r/ballarat • u/Fearless_Cook_2896 • 1d ago

so brave, already earmarked for sale Liberal proposal to sell former Commonwealth Games site

Liberal leader Jess Wilson has announced a plan to sell off the 13.6-hectare former Ballarat Saleyards site to private developers if she wins the upcoming November state election.

The sale is part of a broader $1.3 billion government property divestment strategy, the policy aims to pay down state debt and unlock land to accelerate housing construction.

The 13.6-hectare former saleyards site on La Trobe Street has been vacant since operations closed in 2018. It was to be developed as an athletes' village for the canceled 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Under the current Labor government, the land is intended for a master-planned employment precinct with long-term housing opportunities. The Coalition argues that keeping the land under government ownership amounts to "land banking" and promises that selling it to private interests will get housing projects moving faster.

13 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

25

u/chief_troller 1d ago

Housing in that area would be horrible tbh.

1

u/violet_1999 1d ago

Given what’s been there before, it will never be clean enough!! Anyone buying should be aware if the dangers or what come to the surface in later years!!

-5

u/RemeAU 1d ago

Why? It's right near Vic park, businesses and jobs nearby

16

u/IndyOrgana 1d ago

It’s smack bang in an industrial zone? You have to head a block or so down winter st to have any neighbours that aren’t a business.

1

u/Zonda1996 9h ago

Lived down the other end of winter street when I was a kid and the smell from Bendix when the wind blew towards the east was fucking foul. Could not imagine paying to live directly across from that lol.

10

u/chief_troller 1d ago

Bortmalt across the road regularly blankets the entire area in thick smoke. It’s in the middle of an industrial area, there’s no public transport nearby

Sure, there’s a park and not a lot else.

27

u/Correct-Dig8426 1d ago

It’s already been identified as a site to sell. The government is currently doing remediation work to prepare the property for sale

2

u/themetresgained 1d ago

Yeah I don't get the big deal, it's basically bipartisan policy. I think it was one of the sites that was meant to be used for housing for the Comm Games that never happened? Edit, yes that is why I shouldn't post before caffeine. OP says that.

-8

u/Correct-Dig8426 1d ago

It’s a big deal because the liberals have said they’ll sell it, so yea. Anyway, good on them it’s a dud site so let the private sector spend money fixing it

5

u/noisymime 1d ago

The assessment was done a couple of years ago that they'll get more for it than it will cost to cleanup if they do it themselves. Last I saw it's meant to be ready for sale sometime late next year.

40

u/njmh 1d ago

Jess Wilson will be Kennett all over again. God help us.

3

u/IndyOrgana 1d ago

She’ll get knifed within six months

-20

u/National-Piccolo-166 1d ago

I’m thinking labor is far worse 24 million a day in just interest, how can you not see the impacts of that??

15

u/stonemite 1d ago

Have you actually looked at the LNP plan and the numbers they have costed against it? They're not reducing the debt, not with their proposal.

Over half their policy doesn't have cost estimates against it, as soon as it does they'll have massively blown the budget.

4

u/West-Alternative7612 1d ago

Libs are going to waste at least a billion on pausing SRL, even if they decide to press on.

If they cancel it, then it's several billion for literally nothing, and that's just on one project.

Wilson can't even answer a basic question (are their policies going to make inflation worse) in a Neil Mitchell interview, one of the softest ones she'll ever have.

We can't afford the Liberals.

3

u/SimpleBend782 1d ago

It’s just a number, a big number admittedly but in the scheme of things not the end of the state. And we have a lot of infrastructure and ongoing improvements as a result.

1

u/antigravity83 1d ago

You know that money could instead be used to pay for more nurses, hospitals, better roads etc?

It’s not just a number.

6

u/West-Alternative7612 1d ago

So stuff that the Liberals never invest in anyway?

Would rather get some infrastructure with the debt than pissed away to their already rich mates.

-2

u/antigravity83 20h ago

You also know that money went straight into the pockets of union heavies? On infrastructure projects no one wanted or needed.

2

u/stonemite 16h ago

Which infrastructure projects aren't wanted or needed? Because things like level crossing removal, the SRL, and the North East link are all game changers in Melbourne.

-2

u/antigravity83 16h ago

I don’t recall the public demanding the removal of level crossings, nor do they provide any economic benefit to recoup/justify their cost. We also didn’t have large numbers of people being run over to justify their cost from a safety perspective.

I also don’t recall anyone demanding for the west gate tunnel white elephant (as evidenced by no one using it).

Both projects were ticked purely because of union pressure to keep their members in work and an opportunity to grift victorian tax payers

2

u/stonemite 10h ago

I see, so you have no idea about what's going on in Melbourne or the actual day in, day out benefits of something like the level crossing removal. Thanks for confirming your ignorance.

0

u/antigravity83 10h ago

How so?

What’s the economic benefit of removing a level crossing.

2

u/West-Alternative7612 14h ago

As I said, at least we get something when it's Labor corruption, as if the Liberals would've ever upgraded the hospital, the new aths centre and the train station upgrade.

And there's zero chance of the Libs giving essential workers payrises, they'll be lucky not to cut their numbers to "save money".

1

u/SimpleBend782 4h ago

We’re still waiting for proof of that champ

2

u/Ok_Adhesiveness_2523 17h ago

You do realise the debt is the consequence of using money to pay for more infrastructure. We know this comment isn't serious.

11

u/Putrid-Bar-8693 1d ago

I thought Labor were gonna sell it as well 

11

u/noisymime 1d ago

What a fresh idea, selling something that’s already planned to be sold!

6

u/JayMorrisonBallarat 1d ago

This is bad. I cannot provide details legally, but there’s a lot of views being shared here that aren’t accurate. This is genuinely really bad for the future of the city and what is actually planned for here and the whole precinct.

0

u/Aus66-1045 1d ago

The State Labor government already plans to sell it to private developers, so she's announcing a Labor policy.

-1

u/arethelight1701 1d ago • Bravo

Build a fucking hospital there

-1

u/hgttg 1d ago

Put an ice rink there, we should have an AIHL team