Senior Liberal party figures and donors, including the party's federal treasurer, have reaped multi-million windfalls from the former Baillieu government's signature urban renewal project in inner Melbourne.
An investigation into the controversial Fishermans Bend project has found Liberals' honorary treasurer Andrew Burnes is among a slew of party activists and donors who either bought into the renewal precinct before it was rezoned or were long-term property owners that pressed for redevelopment of the area.
Others include auto dealer John Ayre and BRW rich-listers John Higgins and Harry Stamoulis.
n July 2012, then planning minister Matthew Guy stunned the political and property worlds when he rezoned a massive 250 hectares of low-rise industrial South Melbourne and Port Melbourne to "capital city", effectively doubling the size of the Melbourne CBD.
It was the most contentious decision by a Victorian planning minister for decades.
The widely criticised move triggered a dramatic increase in land values and a development frenzy of 46 apartment towers – some reaching more than 60 storeys – that have been proposed or approved in the precinct since January 2014.
In October 2014, CBRE commercial property director Mark Wizel estimated land values had increased up to 500 per cent since the rezoning.
For sites where developers have won planning approval for high-rise towers, the increase is greater still.
Confidential briefings to Mr Guy, obtained by The Sunday Age, reveal proposed boundaries for the precinct were drawn up behind closed doors as early as March 2011, shortly after the minister made a broad statement about future redevelopment of an unspecified area he called Fishermans Bend.
The biggest winners from the rezoning were those who already held property, or were in the process of buying into, Fishermans Bend.
Among them is Liberal party honorary treasurer Andrew Burnes, a close friend of former Federal treasurer Joe Hockey.
Mr Burnes and his travel company, Australian Outback Travel, donated at least $150,000 to the Liberals in the past 15 years, including $80,000 in the year 2013-2014.
He paid just over $7 million for new offices for his business at Laconia House at 179 Normanby Road, near the West Gate freeway in March 2012, the most expensive of about 80 land acquisitions in Fishermans Bend in the 16-month period between the drawing of the boundaries and the July rezoning.
Agents estimate the current value of his Normanby Road property at more than $20 million. High rise development is allowed on the site and a permit for such development would dramatically increase the property's value. Nearby, a two-tower project with 525 apartments that was given planning approval in May is now a project worth more than $130 million.
Another eyebrow-raising purchase at Fishermans Bend was by one-time Liberal activist and current BRW rich lister Harry Stamoulis, who was negotiating a $24 million purchase of a large industrial site in South Melbourne when Mr Guy rezoned the area in 2012.
Stamoulis' proposal for 258 townhouses was the first to win planning approval from Mr Guy. Agents now value his Ingles Street property at more than $60 million.
The fortuitous timing of the Stamoulis purchase has been the subject of much commentary among agents active in the precinct, planners, and even within the state bureaucracy.
Others with Liberal links had bought into the area years prior to the rezoning, but were active party donors around the period the boundaries were drawn and gazetted.
Auto dealer John Ayre is a member of a consortium proposing a $1 billion apartment complex on former Crown land at 150 Turner St and at 351 Ingles Street in Port Melbourne.
The first site was Crown land gifted to the group in 2003 and they paid a mere $1.5 million for the second site in the 1990s; agents now value them around $80 million.
Mr Ayre is a shareholder of ULR Automotive, which donated $25,000 to the Liberals in 2013. He personally donated $13,500 in 2013-2014.
In the mid-1990s BRW rich lister and Liberal donor John Higgins paid $936,000 for a site at 297 Ingles Street that is now worth an estimated $15 million. He donated $25,000 to the Liberal party in 2013.
Some party donors bought in to Fishermans Bend after the rezoning, but have made significant paper profits under flexible height limits introduced by Mr Guy, now leader of the Victorian Liberal Party.
Notable among those donors is developer and Liberal supporter Bill McNee's company MaxVic Holdings, which paid $10.1 million for a Johnson Street site in 2014.
In May, this year McNee's development company VicLand won state government approval to build more than 1300 apartments across four towers on the site under rules established by Mr Guy.
It is now seeking to "flip" the site for an expected price of more than $70 million – a seven-fold increase on the purchase price.
Mr McNee's VicLand corporation donated $150,000 to the Liberals between 2012 and 2014.
Other Liberal donors to make windfalls include property veterans like the Buxton family (MAB Corporation) who had been sitting on low-value industrial land in South Melbourne for decades.
After paying $483,000 for a site in Gladstone Street site in the 1990s, MAB sold the site with a planning permit for three apartment towers in April this year for a price believed to be $37 million.
At the time the rezoning decision was made, there was no binding master plan, height limits, or any mechanism to capture any of the rise in property values to ultimately pay for the infrastructure and services of a residential community that could be large as the City of Ballarat.
Nor was there a strategy or funds for decontamination, transport, open space or affordable housing.
Instead, the rise in land values delivered billions of dollars in windfall to landowners.
Senior planners remain bemused as to why the large-scale rezoning at Fishermans Bend occurred when government-sponsored Docklands next door remained unfinished and planning had already started for publicly-owned sites in North Melbourne and E Gate in West Melbourne.
Property industry sources are adamant that one of the reasons was the influence of some long-standing landholders and speculators who are also Liberal Party supporters.
Property values were further inflated by the minister's invitation to developers to lodge applications for projects anywhere within the precinct's wide boundaries (rather than release sites in stages as backed by many experts), and before any planning controls were in place.
Mr Guy has repeatedly refused to be interviewed by Fairfax Media about his Fishermans Bend decision. So too has he refused to answer a specific questions about his actions.
Instead he issued a written statement: "Melbourne is growing by nearly 2000 people every week and Fishermans Bend is a vital part of meeting these housing needs and that is why it was one of our election policies in 2010."
In fact, Fishermans Bend was not one of the Liberals' election policies in 2010.
In April, Labor planning minister Richard Wynne said he would "recast" plans for Fishermans Bend – a move he said reflected the high level of government, community and property industry concern about the project.
But he now faces the difficult decision of how far to go given a string of approvals have already been granted and land values have been geared to the premium of high rise residential development.
Mr Burnes is overseas and did not return calls or emails. Mr Higgins, Mr Ayre and Mr Stamoulis did not return calls.
The Sunday Age is not suggesting any inside knowledge or wrongdoing on the part of any of the landholders.
In October, an Andrews government-appointed expert committee report found the overnight creation of Fishermans Bend was "misguided" and that the rezoning of such a major urban renewal area ahead of detailed strategic planning was "unprecedented in the developed world in the 21st century".
>The Sunday Age is not suggesting any inside knowledge or wrongdoing on the part of any of the landholders.
179 Normanby Rd, Southbank
Former Laconia Woollen Mills site
Owner: Andrew Burnes
Political connections: Federal Liberal Treasurer, close friend of Joe Hockey, and major financial donor to the party. Donated almost $80,000 to the Liberals in 2013-2014.
Bought: March 2012
Paid: $7.04m
Land now worth more than $20 million (estimated)
164 Ingles St, Port Melbourne
Former Symex factory
Owner: BRW Rich Lister Harry Stamoulis
Political connections: Stamoulis is a one-time Liberal party activist and ongoing financial supporter
Bought: July 2012
Paid: $24m
Land now worth more than $60m+ (estimated)
Planning approval for 238 townhouses
150 Turner St & 351 Ingles St, Port Melbourne
Owners: Consortium including car dealership owners John Ayre, Gerald Brill and lawyer George Kefford
Political connections: Donated $25,000 to Liberals via company ULR Auto in 2012 and $13,500 from John Ayre in 2013-14
Bought: 2003; 1998
Paid: Crown grant; $1.5m
Land now worth $80m+ (estimated)
Planning approval sought for 2214 apartments
49 Brady St Port Melbourne
Owner: Master Builders Association (training centre)
Political connections: Traditional Liberal allies. Donated $70,000 to party in 2012-14
Bought: Oct 2011
Paid: $3.95 million
Building and land now worth $15m + (estimated)
297 Ingles St Port Melbourne
Owner: BRW Rich Lister John Higgins
Political connections: Donated $25,000 to Liberals in 2013.
Bought: 1996
Paid: $930,000
Land now worth $15 million (estimated)
15-87 Gladstone St, South Melbourne
Owner: BRW Rich Listers Andrew & Michael Buxton of MAB Corporation
Political Connections: Contributed to both major political parties
Bought: 1991
Paid: $483,000
Sold in April 2015 for price believed to be $37m
Planning permit approved in 2014 for 733 apartments
>>The Sunday Age is not suggesting any inside knowledge or wrongdoing on the part of any of the landholders.
>>894221
>Paid: Crown grant; $1.5m
>Land now worth $80m+ (estimated)
wew lad
>>894218
I edited the map here to highlight the route of the 109 tram in South Melbourne
As you can see around Gladstone/Normanby you have good access
But beyond that you have a walk of quite a few blocks to get to the tram
And they're going to be putting dozens of apartments there
With thousands of people living in them
>>894223
And this is the C-class tram that typically operates on the 109 route in South Melbourne
Think it'll cope with all those people?
The route used to be a railway, they converted in the 1980s cause the place was quite low density despite being so close to the city, and with industry leaving the area there was less and less demand for freight trains
So they thought it would be cost effective to convert the railways to trams/lightrail
And then just a few years later you get the Southbank redevelopment, Crown Casino, etc
And now St Kilda is packed and its tram, also converted at the same for the same reason, is packed like a can of sardines even in the afternoon of weekdays
>>894225
>C class
>chassis mounted directly
>alstom quality
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/passengers-drivers-at-risk-in-cheap-as-chips-trams-20120803-23kxk.html
>>894230
privatization fixes everything, buying abroad is cheaper, local industry is protectionist market interference
Of course, the recent matter was more amusing as it involving pulling all Cs for review
>tram derails
>wheel decides to somehow fly off
>alstom quality
Could be worse I guess. They're starting to make alstom crap in india now
>>894237
>DESIGNATED
>>894237
I don't see how that's a problem with Alstom's quality control so much as modern Melbourne rolling stock being built on the cheap. Of course the trams are going to be shit if you try to buy a hundred of them for 5 pesos.
>>894332
>its not the manufacturers fault it makes things cheap and faulty
>it's the consumers fault for buying it
>>894377
>put out a bid at below market price
>expects a decent product
>>894379
That makes me wonder how much they paid for them. The xtraps are pretty shitty in that they don't even come with airbag suspension but the price quoted is $3.2 million per carriage - about the same as a Shinkansen N700A or twice as much as a JR305
>>894466
the Siemens must be a bargain they dont come with breaks
Almost forgot. Australians will get this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNw5b7nRh0U
>>894469
That's just to enable multi track drifting
Those fucking siemens windows though. It's like the designer thought everyone was 2.2 metres tall or something
>>894466
Comparing Japanese rolling stock prices with any other market makes no sense. The EMUs they buy have a tiny lifespan and the JRs are constantly buying new stock which keeps the industry busy whereas there's only a few big orders that go out every few years in markets like Australia and there are no domestic rolling builders.
The X'Trapolis derived EMUs used on the Paris RER (which is probably the most Japan-like commuter system outside of Japan) have been very reliable. It's pretty obvious that this is simply another case of Victoria politicians being a bunch of cheap bastards and only getting the bare minimum.
I expected a fair comparison from the board weeb.
>>894475
Just because they're designed for 15 years doesn't mean they can't last 30. The E231 car 10 is going to service for 30 years because they were too lazy to build E235 cars to line up with the platform doors as that particular one wasn't standardised due to the 11 car consist. There used to be domestic rolling stock builders but they got rolled due to tenders and bad management (see: Comeng). UGL was also a thing but as of late, the government was a bunch of cunts so they only let them finish the Waratahs while building the frames in china. As far as I'm aware though, the aircons (with the exception the H sets which are ME) are still done in Australia by SCA (even if they're owned by Knorr Bremse[?]) so there's a concession I guess
Besides, you should be expecting a strong bias from me :3
>>894477
So in other words, your politicians and business class fucked up and you're now relying on cheap Chinese shit or companies that are now subsidiaries to European or Asian conglomerates. GG Australia.
>Just because they're designed for 15 years doesn't mean they can't last 30
The S sets in Sydney are still in use and they've been in service for over 40 years. Anything that touches Australian rails should at least have a lifespan of 50 years.
>>894475
>and there are no domestic rolling builders.
Bombadier own and operate the Comeng facility in Dandenong. They manufacture the V/Locity DMU and the new E-Class tram.
>>894487
Gold Coast and Adelaides trams ought to be manufactured there either from a Bombadier design or another licensed. Same for Adelaides new EMU
