Northern Metropolitan Region
Dr RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (12:39): My question is to the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events in the other place. It was a great relief when Heritage Victoria refused an application to tear down the Yarra building in Federation Square last month. The Heritage Victoria decision has put an end to the disastrous plan secretly hatched between the government and Apple for an Apple megastore to dominate one of our most important public spaces. This was a win for the community and incredible campaigners like Citizens for Melbourne who fought this project from day one and who were joined by tens of thousands of Melburnians who did not want our public space to be privatised. Public spaces are just that—public. They are spaces for the community to use to celebrate or mourn, to protest or gather. Public spaces are not business interests or commodities to be bought and sold. I ask the minister: will the government now acknowledge the importance of Federation Square to the community and, like other important cultural spaces, back its future with public funds?