Rinehart's $250 million development unveiled as Zempilas rules out heritage call conflict
Planning documents show former lord mayor Basil Zempilas' move to drop a 120-year-old home from a City of Perth heritage survey is a key justification in billionaire Gina Rinehart's bid to demolish the property.
The development application, lodged by consultants for Rinehart's family empire Hancock Prospecting, seeks approval to clear three office buildings and the Federation-style home at 27 Outram Street to make way for a $250 million multi-use development.
The consultants highlighted there were no heritage constraints that would inhibit the plans, pointing to the City of Perth council's decision in 2023 to drop the property, along with 15 others, from its heritage survey.
But there was no mention of Hancock Prospecting's planning consultants lobbying the city not to elevate the building's heritage status, nor the fact the decision divided council and went against the advice of city officers.
The property was one of more than 700 culturally significant places the city's officers recommended be added or updated in its records as part of a state-mandated heritage survey, with an inspection finding the home substantially intact.
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Officers stared down those who objected to the inclusion of 16 properties, recommending the council adopt the survey and reiterating their inclusion should not be conditional on owner support.
But at the meeting on March 28, 2023, Zempilas stepped in, moving an alternate motion to scrub the properties from the list that divided councillors until he used his casting vote to break the deadlock.
Revelations the home faced an uncertain future, coupled with the former Seven West Media personality's well-documented relationship with Rinehart in the years since, have thrust the decision into the spotlight.
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