As revealed by Beat some weeks ago, the case heard over March and April was halted when Palace Theatre developer Jinshan Investment Group claimed a conflict of interest by one of those presiding.
VCAT president Greg Garde has now ruled the case be reheard after it was revealed that Justice Helen Gibson – the head of VCAT’s planning and environmental list who presided over the Palace/City case – had not declared she was a member of the National Trust Victoria. The National Trust is one of the community groups involved in the case.
A VCAT spokesperson confirmed that Gibson would not face disciplinary action. “Tribunal members are entitled to be members of bodies, such as the National Trust. This is not a disciplinary matter,” she said.
Garde agreed that Gibson was just a member of the National Trust and held no executive positions in it. But he pointed out that the impartiality and independent of the tribunal be “above reproach.”
He said, “The application’s proposal is a major development in the central business district of Melbourne. It would be of no benefit to anyone that there be an ongoing concern as to the impartiality of the tribunal or the legality of the decision.”
The specific date of the rehearing will be decided when the two parties and their legal representatives agree.
Jinshan is battling to demolish the former nightclub and theatre on Bourke Street to build a 78-room hotel. The City and various heritage and live music groups are trying to stop it on heritage grounds and claim Jinshan has illegally destroyed and removed some of the original inner fittings.
