Tuesday, 18 November 2025

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (23:39): (2138) My matter for the adjournment tonight is for the attention of the Minister for Planning. It relates to the Drill Hall and specifically to the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic (RMP) orchestra and the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic choir. These are very, very old and established institutions; in fact they were established in 1853 and have been performing continuously ever since. I pay tribute to the volunteers and to the professional people that make these services so valuable for Victorians. The state government has housed them at the Drill Hall for a long period of time, going back into the 1990s, but the Drill Hall at 239 A’Beckett Street, Melbourne, is a centre that the Minister for Planning has decided must be vacated by a number of community organisations. This is pretty nasty, it is pretty thoughtless, and there has been no assistance provided. Correspondence sent to me states:

The central issue is that Drill Hall remains the most suitable venue for the RMP to continue its operations. We are struggling to survive, not through lack of popularity or engagement with Melbourne’s community, but because we receive no other regular support from government. The use of the Drill Hall has been a precious form of in-kind support. The latest information we have is that we will have no support for a move or to find an alternative venue, and we will not be permitted to use Drill Hall beyond 31st January 2026.

There has been communication with the minister. My correspondent states:

Over a year ago, we had written to the … Minister requesting assistance with our occupation at the Drill Hall … We heard little … until just recently when they advised of our need to vacate.

Again, this is not the right way to go about it, as Anna Joy Hoffmann, the president of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, has said to me in written communications.

The history, as I say, is quite remarkable. This is a world-beating gem that needs to be protected, and the idea that the state government would just throw them out onto the street without support or without assistance is abhorrent. I am calling on the Minister for Planning, who has control of the Drill Hall as I understand it, to ensure that there is a solution found. She will need to meet with the RMP and find a way to resolve this. It is completely and utterly unacceptable that they are to be simply thrown out on the street – a community organisation, an arts group, that needs this support. They are of the highest quality, the highest excellence, and this is something that needs to be preserved, so I call on the minister to meet with them and provide a solution.