Thursday, 9 September 2021

 Ms SANDELL (Melbourne) (6004)

My adjournment is to the Premier.

The action I seek is for the Premier to support the proposal which is currently before the state government to finance the acquisition of the Nicholas Building in the CBD, in my electorate.

Melbourne prides itself on being the creative and cultural capital of Australia, but as our city struggles to recover from COVID-19, which has devastated our arts and also hit the CBD especially hard, there is a real threat to this legacy. Specifically right now, there is a real and present danger that we’re about to lose one of the most vibrant and historic creative communities in our city.

The Nicholas Building, at 37 Swanston Street in the CBD, is a unique part of Melbourne’s heritage, and remains a vital part of our arts and creative culture today.

Home to over 200 artists and creatives, within its walls you will find architects, designers, visual artists, filmmakers and musicians working alongside jewellers, writers, tailors, milliners and independent education providers. Years of experience, history, diversity, culture and relationships come together in the building’s many studios.

The Nicholas Building embodies Melbourne’s creative spirit, but now it is being sold.

If it’s bought by a private developer, it will likely be turned into apartments and we’ll lose this thriving arts community and space from our city forever.

This kind of building and creative community does not exist anywhere else in the country and we are lucky enough to have it right here in Melbourne. To lose the last creative place of such scale in the city would be a tragic loss. Not just for the building’s residents and the wider Melbourne community, but for the vibrancy and visibility of creative Melbourne itself.

I understand that there is a reported $50 million dollar community benefit from the Nicholas Building, which comes directly from its contribution to the vitality and livability of the city.

Support for this building and its creative community is critical to the success of the arts ecology and broader economy of Melbourne and Victoria. To have over 200 creative businesses co-located at the heart of our city cannot be underestimated, especially when it comes to the CBD’s recovery.

As we recover from the pandemic and begin to reimagine a new vision for our city, it is more important than ever to be supporting and celebrating artists and creative industries in the CBD.

The future potential for arts and cultural programming in the Nicholas Building could bring much-needed tourism back to Melbourne. But this won’t be possible if the building is sold to developers.

I understand that the building’s tenants have presented a proposal to the government, supported significantly by the City of Melbourne, which would allow this irreplaceable landmark to be owned by the community.

It’s a sensible proposal with a solid business case, and it is a proposal which should be easy for the state government to support.

I welcomed last year’s budget announcement of funding to transform Melbourne’s arts precinct. It was a very welcome investment. However, our artists and creative industries, and our struggling CBD, will need more than this to recover from the devastation that COVID wrought on our cultural events and our arts community. In fact, many of the small businesses in the Nicholas Building are the same creators who will provide the content for our major cultural institutions, such as those that will be at the centre of the government’s new arts precinct.

So I ask that the Premier support the proposal for the state government to assist with finance to enable the acquisition of the Nicholas Building and make sure that it stays a creative hub for many years to come.