bill and asking questions about it. Clearly that is being done by the usual shadow spokespeople for each party, but I would be very surprised if most members had not been approached by their communities at some stage on the issue because it is a very, very important measure in the toolkit of reducing emissions, and that is well recognised across the community.

Water: northern Victoria irrigation renewal project

 Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) -- My question is to the Minister for Environment and Climate Change and relates to the recently gazetted changes to the bulk entitlement for the Eildon-Goulburn Weir conversion.

Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) -- I am speaking on clause 1, the purposes of the bill. In terms of the original purpose, which was simply to restructure the industry, this has now gone much wider with the latest amendments. I seek your indulgence to talk about how this bill might support one of the main objectives of the principal act, which is to foster responsible gambling in order to minimise harm caused by problem gambling.

On that, I should say that I hate poker machines. If this was a bill to abolish poker machines from the state of Victoria, not only would I vote for it but I would hire a brass band and lead it down Bourke Street.