Terra Publica Archive
View the archive of our free monthly Email Bulletin of information, commentary and analysis of public land issues in Victoria.
Date Articles
Apr 2018 |
March-April Edition
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Feb 2018 |
Jan-Feb 2018 Edition
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Dec 2017 |
December 2017 Edition
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Sep 2017 |
September edition 2017
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Aug 2017 |
Winter 2017 edition
Not another restructure! Governments seem to be forever reconfiguring the public service. Here at Terra Publica we are often sceptical about the merits of such restructures. But if the creation of Land Use Victoria leads to implementation of VEAC’s recommendations for public land, then we must approve. And we’ve done a restructure ourselves – of our training courses relating to roads. More details in this edition. |
May 2017 |
May-June edition
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Apr 2017 |
March-April edition
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Jan 2017 |
January edition
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Dec 2016 |
December 2016
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Aug 2016 |
August 2016
Amendments: challenging Wholesale reform: even more challenging |
Jun 2016 |
June 2016
Coastal Special |
May 2016 |
April-May 2016
Planning the statutory Council Plan |
Mar 2016 |
February-March 2016
Hey, Watch Where You're Walking, Dude - 'Your Honour, Council should have protected me from walking into the traffic while I was texting...' |
Jan 2016 |
January 2016 edition
We report on some work we're doing for VEAC on the subject of Council managed community use reserves;
We give you an update on our Professional Certificate courses; and
We address the question of driveway access onto arterial roads.
Plus, our schedule of one-day & half-day training courses to July 2016
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Dec 2015 |
December 2015 edition
The VEAC Statewide Assessment of Public Land Acres and Shillings - what are these weird units? Professional Certificates in Land Administration and Governance Koondrook Cricket Ground - an object lesson in confusion Our 2016 Training Courses calendar |
Sep 2015 |
September 2015 edition
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Aug 2015 |
August 2015 edition
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Jul 2015 |
June-July edition
A Commendable Dereliction of Duty |
May 2015 |
May 2015 edition
North of the Border |
Apr 2015 |
Easter 2015 edition
Living with the Rate Cap: how councils can make use of clever public land management. |
Mar 2015 |
March 2015 edition
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Feb 2015 |
February 2015 edition
Why do some public places succeed? Why do others fail? – Our theory is that one key factor is governance. Questions about Parks Vic’s enforcement powers; and irrigation channels in road reserves. Our calendar of Professional Development courses for February- April 2015. |
Jan 2015 |
January 2015 edition
In this edition we:
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Nov 2014 |
November 2014 edition
Public Land from the right – a brief look at how conservative theorists view public land
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Sep 2014 |
September 2014 edition
The East-West link, cutting its swathe through Royal Park, has emerged as the principal differentiating issue in the State election. |
Jul 2014 |
Lead story: IF ONLY…
If we could turn back the clock, we’d surely retain more land in public ownership. Idle speculation? Well, if we don’t imagine what could have been, we’ll have a very limited vision of what might still be. |
Apr 2014 |
Lead story: Unwanted Gifts
Should Crown reserves be handed over to municipalities? |
Mar 2014 |
Lindsay Fox’s appropriation of Portsea beach highlights the need for legislative reform.
How a murder on the Murray River defined the NSW-Victoria border. |
Jan 2014 |
Governance systems for public land:
Our view differs from that of New-York think-tank Project for Public Spaces (PPS) |
Dec 2013 |
Splish Splash: Land is land, even if it’s covered by water.
Council land is protected from theft by trespass – isn’t it? |
Nov 2013 |
Coles, Woolworths and the Queen Victoria Market:
How the economics of public land differ from the economics of private land. |
Oct 2013 |
Tony Abbott's Green Army - we're sceptical, but prepared to be convinced.
Waterways - a cadastral taxonomy. |
Sep 2013 |
We argue that public land of national significance should get meaningful national support.
Also in this edition: feedback from our 'Road Less Travelled' workshops. |
Jul 2013 |
Why are some offences never prosecuted? Roadside Weeds and Native Vegetation.
Fences Act - Parliament accepts our recommendations |
May 2013 |
Melbourne's bathing boxes: leases or licences?
Parks Victoria's commitment to its avowed philosophy gets tested. |
Mar 2013 |
Will developments in National Parks compromise the very values they're celebrating?
We don't want a repeat of the Stonehenge visitor centre. |
Feb 2013 |
A blockage in the bowel?
The law governing Victoria's riparian land resembles something requiring a dose of salts. |
Jan 2013 |
Billions of dollars.
That's the value of fences alongside Victoria's roads and public land. Who should pay? |
Dec 2012 |
December Edition
141 years after the statutory separation of church and state, taxpayer assets are still being handed out, free. |
Nov 2012 |
What's wrong with section 32 vendors' statements?
Perhaps property purchasers should be warned: If the property has an abuttal to a road reserve, that road may be discontinued by your local council without your consent, without you having any avenues of appeal, and without due compensation.™ |
Oct 2012 |
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If is broke, do fix it.
Five examples of dysfunctional public land legislation. |
Sep 2012 |
Off the Rails:
Between Hamilton and Caseterton in Western Victoria, a well-engineered process has gone totally off the rails. |
Jul 2012 |
July Edition
In the July edition we bring you our long-awaited schedule of courses through to October 2012. |
Jun 2012 |
The Presumption of Consent:
It's almost as fundamental as the presumption of innocence. In the absence of some law to the contrary, citizens are allowed to do whatever they want on Crown land. Some people in DSE seem to think the opposite: in the absence of some explicit consent, they say, citizens are prohibited from entering or using Crown land. |
Apr 2012 |
Mabo Day - Three Cheers or Black Armbands?
Competing interpretations of history have their roots deep in the Nineteenth Century. Our ancestors knew full well that they were dispossessing Aboriginal people at the point of a gun. The shameful thing is that the legislation under which they did it is still on the statute books. |
Feb 2012 |
Excuse me, You seem to be Uncovered…
Victoria's municipalities are required to have insurance - but when they're acting as Crown land committees of management there seems to be an embarrassing degree of exposure. |
Jan 2012 |
Land Ownership ain't wha it used to be
There was a time when, if you owned the land, you owned everything on it – the water, the wildlife, the trees – and you held unrestricted usage and development rights. Not any more. This month we comment on easements and covenants, reform of the law governing them. |
Sep 2011 |
Hermaphrodites and Orphans
The authors of the Transport Integration Act 2010, and VicRoads, stretch our capacity for metaphors. |
Jul 2011 |
Are there Big Cats out there?
The Baillieu Government comes to grips with public land. |
Mar 2011 |
See You in Court Sir!
In this edition Terra Publica bemoans the decline of Mabo-style litigant, whose case helped us to better understand public land law... |
Feb 2011 |
Visigoths and Besieged Castles
How public spaces make European cities different from Australian cities How council road discontinuations could have disastrous consequences for landowners |