Matthew Guy

The Honourable Matthew Guy MP
Leader of the Opposition in Victoria
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 December 2014
Premier	Daniel Andrews
Deputy	Peter Walsh
Preceded by	Daniel Andrews
Leader of the Liberal Party in Victoria
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 December 2014
Deputy	David Hodgett
Preceded by	Denis Napthine
Minister for Planning
In office 2 December 2010 – 4 December 2014
Premier	Ted Baillieu Denis Napthine
Preceded by	Justin Madden
Succeeded by	Richard Wynne
Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship
In office 17 March 2014 – 4 December 2014
Premier	Denis Napthine
Preceded by	Nicholas Kotsiras
Succeeded by	Robin Scott
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Bulleen
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 November 2014
Preceded by	Nicholas Kotsiras
Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Northern Metropolitan
In office 25 November 2006 – 28 November 2014
Succeeded by	Fiona Patten
Personal details
Born	(1974-03-06) 6 March 1974 Greensborough, Victoria
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Alma mater	La Trobe University
Religion	Presbyterianism[1][2]

Matthew Jason Guy (born 6 March 1974) is an Australian politician, and a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Liberal Party. He is the current leader of the Victorian Parliamentary Liberal Party, and therefore Leader of the Opposition in Victoria.

Background

Matthew Guy was the Liberal candidate for Yan Yean in the 2002 Victorian state election but was not elected. At the 2006 Victorian state election he succeeded as the top candidate on the Liberal ticket for the Northern Metropolitan Region in the Victorian Upper House after which he was soon appointed as Shadow Minister for Planning.

Guy was re-elected at the 2010 Victorian state election and was subsequently appointed as Planning Minister.

Prior to entering parliament Matthew Guy was a ministerial adviser to Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett and to the Assistant Federal Treasurer, Senator Rod Kemp. He was also the Chief of Staff to Dr Denis Napthine during his period as Opposition Leader.

He has also worked for the Victorian Farmers Federation and for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and is a member of the St Kilda Saints the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Radio 3RRR and the National Trust of Victoria.

Matthew Guy is married with three children. He is of Ukrainian descent; his mother's family left the Soviet Union in 1949.^[3]

Planning controversies

Ventnor land rezoning

In September 2011 Matthew Guy, overruled Bass Coast Shire and rezoned a 5.7-hectare farming property at Ventnor, Phillip Island, from farmland into the township making it available for development.^[4] The rezoning decision was unpopular with one hundred submissions calling for the town boundaries to be retained while only one submission from the developers supporting the rezoning.^[4] Opposition to the rezoning included American singer Miley Cyrus who tweeted to her 2.5 million followers that "Phillip Island is such a magical place, it would be a shame to see it change".^[5]

Days later, Guy reversed his decision, advising the Bass Coast Mayor, Veronica Dowman, that he had changed his mind.^[6] It is believed that Guy succumbed to backroom pressure from Liberal heavy-weights (including local federal Liberal MP Greg Hunt, Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu and his deputy, Louise Asher) when he back-flipped on his original decision to rezone the land.^[7] The developer behind the rezoning, Ms Carley Nicholls, claims to have received a favourable hearing from Matthew Guy when she briefed him on the scheme at a "kitchen table meeting" in her home months before he controversially approved it.^[8] Nicholls purchased the property based on the rezoning decision and subsequently sought to sue Mr Guy and have his original rezoning decision reinstated.^[8] In defence Guy stated in court documents, that he acted in error in rezoning the land but had relied on the advice of ministerial staff. He says he overturned his decision after learning that the Bass Coast Shire Council opposed the extension of town boundaries at Ventnor. Guy denied discussing the Ventnor project with Ms Nicholls or even knowing of her interest in the property.^[8]

Legal proceedings terminated in August 2013 with a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement with taxpayers footing the bill.^[9][10] In October 2013, the Victorian ombudsman George Brouwer decided to launch an investigation to address Guy's decision to rezone the Ventnor site, against the original advice of his department, the department's lawyers, the local Bass Coast shire and an independent planning panel.^[9][11]

In early 2014, Guy overruled his department to block the release of freedom of information documents about the botched rezoning of farmland on Phillip Island.^[12] In March 2014, Mr Brouwer found that Mr Guy was ultimately responsible for the rezoning decision and that he had refused to hand over important documents requested as part of his investigation^[13] However, Mr Brouwer also found that Guy was unaware that his advisers were acting in his name when asking for the planning department to change its advice.^[13]

High-rise building approvals

In March 2013, Guy announced that he had approved plans for the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere – Australia 108 – with a height of 388 metres, 90 metres higher than Eureka Tower.^[14] This approval drew criticism from the Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle who is concerned the building would cast a shadow over the Shrine of Remembrance and from planning academic, Professor Michael Buxton, who referred to Guy as "Mr Skyscraper."^[14][15] In June 2014, Australia 108 was approved for a second time with a height reduction after Fairfax Media revealed the building violated federal air safety regulations for Essendon Airport.^[16]

Prior to Australia 108, Guy issued 19 other approvals for tower projects in Melbourne and inner suburbs ranging from 19 to 71 storeys high and rezoned land at Fishermans Bend, Footscray and North Melbourne for high-rise development.^[14] This is despite Coalition policy to create a central planning body to be responsible for all developments within the City of Melbourne that exceed 25,000 square metres.^[17]

On the other hand, Guy did intervene and stop an 88-metre apartment tower at 35 Albert Road by imposing height controls. Doing so protected the views to the bay enjoyed by some of Melbourne's richest business people, including active Liberal Party supporters, MP Andrea Coote and former Howard minister Peter Reith who live in a nearby tower.^[14]

In June 2014 Guy approved a 75-level tower at 452 Elizabeth Street and a 54-storey building at 84–90 Queensbridge Street providing homes for 4000 people, rental income for investors, thus indemnifying the developer.^[16] Opposition planning spokesman Brian Tee said the minister, by approving so many skyscrapers so quickly for Melbourne's CBD, was displaying "a complete disregard for the impact these developments are going to have" over a 15- or 20-year period.^[16]

Wind farm laws

Before the 2010 state election, the then Liberal–National opposition announced plans to restrict wind farm developments across Victoria, within two kilometres of homes and in the vicinity of regional towns. On 29 August 2011, Minister Guy delivered on this commitment through approval of Amendment VC82 to the Victoria Planning Provisions, prohibiting new wind turbines within two kilometres of homes unless there is written consent from the homeowner.^[18] VC82 also introduced no-go zones for wind farms in the Yarra Valley, Dandenong Ranges, Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine Peninsula, Great Ocean Road region, the Macedon and McHarg Ranges, and the Bass Coast.^[19][20]

The Coalition government has been criticised for offering little in the way of explanation for no-go zones, the locations of which align with announced projects, extended family members of the former Premier, and land owned by Liberal Party heavyweights.^[21] The new planning laws have been criticised by academics on the basis that they: entrench fossil fuel generation in the state, make it harder for Victoria to move towards renewable energy, put local above global concerns and treat wind as more dangerous than coal.^[22] Industry has also expressed concern about impact of the wind laws on jobs and investment, as has the State opposition.^[23] Wind turbine tower manufacturer, Keppel Prince has threatened to move parts of the business interstate.^[24] The Clean Energy Council said the change would cost hundreds of new jobs in regional areas and drive $3.6 billion of investment away from Victoria.^[25][26] Pacific Hydro stated that they are not looking at new greenfield developments in Victoria and Windlab Systems stated that the Government's planning laws had "gone too far" and the company was moving all staff to Canberra.^[26][27]

It was reported that the former Premier, Ted Baillieu's office had a direct role in preparing the wind farm planning laws for Guy's implementation.^[21] Baillieu has opposed wind energy since the early 2000s raising concerns about the approval of projects at Portland in western Victoria and the Bald Hills proposal in Gippsland. He has referred to wind turbines as "towering triffids" and referred to then Premier Bracks as a "coastal vandal" and as someone who avoided visiting the Toora wind farm out of fear of being "lynched".^[28][29]

On 6 March 2013 Denis Napthine became Premier of Victoria. Denis Napthine's electorate is home to the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere^[30] and also hosts wind turbine tower manufacturer Keppel Prince.^[31] Napthine has indicated there would be no change to Guy’s wind energy planning laws,^[32] despite the significant economic benefits to the Premier's electorate and the current Premier's personal admiration of wind turbines.^[33] Bloomberg New Energy Finance has stated that the wind laws "could push up the price of electricity for consumers by around $2 billion. This is because the Victorian laws essentially will make it harder and more expensive to build renewable energy."^[34]

In July 2014, Guy announced a small adjustment to the planning laws allowing existing wind farm permits to be amended, which may assist with upgrading turbine technology.^[35]

Opposition leader

In 2014 he successfully contested the Legislative Assembly seat of Bulleen. The Liberal National coalition was defeated at the same election after just a single term in government. Former Premier Denis Napthine stood down as liberal leader following the election loss.

Guy was elected as Leader of the Liberal Party in a leadership ballot contested on 4 December 2014, making him Leader of the Opposition after defeating Michael O'Brien for the position.^[36][37]

See also

• Victorian state election, 2018

References

• Parliament of Victoria biography
• First speech
• Approvals

Notes