| Date |
Articles |
| Easter 2010 |
Labours of Hercules
Approvals for public land developments may seem as demanding as the 12 tasks which the Olympian gods set for Hercules.
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| January 2010 |
The Biodiversity White Paper
Although it attracted little media attention, we think it reflects a significant maturing of Victoria's policy landscape.
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| November 2009 |
This edition of Terra Publica looks at some impacts of climate change on public land.
While the coastline is coming under attack literally, related areas of law are coming under attack metaphorically…
Also in this edition - how property vendors misrepresent unused roads.
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| July - August 2009 |
Why is Docklands such a failure? Because its public spaces don't work
How urban planners should stop planning buildings, and start planning the spaces between them.
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| May - June 2009 |
Footnotes to Black Saturday
How the governance of roads can affect people's safety and people's lives.
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| March - April 2009 |
The Village at 5 Million
The English village continues to provide useful metaphors for economists and planners. As Melbourne approaches 5 million, are we just dancing around the maypole?
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| January - February 2009 |
Public Land @ 5 Million - Melbourne, The Future and Public Land
Our first major conference for 2009 will be at the Sebel Hotel, Queens Road, on 21 April.
Seven eminent speakers will examine the role public land will play when Melbourne's population reaches 5 million.
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| December 2008 |
The A-List, the B-List, and Yarra Bend Park
How Melbourne's $100 million Parks Charge is spent - and how one of our most important parks is left (like its bats) to forage for sustenance.
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| Oc t- Nov 2008 |
A Caffe Latte and a Vanilla Slice
From Toongabbie to Patchewollock the volunteer ethic is alive and well - and often takes the form of public land management. In Melbourne, on the other hand...
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| Aug - Sept 2008 |
Now Don't You Worry About That...
We wonder what Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen would make of the report of the Parliamentary Committee into Public Land Development, which strays into the Doctrine of the Separation of Powers under the Westminster system of government.
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| July 2008 |
Free Land!
The distorted economics of Crown land results in under-utilised government property lying around Melbourne's inner and middle suburbs, at a time when planning policy wants land for affordable housing.
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| June 2008 |
Riparian Values and Missing Links
Fourteen strategies for governance of Victoria's riparian lands - a summary of recommendations to DSE on reform of legislation, regulations, and administrative arrangements for land along the State's rivers. |
| April - May 2008 |
Plans, Protests and Public Land
VEAC (the Victorian Environment Assessment Authority) is no stranger to controversy - but what can we expect when it turns its attention from the Otways and the Redgum country, and starts to look public land in metroplitan Melbourne? |
| Feb - Mar 2008 |
Catch 22
If you're a member of the Parliamentary Committee into Public Land, read Joseph Heller's 'Catch 22' - you'll find out where Attorney-General Rob Hulls gets his inspiration from. Next - Google the word 'subsidiarity.' You might just figure out what you should actually be recommending... |
| January 2008 |
When Push comes to Shove - The forthcoming release of the DSE/Parks Victoria Road Management Plan could see some vigorous negotiations about management standards for roads in forests and parks. |
| October 2007 |
This edition of Terra Publica looks at some of our recent consultancy work:
- Public Land -Led Urban Renewal - the reconfiguration of the centre of a country town
- Scuba-Law - governance and management of the sea-bed
- Waterways - a Cadastral Taxonomy - the many ways the law recognises rivers and streams
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| June-July 2007 |
St Kilda Palace Burns Down - AGAIN! - Last week’s fire at the Palace was not the first. The 1968 fire led to an insurance payout, which led to a five-year wrangle between the then lessee and the government as lessor, and the resolution of that wrangle fuelled the series of legal disputes that were resolved only last month...
Mapping Aboriginal Heritage -The May edition of Terra Publica looked at problems with the interpretation of the Aboriginal Heritage Regulations 2006. The Regulations refer to information on geological maps which is not easily related to property boundaries. Here we look in detail at three methods of getting into this data... |
| April-May 2007 |
My Colouring Book is Better than Your Colouring Book - The spectacular maps of the Victorian Geological Survey will soon be adorning the walls of many council offices - because they are central to the interpretation of the new Aboriginal Heritage Regulations |
| Easter 2007 |
Ghost Stories - Century-old monuments in road reserves are not protected by legislation, as they should be, and rely for their survival on the ghosts of the people and causes they commemorate. |
| January - February 2007 |
Not a Satisfactory Situation - The Supreme Court looks disapprovingly at the chasm between the law governing Torrens titles and the law governing ownership of roads. |
| December 2006 |
Get Fit. Be Nice. Reform Public Land Law - Our New Year's Resolutions for 2007 involve a new Riparian Land Management Act, a new Roads Reform Act, and a new Crown Land Rationalisation Act. Should we just stick with Get Fit and Be Nice? |
| October-November 2006 |
Communique - To Whom It May Concern - Here are 25 proposals for reform of policy relating to unused, little-used and discontinued roads. After the State election we will know which minister or ministers will be in a position to get them implemented. |
| September 2006 |
We will Fight Them on the Beaches... and in the Parks and Gardens - When Mr Justice Wilcox found that the Noongar people had a valid claim to land in metropolitan Perth, he provoked a series of appaling responses from the nation's politicians and commentators...
Question and Answer - How do I find out if there is a Native Title claim over a particular parcel of public land?
The Land, its Traditional Owners and the Law - our new Professional Development Training
Course |
| August 2006 |
Oh, My Ears and Whiskers! - If words in Acts of Parliament mean what they say, quite a few purported leases of Crown reserves belong in Alice-in-Wonderland
The Race for 7C - In their eagerness to protect public land from Adverse Possession, two Ministers are attempting to insert new provisions into the Limitation of Actions Act - with the same section number...
54 seconds - VCAT finds a path between vegetation retention and road safety |
| June-July 2006 |
Shall We Gather At The River?
In this issue of Terra Publica we look at some of the twists and turns in the policy and legislation governing land along Victoria's rivers
How can a river reserve be removed from a paddock (where there's no actual river)?
What's the meaning of 'reserved land' in the Planning and Environment Act? |
| May 2006 |
Who's got the Policy Spanner?
We don't need engineers to explain the latest collapse of Arthurs Seat Chairlift.
Its collapse was due as much to a failure of government policy on Crown leases as to a mechanical failure.
There is an overwhelming case in favour of changing policy to recognise tenant's residual interest. |
| April 2006 |
ROADS - Some Curiosities at the Intersection between Policy and the Law...
This edition of Terra Publica looks at a series of legal anomalies which should not be resolved by lawyers, but by policy makers. |
| February-March 2006 |
Rod Quantock .v. Iggy Pop
January's Big Day Out in Princes Park, Carlton generated decibels, protests, and a state-wide planning scheme amendment. Perhaps the time has come to rethink the way parks and gardens are made available for major events. |
| January 2006 |
From Maiden Gully to Devilbend.
A recent VCAT decision about native vegetation 'Net Gain' in urban areas has important implications for managers of publc land
A developer asks: We've heard there's a way of getting title to a Government Road at no cost. Is it true? |
| November-December 2005 |
King Canute, Sir William McDonald and the WJJWJ
The Little Desert has seen the Turning of the Tide - more than once. The Native Title determination in favour of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagalk peoples marks a new era in the management of Crown land in Victoria
"Section 86" Committees - one way for councils to manage public land
Native Vegetation Clearance Control - Review of Exemptions |
| October 2005 |
The Auditor-General asks: Was the Shire of Glenelg's planning system working? A far more illuminating report would have asked: Why wasn't the Convincing Ground protected? They're two very different questions.
Privately-owned Roads - A new perspective
Where exactly is the seaward boundary of a municipality? |
| August-September 2005 |
Weddings, Funerals, Bar-Mitzvahs, Anything...
If someone wanted to study the workings of rural communities in Victoria, a great place to start would be the humble Public Hall.
What powers do Councils have to authorise temporary road closures? |
| July 2005 |
Mozart, Vivaldi, and Public Land-Led Urban Regeneration. According to two analysts, the catalyst for urban regeneration in the Western suburbs could be either Footscray Station or the Whitten Oval. In either case, redevelopment will need to negotiate Victoria's public land legislation
Can a council sell land which is public open space?
Flowchart: Who is responsible for this road? |
| June 2005 |
Murder on the Left Bank - The VEAC inquiry into the redgum country along the Murray River raises the ghost of one Albert Joseph Reid...
17A, 17B, 17C, 17D... A closer look at the leasing provisions of the Crown Land (Rserves) Act |
| May 2005 |
The Culture of Entitlement - The Mountain Cattlemen continue a long and dubious tradition:- "because we were here in the past we are entitled to be here in the future"
The weighty case of the Burnley tram stop: how archaic legislation requires Parliament to waste its time considering trivia.
Exactly which Minister is responsible for Crown Land? |
| April 2005 |
The Elephant and the Excavation - two parallel, but quite different, stories about private freehold land - which shouldn't be.
Are you still exposed to Adverse Possession?
I own a block of land with no road access. Do I have rights of access across adjacent Crown land? |
| February-March 2005 |
This is the Place for an Activity Centre. Modern planners must envy the state's early surveyors. They truly were 'town planners' who actually planned towns.
In the VPPs, what's the meaning of "On behalf of the Public Land Manager"?
What influence can Councils exercise over DSE's Licences on Unused Roads? |
| January 2005 |
Dear Mr Hulls. Congratulations on your appointment as Minister for Planning - but have they told you the bad news? You're also Minister for Crown land...
Do Local Laws Apply to the Crown?
Act 391 - How the State still subsidises the church - 130+ years after the disestablishment debate |
