Joanna is a senior environment and planning lawyer with significant experience in advising both State government and private clients in relation to environmental, planning, heritage, land acquisition and compensation law matters. This includes advising on complex State government projects, which raise difficult and contentious planning, environmental and land assembly issues, requiring a strategic and solutions driven approach.
Experience
Joanna’s experience in major projects stems from her previous roles advising the Victorian Government on planning, environment, land acquisition, and approval pathways for key State infrastructure projects.
Joanna has also acted for private clients, assisting landowners and developers with property development projects in the residential, industrial and commercial sectors, including planning appeals and the introduction of planning controls to unlock the development potential of land located in Melbourne's growth corridors.
Joanna's practice involves both front-end and back-end work and her extensive litigation experience includes the carriage of planning appeals and disputed compensation claims in both the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) and Supreme Court of Victoria. Joanna excels in selecting and coordinating the best team of counsel, expert consultants and lay witnesses to achieve optimum outcomes for clients.
Joanna's areas of expertise include:
- environment & planning
- compulsory land acquisition and compensation
- administrative
- major infrastructure projects / approvals
- property development / planning approvals / appeals
- heritage (built form and cultural).
Career highlights
Joanna's career highlights include:
- advising Major Road Projects Victoria on assessment and approval processes for project delivery, land assembly and land acquisition matters and acting on behalf of the acquiring authority in disputed compensation claims relating to various road projects, including the North East Link Project
- advising the Victorian Department of Transport on various planning, environment, land acquisition, and planning compensation matters, as well as amendments to key planning and project delivery related legislation and acting on behalf of Head Transport for Victoria in VCAT appeals
- advising the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action on land assembly and acquisition, planning and environment matters associated with the acquisition of former landfill sites for the Sandbelt Parklands Project, and on complex disputed compensation matters
- advising the Victorian Health Building Authority on land assembly, acquisition and compensation matters in connection with the delivery of its Pakenham Community Hospital Project
- advising the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) on project delivery powers, aboriginal and cultural heritage and native title matters and successfully representing ARTC in matters before Heritage Council Victoria
- successfully representing GrainCorp Operations Limited in a planning objector appeal before VCAT which resulted in the refusal of a development application that would have compromised GrainCorp's business operations
- successfully representing Vicinity Centres Pty Ltd in a planning appeal before VCAT to secure a development approval for a Coles supermarket to be located outside an Activity Centre Zone.