Inside Job
BENDIGO’S residential Strategy will be reviewed because of greater than expected growth.
The State Government has announced a grant of $50,000 to carry out the review.
The review is needed because, according to the State Government, 40 per cent of the forecast growth between 2006 and 2031 had already been realised.
Regional Development Parliamentary Secretary Damian Drum made the announcement this morning.
Mr Drum said the Bendigo Residential Strategy Review would deliver greater community and investor certainty, helping the region grow.
“The Bendigo Residential Development Strategy was adopted in 2004 and is currently being audited because of the faster than anticipated growth that has occurred in Bendigo in recent years,” he said.
“Strong residential growth has many flow-on economic benefits and having a clear framework for future development will position Greater Bendigo City Council to undertake more detailed, place-based planning in the future.”
Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said about 40 per cent of the forecast growth between 2006 and 2031 had already been realised.
The Residential Strategy impacts directly on where and how property developments use “infill” parcels of land, range of housing styles and also on housing affordability.
“This project will review the strategy, assess current and estimated land supply and demand and consider various legislative and policy changes,” Mr Ryan said,
“It will also consider the latest demographic data and establish a new strategic framework to guide the long-term residential growth of Greater Bendigo.
“The project will result in a revised residential strategy that will give developers, the community and service providers greater surety and confidence about where land can be developed for residential purposes, and that sufficient land is available to accommodate the City of Greater Bendigo’s future growth.”
Mr Ryan said a contemporary strategic planning framework was essential to the economic development of a large regional centre like Bendigo.
“Clearly identifying future growth options and supporting infrastructure needs will enable the Greater Bendigo City Council and other infrastructure providers to plan their capital works programs well in advance,” he said.
“Identifying long-term growth areas will enable the council and other service authorities to start planning for the delivery of services, thereby minimising the lag time between when residential development occurs and when the services need to be in place.”
| Bendigo Weekly | 28-Apr-2011 4.03
INSIDE Job is perhaps the most important film to come out of the US for quite some time and should be on a ‘must see’ list of films.
It is an excruciatingly brutal expose of the machinations of those who engineered and profited from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in the United States.
The film is an appalling indictment on the perpetrators of the financial crisis and how they have not been made accountable for their actions.
In fact it shows how they have been rewarded for their greed which has and is causing untold pain and grief in their own country and around the world.
It beggars belief that the financial sector ‘players’ could be rewarded for their hideous and calculated actions to profit from the misery of others.
Even more frightening is that the film portrays the players as appearing to have no remorse and that they still believe their actions were valid.
Director Charles Ferguson’s expose is presented in a documentary style narrated by Matt Damon.
The five part film dramatically shows the consequences of systemic corruption of the financial services industry and how players designed ways of profiting from lending people money to buy homes they could never afford to pay off.
Not only did these vile people profit from the inability of thousands to pay off housing loans, they sold mischievously over-rated products and then gambled, through futures and insurance schemes, that these unfortunate ‘punters’ would default.
Ferguson’s incredible documentary presents the complicated schemes engineered by financial service industry players in layman’s terms and uses simple-to-follow graphics to illustrate the unfolding story.
The 2008 GFC is dissected by Ferguson through extensive research and interviews of politicians, financiers, academics and journalists.
The film’s only criticism is that non-willing participants are judged as villains by their unwillingness to engage in the project which is a common practice used by tabloid TV current affairs shows.
Accusing a subject and then flagging that they would not appear on camera is an unfair tactic.
However, Ferguson has enough other material to implicate a raft of players.
The most frightening aspect of Inside Job is that roughly half of the GFC culprits are now working in either government or corporation jobs or are in academic roles teaching the next generation of financial service employees and proprietors.
At the very least, Inside Job justifies a wider cinema release and it should be required viewing by all students wanting a career path in the financial services industry.
Its recent Academy Award for best Documentary Feature 2011 says it all.
Sadly to say the GFC will never happen again is unlikely as the instigators are presumably teaching the next generation how they did it.
9.5 stars out of 10
BENDIGO’S residential Strategy will be reviewed because of greater than expected growth.
The State Government has announced a grant of $50,000 to carry out the review.
The review is needed because, according to the State Government, 40 per cent of the forecast growth between 2006 and 2031 had already been realised.
Regional Development Parliamentary Secretary Damian Drum made the announcement this morning.
Mr Drum said the Bendigo Residential Strategy Review would deliver greater community and investor certainty, helping the region grow.
“The Bendigo Residential Development Strategy was adopted in 2004 and is currently being audited because of the faster than anticipated growth that has occurred in Bendigo in recent years,” he said.
“Strong residential growth has many flow-on economic benefits and having a clear framework for future development will position Greater Bendigo City Council to undertake more detailed, place-based planning in the future.”
Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said about 40 per cent of the forecast growth between 2006 and 2031 had already been realised.
The Residential Strategy impacts directly on where and how property developments use “infill” parcels of land, range of housing styles and also on housing affordability.
“This project will review the strategy, assess current and estimated land supply and demand and consider various legislative and policy changes,” Mr Ryan said,
“It will also consider the latest demographic data and establish a new strategic framework to guide the long-term residential growth of Greater Bendigo.
“The project will result in a revised residential strategy that will give developers, the community and service providers greater surety and confidence about where land can be developed for residential purposes, and that sufficient land is available to accommodate the City of Greater Bendigo’s future growth.”
Mr Ryan said a contemporary strategic planning framework was essential to the economic development of a large regional centre like Bendigo.
“Clearly identifying future growth options and supporting infrastructure needs will enable the Greater Bendigo City Council and other infrastructure providers to plan their capital works programs well in advance,” he said.
“Identifying long-term growth areas will enable the council and other service authorities to start planning for the delivery of services, thereby minimising the lag time between when residential development occurs and when the services need to be in place.”
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