Wednesday, 3 June 2026

 Michael O’BRIEN (Malvern) (10:00): I rise to update the house on the saga that is 173 Burke Road, Glen Iris. Members might remember that this is a development proposal pushed by Woolworths and their mates Time & Place development. It went to Stonnington council, which knocked it back as being an overdevelopment of the site. It then went to VCAT and VCAT knocked it back because it was an overdevelopment of the site. But our Minister for Planning stepped in and said, ‘Oh no, I’ve got a development facilitation program. You can come to me.’ It is entirely coincidental that Woolworths has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Australian Labor Party, I am sure. And then the planning minister came out and said, ‘Knocked back by council, knocked back by VCAT, but I will give it a tick.’ The big concession was reducing the height of the development from six storeys to five and reducing the number of apartments from 80 to 60.

Well, our old mates at Woolworths have come forward again. They are trying to amend the application yet again. They want to restore it to six storeys, they want to increase the number of apartments and they want to reduce the number of parking spots. Woolworths is a disgraceful corporate citizen. If any whistleblowers would like me to use parliamentary privilege to tell a few home truths about Woolworths, I make that offer right now. But in the meantime, the planning minister cannot approve this disgraceful attempt by Woolworths to go behind the back of the community yet again. Woolworths is an appalling corporate citizen, and I will stand up for my residents every time.