Latest news with #DanAndrews'
Herald Sun
21 hours ago
- Business
- Herald Sun
Planning minister approves 11-storey tower at ex-ABC Elsternwick site
Elsternwick is set for a huge new, 11-storey tower after the Victorian government fast-tracked a $150m development of a former ABC complex that hosted iconic TV show Countdown. Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny has approved the controversial plan including 148 homes retail and office spaces, and 400-plus car parks atop a new Woolworths supermarket at the ex-ABC site, under the state's Development Facilitation Program. It aims to streamline the planning process for projects that will increase Victoria's pipeline of residences. RELATED: National Housing Accord up to 60,000 new homes short in first year Dan Andrews' 'ghost' home legacy revealed as apartment towers stall Iconic Melbourne pool site could sell for up to $3m The development at 10-16 Selwyn St is located within the state government's future Activity Centre designated for the Elsternwick train station and tram zone, one of 50 earmarked for increased housing density across Melbourne. While community consultation is yet to happen for the Elsternwick area, some of the other activity zones are expected to potentially have buildings of up to 15 to 20 levels constructed. Previous plans for the Selwyn St site had also been set to add soaring towers, but prompted significant community backlash and didn't proceed. Records show the ABC sold the address for about $51.7m in 2017, after using it for recordings of Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering. Countdown, a show hosted by music and TV industry legend Molly Meldrum in the 1970s and 1980s, was also sometimes filmed at the studio, warehouse and office site in addition to another nearby ex-ABC studio on Gordon St. In 2019, a group of residents held multiple protests against an earlier proposal to build two towers at the Selwyn St location amid overdevelopment fears. The newest plan features a mix of one, two and three-bedroom residences, with 10 per cent of the homes to be designated as affordable. A section of the development is set to become a community hub as part of Selwyn St's Jewish Arts Quarter. Planning documents prepared on behalf of Pace Development Group – who are developing the site on behalf of Woolworths – state that the hub will include a function space, museum and library. In addition to the studios, a heritage-listed former fire station on the site will be restored and repurposed as a BWS liquor store after Heritage Victoria green lit the suggestion. The development is close to the Elsternwick train station and other public transport. The planning documents state that the development is located in area where existing building heights range from one to 11 storeys. More than 4950 new homes have been fast-tracked through the Development Facilitation Program since September 2023. 'Victorians are telling us they want more homes in well-connected areas – and this project will deliver almost 150 homes right in the heart of Elsternwick, close to the train station, tram and bus stops,' Ms Kilkenny said. A local business operator, who asked not to be named, said although many residents were against too much development in the beachside suburb, there was a need for more density in Melbourne to help combat the housing crisis — and it should have been made taller. 'If Australia is genuine about solving the housing crisis, they will have to put up with density,' they said. 'And if ever there was a perfect site for density, it's this one.' Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox. MORE: Matthew Dellavedova sells bayside home after Melbourne exit Toorak: $30m+ health-boosting mansion sold to overseas-based buyer $36m blow to super fund-backed ISPT could hit Aussie retirements
The Age
17-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
To be competitive again, the Liberal Party should focus on just one word
I am sick to death of the fight for the soul of the Liberal Party, or however else the genre of monologues inflicted on the public after the election is framed. Too often these diatribes are designed to seize control of a rotting structure for personal gain and aims. The monologuists are too busy fighting over what the Liberal Party means to them to consider why a liberal party was created and is now needed. In their way, they have almost all contributed to the rot. The conservative wing of the Liberal Party bears responsibility for deciding that 'politics is downstream from culture' and training all its energies towards fighting back against the progressive culture wars. That distracted the party from prosecuting strong economic arguments. The centre right faction is responsible for fungible focus-group policies. Meanwhile, the moderates seemed to believe that the way to win was to cloak themselves in the policies of their political opponents. The moderate approach is pointless because, even if you win, becoming your opponent is obviously Pyrrhic. If victory can only come from capitulation, what sense is there in fighting? To the marketing faction: messages are a tool, not a plan. And culture is, to adopt management speak, important but not urgent. Certainly not urgent in the same way as feeding your family. Conservatives should not need to have that explained. The Liberal Party has had numerous chances to correct course, but it hasn't. From Victorian Labor premier Dan Andrews' triumph in 2018, it should have learnt that culture is downstream of economics. Andrews ran an election campaign focused entirely on infrastructure, then announced that he won because Victoria is 'the most progressive state in the nation'. 'The trick goes like this,' I wrote at the time, 'win on delivery but then attribute the win to culture.' In 2019, Scott Morrison showed that he had, at least, learnt half the lesson. But he missed his moment to define the zeitgeist and governed by polling from thereon in. Loading In 2025, Anthony Albanese campaigned hard on the idea that voters would have their pockets lined by Labor and has now pivoted from that prosaic win to a grand statement on culture. Australia, he told this masthead, will pursue what he calls 'progressive patriotism'. It's a great propaganda slogan: it has absolutely no meaning, but somehow sounds right. And putting two words that appeal to opposite sides of politics in close proximity with one another might just create space for patriots to be progressive and progressives to be patriotic (I won't hold my breath for the latter).
Sydney Morning Herald
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
To be competitive again, the Liberal Party should focus on just one word
I am sick to death of the fight for the soul of the Liberal Party, or however else the genre of monologues inflicted on the public after the election is framed. Too often these diatribes are designed to seize control of a rotting structure for personal gain and aims. The monologuists are too busy fighting over what the Liberal Party means to them to consider why a liberal party was created and is now needed. In their way, they have almost all contributed to the rot. The conservative wing of the Liberal Party bears responsibility for deciding that 'politics is downstream from culture' and training all its energies towards fighting back against the progressive culture wars. That distracted the party from prosecuting strong economic arguments. The centre right faction is responsible for fungible focus-group policies. Meanwhile, the moderates seemed to believe that the way to win was to cloak themselves in the policies of their political opponents. The moderate approach is pointless because, even if you win, becoming your opponent is obviously Pyrrhic. If victory can only come from capitulation, what sense is there in fighting? To the marketing faction: messages are a tool, not a plan. And culture is, to adopt management speak, important but not urgent. Certainly not urgent in the same way as feeding your family. Conservatives should not need to have that explained. The Liberal Party has had numerous chances to correct course, but it hasn't. From Victorian Labor premier Dan Andrews' triumph in 2018, it should have learnt that culture is downstream of economics. Andrews ran an election campaign focused entirely on infrastructure, then announced that he won because Victoria is 'the most progressive state in the nation'. 'The trick goes like this,' I wrote at the time, 'win on delivery but then attribute the win to culture.' In 2019, Scott Morrison showed that he had, at least, learnt half the lesson. But he missed his moment to define the zeitgeist and governed by polling from thereon in. Loading In 2025, Anthony Albanese campaigned hard on the idea that voters would have their pockets lined by Labor and has now pivoted from that prosaic win to a grand statement on culture. Australia, he told this masthead, will pursue what he calls 'progressive patriotism'. It's a great propaganda slogan: it has absolutely no meaning, but somehow sounds right. And putting two words that appeal to opposite sides of politics in close proximity with one another might just create space for patriots to be progressive and progressives to be patriotic (I won't hold my breath for the latter).
