Thursday, 31 August 2023

The Vineyard Restaurant and Bar

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (17:55): (462) I will be brief given the hour. My matter for the adjournment tonight is for the attention of the Minister for Environment, and it concerns a piece of land, state government owned land, in St Kilda in my electorate. It is at the end of Acland Street. To describe to the community and the minister exactly where this piece of land is, it is at the end of Acland Street. It is right next to the St Kilda Triangle. It is a very significant piece of land on which the Vineyard is placed, and Johnny Iodice, the well-known musician – and many in the music industry gather and meet there – has had a long-term lease there. It is true that the City of Port Phillip is the committee of management under the arrangements with the minister, but it is actually Crown land for which the Minister for Environment has direct responsibility.

That important site and venue has actually been very important for the music industry for a long time. We need to make sure that the links there are preserved, and I am just somewhat perturbed. I have been perturbed by what I have heard, and the government has not understood that this is a site that needs to be protected and is important for the music industry. There is a question of the long-term lease. There is a question of the impact of COVID. Of course many small businesses in the hospitality sector really did suffer quite badly through COVID. Whatever the support they had from state and federal governments, they actually did suffer quite severely, and it has taken some of them quite a while to come up and come off the mat, as it were. But the importance of this site is that it is important ‍– iconic, I would say, the Vineyard – for the music and entertainment industry. It is a gathering place. It is a place that is loved by local people in the community.

Obviously a balance needs to be struck. Venues like these need to work with local communities and with local councils, and the council – the City of Port Phillip as a manager of the committee of management of the land – needs to work with the venue too so there is an important future for the site. There is a question of reinvestment. There is a question of how this is managed into the future, but not harsh or extreme actions. The minister needs to work carefully to make sure that we do not overly pressure important venues of this type. This is the goose and the golden egg. I ask the minister to look carefully and make sure that an outcome is achieved with a new lease that protects the music industry.