Ethan Cornwill
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Ethan Cornwill published Solar Panels in Heritage Areas: Fusion Backs Cutting the Permit Red Tape in Submissions and Reports 2026-07-24 13:57:38 +1000
Solar Panels in Heritage Areas: Fusion Backs Cutting the Permit Red Tape
Fusion has made a submission to the Department of Transport and Planning's consultation on switching off the planning permit requirement for visible solar energy systems within Heritage Overlay Schedules. We support the proposed change, and think the consultation understates how straightforward the case for reform actually is.
Our Position on the Heritage Overlay Solar Permit Requirement:
Since Amendment VC226 gave councils the option to switch off this requirement in November 2022, not a single council has done so. Nearly four years on, that is not evidence of considered local preference, it is evidence of a default nobody has bothered to touch. A statewide switch-off simply catches policy up to what councils have already shown, through inaction, that they don't consider a priority.
1. The Permit Requirement Is a Disincentive to Decarbonisation
Fusion's national policy platform backs an aspirational target of expanding renewable energy generation to 800% of current consumption, a target that leans heavily on distributed rooftop solar, not just utility-scale projects. Every household deterred from installing panels by an added permit process, cost, and delay is a small but real drag on that trajectory.
A visible solar panel is a minor, increasingly normalised streetscape change. It is also fully reversible. Treating it as requiring the same planning scrutiny as a permanent structural alteration is disproportionate to its actual heritage impact, and the disincentive it creates outweighs any benefit from retained aesthetic control.
2. Local Autonomy Should Be Preserved, Not Defaulted To
Fusion supports retaining a council's ability to reinstate a permit requirement in a specific Heritage Overlay area through the normal, transparent scheme amendment process, where there is a genuine and evidenced heritage justification. What we don't support is a statewide default that makes that permit requirement the baseline everywhere, regardless of whether any individual council has ever considered it necessary.
This distinction matters: reform should shift the default, not remove local judgement. Councils that can demonstrate a real heritage case retain the tools to act. Councils that have simply never turned their mind to the question, which is the overwhelming majority, stop imposing an unexamined barrier on households trying to decarbonise.
3. Consistency with State-Significant Protections
The proposal rightly leaves properties on the Victorian Heritage Register untouched, meaning state-significant buildings retain full permit requirements regardless of this change. Fusion supports this distinction. Reform at the local Heritage Overlay level does not weaken protection for the places where heritage value is highest and most clearly established; it removes friction only where that value is presumed rather than demonstrated.
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Ethan Cornwill published Media Brief: Melton's Transport Score, Deanside Ranked Last in Victoria (ABC News Tip-Off) in Submissions and Reports 2026-07-24 13:56:50 +1000
Media Brief: Melton's Transport Score, Deanside Ranked Last in Victoria (ABC News Tip-Off)
Fusion has formally submitted a media tip to ABC News following coverage of the train station car parking crisis in Melbourne's west. Council, the state government and the opposition were all quoted proposing car parks, new stations and road upgrades. None addressed the suburb that data shows needs it most, and none picked up the one fix a resident in the same article had already named.
Melton's Worst-Served Suburb Is Being Ignored in Its Own Transport Debate
- 1. The Number the Article Missed Fusion's open-source Transport Score tool ranks every suburb in Victoria using PTV's own GTFS timetable data. By that measure, Deanside, inside the City of Melton, is ranked 413th out of 413 suburbs statewide, the single worst-served suburb in Victoria, at 0 out of 100. Melton West isn't far behind at 23. Neither number moves with more car parking or new stations at Mt Atkinson and Calder Park, because the actual problem in both suburbs is that no usable transit link exists within walking distance at all.
- 2. A Resident Already Named the Fix Mt Atkinson resident Jaksha Shah told ABC the missing piece wasn't political will but a coherent overall plan, and specifically called for a properly connected local bus network. No other voice in the article, not council, not government, not opposition, engaged with that point. Every other response was about rail or roads.
- 3. "One Way In, One Way Out" Is a Structural Failure, Not a Funding Gap Deputy Mayor Phillip Zada's description of Melton's transport options, effectively the Western Highway and V/Line alone, is an accurate diagnosis of single-point-of-failure infrastructure. This month's Telstra outage, which stranded V/Line commuters, proved it. A municipality of 241,000 residents, growing toward 456,000, served by one road corridor and one rail line, needs redundancy. More car parking does not supply it.
- 4. Both Major Parties Are Answering the Wrong Question The state government points to electrification "on the way," while $152.7 million in current funding covers planning and design only, with construction funding and a timeline still unannounced. The opposition's criticism of Suburban Rail Loop spending crowding out growth-corridor basics is fair as far as it goes, but its own alternative in this debate is more roads, not a bus network fix. Both responses treat a network design failure as something car parks, stations or highway upgrades can solve.
Fusion is calling for public and media scrutiny of Melton's transport debate to include the suburbs and the fix already on the record. Deanside's residents deserve to know why the state's worst transport score sits inside a municipality currently being offered car parks as the answer.
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Ethan Cornwill published Submission to the Draft Darebin Planning Scheme Amendment C234dare (Separation Street, Northcote) in News 2026-06-23 19:15:31 +1000
Submission to the Draft Darebin Planning Scheme Amendment C234dare (Separation Street, Northcote)
Fusion has formally lodged a submission regarding the proposed rezoning and redevelopment of 235–239 Separation Street, Northcote. While we strongly support the principle of transitioning underutilised industrial zones into high-density housing, the current framework allows private developers to capture massive windfalls while delivering minimal public infrastructure.
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Ethan Cornwill published Help Us Shape Fusion Party's Minecraft Server in News 2026-01-30 23:09:42 +1100
Help Us Shape Fusion Party's Minecraft Server
We've just launched a Fusion Party Minecraft server at
fusionparty.org.au, and right now it's a blank canvas waiting for our community to define what it becomes.We Need Your Input
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Reclaim Poll
At our October 2025 AGM, Drew presented a proposed strategic shift toward using "populist framing" to deliver our evidence-based policies. This survey helps the Executive understand member support before committing resources to this direction.
For Reference:
- Written Proposal: [Link]
- Presentation Slides: [Link]
Your responses are confidential. Only aggregate data will be shared.
Estimated time: 5 minutes
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Ethan Cornwill wants to volunteer 2025-05-13 11:18:08 +1000
Become a volunteer
Be part of the future-focused Fusion movement for a brighter future!
Please email [email protected] if you have any questions.
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