Thursday, 20 September 2018

 Mr SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (17:02): (15 035) The adjournment matter I wish to raise today is for the Minister for Planning. The issue I wish to raise with the minister concerns the ABC site in Elsternwick. I call on the minister to intervene immediately to consider Glen Eira City Council’s request for an interim heritage overlay to ensure the site remains in community hands and its significant history is protected. Overdevelopment has been the major issue in my electorate of Caulfield in this term of government. In particular, constituents in Elsternwick have seen massive overdevelopment with lots of proposals for large towers to be constructed in the area of Elsternwick. We have seen a proposal for one of the ABC sites for a 14-storey development and a Woolworths supermarket is being considered.

The site that I am referring to is the ABC site next to Ripponlea gardens, which many people in this Parliament would have memories of, particularly of the great shows produced there, including Countdown, over many, many years. We request that this site be returned to the community. It is a great site. It would be a real shame to see the site destroyed by overdevelopment. There is a great opportunity for some continued flow into the beautiful Ripponlea gardens, which many visitors frequent. As I say, this is something that is very important to my constituents.

Glen Eira council has formally requested consideration of an interim overlay for the former ABC studios at 8 Gordon Street, Ripponlea. The council have received an independent assessment of this site for their heritage allowance, which found the site had significant heritage value on a national, state and local level. This is something that we think is very important, and this overlay will ensure the heritage value of the site is maintained and will enable future community use of the space. Glen Eira has the lowest amount of open space in our electorate. We desperately require community assets to be protected, and this ABC site is a site of significant heritage that should be protected and not be subjected to the overdevelopment that we have seen lots of our area subjected to since the government came to power.