Pesutto focuses on indigenous consultation

Pesutto rejected that characterization on Sunday, but he could not say how long the deadline would be for making decisions or what would happen if a deadline was missed.

“This in no way detracts from the substantive cultural heritage processes that are in place. What we want to do, however, is create some certainty around the process… people don’t know what they are dealing with once the process starts,” he said.

“Many investors and builders are saying that the costs have to be passed on and that there are significant additional costs that home buyers are paying because of the delays. In some cases that I am aware of, the delays can even last years.

“We now have a housing crisis in Victoria and the Labor government is doing nothing to address it. We are coming up with a reasonably sensible and reasonable approach.”

Pesutto said similar expectations applied to Melbourne Water, which he said often took unreasonably long to make clear decisions.

Indigenous groups have previously complained that they do not have the resources to process the volume of applications they have to review.

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Asked whether he agreed that the groups would need more resources, Pesutto replied that the opposition would look into the issue of resources.

“We want to make sure that the cultural heritage process can work effectively for Indigenous communities, but also where we can minimise unnecessary delays, of course we will get additional resources, but we don’t hear that that is necessarily the case,” he said.

“What a lot of builders say is they just can’t get information, even on basic questions. So we’re just trying to solve some of those problems, and it shouldn’t really be about resources.”

Pesutto’s leadership qualities received a boost last weekend after moderate politicians affiliated with his faction won key positions in the party’s executive.

“I am very happy with the way the party is functioning at the moment,” he said.

“We as the opposition are very committed to being an alternative government and making constructive proposals to address problems.”

Pesutto criticised the state government’s failure to address Victoria’s housing shortage, saying the number of additional homes built has fallen since the government announced a target of 80,000 homes a year.

A response was requested from the government.

In January, the state government reported that only 410 permits requiring a cultural heritage management plan were issued last financial year – the equivalent of 0.91 percent of all applications.

In an earlier speech to party members, Pesutto criticised Prime Minister Jacinta Allan for failing to manage the public debt and major projects and for allowing the controversial CFMEU to dominate government projects.

“We will win the next election here in Victoria. But I want to get this message across. It is a responsibility to win the next election because the ship of state in Victoria has entered very, very troubled waters.

“I have never seen our state face such enormous challenges, and some people say to me every now and then, ‘Well, it’s just like 1992.’ Well, it’s not like 1992, it’s much worse,” he said.