At the council meeting, the representatives for the development from Urbis Pty Ltd ran through a list of companies/organisations they had support from. This list of supporters included Tourism Victoria. Would this be an issue we’d need to query of the Tourism Minister? We would think so.

It is a little confusing. How can Tourism Victoria and the tourism minister be in support of this development when Tourism Victoria’s recently launched Heritage Victoria promotion “celebrates” Melbourne’s architectural heritage as a tourism draw.

“Celebrating Heritage Victoria” so much they’re considering demolishing a 100 year old theatre?

Bit of a contradiction don’t you think?

Melbourne City Council unanimously voted to object to development of the Palace Theatre on Tuesday night. They were strongly swayed by heritage arguments from both Save The Palace Committee and Melbourne Heritage Action. An additional factor was almost certainly the circular arguments from the developers representatives, which suggested the likelihood of more developments in this heritage precinct if theirs were allowed. The attempt by these developers to flout the planning scheme so dramatically in terms of height, setbacks, and urban amenity was described as ‘arrogant’ by more than one Councillor.

We now wait for the final decision from the Planning Minister, and the further fight after that to get proper heritage listing for the Palace.