1. This is the third general meeting of the PPL VIC held at the North Melbourne Town Hall, courtesy of the City Of Melbourne. As mentioned previously, our inspiration for the establishment of the PPL Victoria has been PPL NSW and so our objectives and the structure of the organization echo the NSW model. I would hope that we can finalise this task and discuss the charter of the organization. (We have the model of the NSW group to consider.) We should point out for those new to PPL VIC that there are some significant differences in that we have not deemed it advisable to allow political parties or local councils sign on. Also a major difference is that the PPL NSW is "hosted’ by the National Trust which has a link to the PPL website. PPL Vic prefers to have its independence and to have a separate website. (This has been a great success) The generous assistance and advice offered by PPL NSW has been invaluable to us in establishing a "sister" organization in Victoria. South Australia has shown interest recently in establishing a group. The NSW Opposition Coalition has a Bill before Parliament, which is "an Act to constitute the Public Land Protection Trust, to establish a Register of significant public land and to protect significant public land; to amend the Education Act 1990 to provide for the protection of the sites of closed Government schools; and for other purposes." This is it hoped that in Victoria we can likewise work to establish a legislative basis for protection of iconic public lands and also significant private land.
2. The alienation of public open space, overwhelming of neighbourhoods by high rise, high density and "high anxiety" developments and destruction of heritage has been proceeding at ever increasing velocity, thanks largely to Melbourne 2030, and so the number of groups affiliated with Protectors of Public Lands Victoria which now stands at 50 is ever increasing. Many are now formally subscribed as members. We have another 30 or so looking to sign up. We welcome the latest supporters, which are the Malanhang Reserve Action Group and the Wheeler’s Hill Action Group. See Dr Barry Clark’s list attached of all the excuses used to alienate public open space and lands.
3. A significant event during the last quarter in the development of PPL Victoria was the Protest at Parliament on 16 June 2004 over Melbourne 2030, organised by Boroondara Residents’ Action Group (BRAG) and PPL VIC. BRAG initially convened a workshop at Camberwell Town Hall on 6 June 2004 with a guest speaker Bob Birrell (Monash University Centre for Urban Research) on Melbourne 2030. A joint statement was drafted and this together with submissions produced by 40 community groups was presented by a delegation to Planning Minister Delahunty’s henchmen after the rally. (The Minister refused to speak to the rally). TV Coverage by Channel 7 and 10 was good plus in many local papers. Channel 7 is now doing a running coverage nearly every week on the revolt by communities over Melbourne 2030 and inappropriate development. On 17 June Channel 7 had an excellent news feature on the impact of the Burnley GE development on Burnley Gardens. Minister Delahunty has written back to the 40 groups and BRAG and PPL VIC have a meeting scheduled with her on 24 August 2004.
4. The role of PPL VIC in assisting with linking groups with common interests and facilitating "actions" was shown at events and actions staged including the Camberwell Station Action Group Rally on 2 May 2004; the March for Mitcham "Say No to Proposed 16 Storey Tower" on 12 June 2004; the Brandon Park Residents’ Action Group Protest Meeting on 19 July 2004 (chaired by Kevin Chamberlin, PPL VIC President); and the Friends of Frankston Rally on 1 August 2004.

Julianne Bell Secretary PPL VIC