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Video: Clifford Hayes on "Planning and local democracy" in "Must Melbourne keep growing?

Mr Hayes, who is a past mayor of Bayside, talks about how the minister has absolute power to give permission for the building of apartments so miniscule that no-one else would give permission. How our 'planning system' is completely market driven and only really exists to facilitate a 'financial motivation in planning'. Clifford also talks about environment and embodied energy with respect to planning and construction. This is a great talk, well delivered. Video inside.
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Kew, Hawthorn, Camberwell, Brighton, Sandringham and Black Rock were among the suburbs to get two-storey height limits, in what resident groups hailed as a major victory.

The Age: High rise bans in Melbourne's richest suburbs
Ironically, these "richest" suburbs are likely to be where our politicians live, and they will be protected from the toxic "planning" they so readily impose and endorse on the rest of Melbourne! They can have high rise towers, density, congestion and poor services, but not a few selected suburbs.

This decision is evidence that planning and environmental groups can have some success, and power of decisions at a local level. Mary Drost, from Planning Backlash, says: ''Everybody is a NIMBY, and everybody wants to protect what they've got. I am a NIMBY and proud of it – and I don't want a great big high-rise next to me".

We need more outspoken "NIMBYs" in local neighbourhoods! We should wear t-shirts with "proud NIMBY" written on them! If we don't become NIMBYs, our peaceful and liveable suburbs will become captured and overwhelmed by property developers, and their destructive bulldozers!

Subject was: "Yes. Maybe NIMBY with some".

Yes. Maybe NIMBY with some statement, such as, "If I don't defend my backyard from overpopulation and overdevelopment, who will?"

"If we all defend our backyards, we can get rid of our unrepresentative government."


"If you defend my backyard, I'll defend yours"


"The world is our backyard, let's defend it"

um... any other ideas?

Subject was: "What about". - Ed

As some has pointed out, this protects the areas where the developers are likely to live, and makes suburbs like mine even bigger targets.

NIMBY'ism backfires when your BY is favoured over my BY. This should not be seen as a victory, but merely proof that victory is possible. Remember, the deeper problem is forced growth. This hasn't abated at all.