Murdoch mums and bubs hospital hits another hurdle as builder goes bust
News of Roberts Co's collapse this week cast doubt over the ability of the Italian construction giant to build the $1.8 billion facility after it and Roberts Co were put in the hot seat in December.
Roberts Co, owned by billionaire Andrew Roberts, was placed in administration earlier this week.
In a statement, Webuild downplayed Roberts Co's stake in the WA Life joint venture, and revealed it had purchased its interests a few weeks ago, noting the company was in financial distress.
A spokeswoman said the purchase was made with the WA government's permission and that Webuild was close to announcing a deal.
'Since being named as preferred [builder] in December 2024, WA Life and the state government have been working closely and collaboratively to finalise the contract,' she said.
'During this period, Roberts Co, who held a minor participation interest in WA Life, have advised that they wished to withdraw from the WA Life team.
'Both the state and WA Life have agreed to this request, whilst ensuring that all critical resources continue to be available for delivery.
'Over recent months the state and Webuild as WA Life have continued negotiations, in the same open and collaborative manner, and are close to finalising all aspects of the contract for the new hospital facilities
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Sydney Morning Herald
42 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
It used to be farmland. Now this suburb is its own village
In August 2015, the factory opened an adjoining deli that serves freshly made cheese and Italian produce. It's since grown to be a destination eatery, and even welcomes thousands of people each March for its annual Ricotta Festival. 'We brought something unique to Thomastown that attracts people to this area. Otherwise, there's not really any reason why people come to Thomastown, to be frankly honest with you,' says Serena Zen, head of marketing. Other cheese factories also operate in the suburb. Florida Cheese moved its operation there in 1998, while Pantalica Cheese also has a local manufacturing facility. These factories are indicative of Thomastown's historical connection with the dairy industry. 'It's a big area … there were a lot of Italian migrants who settled here and started businesses near where they were living,' says Zen. 'Thomastown has a lot of food manufacturers … It's good to be near the city … It gives you more contact with the final customer.' Zen, who lives across the border in nearby Lalor, also says the That's Amore eatery fulfils a rising demand for modern venues within the suburb. 'A lot of young families are moving into these areas, and you see a demographic change,' she says. 'All of those young families are looking for places to have a good brunch. And there's nothing around. But we're here.' Roads and Transportation Thomastown station, located on the Mernda train line, was rebuilt and modernised in 2011. Keon Park station is also located in the suburb's south, on the border with Reservoir. The area is serviced by the Western Ring Road, which connects Melbourne's western and northern suburbs, although it often faces criticism for heavy traffic. Stalled plans to build an Outer Metropolitan Ring Road would link the Princes Freeway to Thomastown, likely easing congestion for drivers. For Chris Scull, who grew up in Thomastown and now volunteers for the Whittlesea Historical Society, his local transport network is convenient when compared with some other outer Melbourne suburbs. 'It's good because you're on the city fringe,' Scull says. 'I can go 10 minutes towards Bundoora and there's a huge park over there … But you've also got good transportation links.' This urbanisation would have been unimaginable during the early twentieth century, when Thomastown was little more than a farming town. It wasn't until the mid-1900s that it experienced a population boom. Historical census data shows that only 1500 residents lived in Thomastown in 1954. Today this number has ballooned to over 20,000. The area has changed a lot since Scull's childhood. But he says that this isn't necessarily a bad thing – the suburb still has plenty of room for growth. 'They're still filling up little pockets that are left … Some of the flats around Station Street and some of the houses there, I don't see why you couldn't knock them down and put some decent apartments in. 'A lot of the houses here are the same age as me, so they're getting to be 50 years old,' Scull says. 'And it's not really sad because they're not great'. Modern Thomastown Liz Skitch moved to the outer-north suburb a decade ago, shortly before the birth of her first child. She and her partner fell in love with a house with a backyard so big that it was 'basically a paddock'. They put in an offer straight away. 'At the end of the day, we couldn't afford Preston. We were in a share house in Preston, we were about to start a family, and we looked just a little bit further out,' Skitch says. But while the house (a triple-fronted brick veneer, with plenty of fruit trees and grapevines) is what brought the young family to Thomastown, Skitch says that the community is what made her want to stay. 'The minute we arrived, all the neighbours came to meet us. Old Frank around the corner was giving me lessons on how to bag the grapevines … and his wife, Theresa, was teaching us how to make sausages,' she says. Skitch now manages the Thomastown Neighbourhood House, a not-for-profit organisation that runs programs from a room at the local library. She's passionate about engaging the community, which she says is evolving but still remains the culturally rich place it has always been. 'It's kind of a sad time because a lot of the oldies are dying and selling up. But it's an exciting time because you've got the funky new families moving in, and we're seeing more diversity. 'We were really excited around the time of the [plebiscite] on gay marriage, when we started to see yes voters in Thomastown. It's becoming more progressive.' Skitch and volunteers at the Neighbourhood House have even invented a special nickname for their suburb: Promisetown. 'There's no snobbery. That's what I love … it's really down to earth. It's always been a place for underdogs,' she says. 'It's the land of opportunity.'
The Age
42 minutes ago
- The Age
It used to be farmland. Now this suburb is its own village
In August 2015, the factory opened an adjoining deli that serves freshly made cheese and Italian produce. It's since grown to be a destination eatery, and even welcomes thousands of people each March for its annual Ricotta Festival. 'We brought something unique to Thomastown that attracts people to this area. Otherwise, there's not really any reason why people come to Thomastown, to be frankly honest with you,' says Serena Zen, head of marketing. Other cheese factories also operate in the suburb. Florida Cheese moved its operation there in 1998, while Pantalica Cheese also has a local manufacturing facility. These factories are indicative of Thomastown's historical connection with the dairy industry. 'It's a big area … there were a lot of Italian migrants who settled here and started businesses near where they were living,' says Zen. 'Thomastown has a lot of food manufacturers … It's good to be near the city … It gives you more contact with the final customer.' Zen, who lives across the border in nearby Lalor, also says the That's Amore eatery fulfils a rising demand for modern venues within the suburb. 'A lot of young families are moving into these areas, and you see a demographic change,' she says. 'All of those young families are looking for places to have a good brunch. And there's nothing around. But we're here.' Roads and Transportation Thomastown station, located on the Mernda train line, was rebuilt and modernised in 2011. Keon Park station is also located in the suburb's south, on the border with Reservoir. The area is serviced by the Western Ring Road, which connects Melbourne's western and northern suburbs, although it often faces criticism for heavy traffic. Stalled plans to build an Outer Metropolitan Ring Road would link the Princes Freeway to Thomastown, likely easing congestion for drivers. For Chris Scull, who grew up in Thomastown and now volunteers for the Whittlesea Historical Society, his local transport network is convenient when compared with some other outer Melbourne suburbs. 'It's good because you're on the city fringe,' Scull says. 'I can go 10 minutes towards Bundoora and there's a huge park over there … But you've also got good transportation links.' This urbanisation would have been unimaginable during the early twentieth century, when Thomastown was little more than a farming town. It wasn't until the mid-1900s that it experienced a population boom. Historical census data shows that only 1500 residents lived in Thomastown in 1954. Today this number has ballooned to over 20,000. The area has changed a lot since Scull's childhood. But he says that this isn't necessarily a bad thing – the suburb still has plenty of room for growth. 'They're still filling up little pockets that are left … Some of the flats around Station Street and some of the houses there, I don't see why you couldn't knock them down and put some decent apartments in. 'A lot of the houses here are the same age as me, so they're getting to be 50 years old,' Scull says. 'And it's not really sad because they're not great'. Modern Thomastown Liz Skitch moved to the outer-north suburb a decade ago, shortly before the birth of her first child. She and her partner fell in love with a house with a backyard so big that it was 'basically a paddock'. They put in an offer straight away. 'At the end of the day, we couldn't afford Preston. We were in a share house in Preston, we were about to start a family, and we looked just a little bit further out,' Skitch says. But while the house (a triple-fronted brick veneer, with plenty of fruit trees and grapevines) is what brought the young family to Thomastown, Skitch says that the community is what made her want to stay. 'The minute we arrived, all the neighbours came to meet us. Old Frank around the corner was giving me lessons on how to bag the grapevines … and his wife, Theresa, was teaching us how to make sausages,' she says. Skitch now manages the Thomastown Neighbourhood House, a not-for-profit organisation that runs programs from a room at the local library. She's passionate about engaging the community, which she says is evolving but still remains the culturally rich place it has always been. 'It's kind of a sad time because a lot of the oldies are dying and selling up. But it's an exciting time because you've got the funky new families moving in, and we're seeing more diversity. 'We were really excited around the time of the [plebiscite] on gay marriage, when we started to see yes voters in Thomastown. It's becoming more progressive.' Skitch and volunteers at the Neighbourhood House have even invented a special nickname for their suburb: Promisetown. 'There's no snobbery. That's what I love … it's really down to earth. It's always been a place for underdogs,' she says. 'It's the land of opportunity.'
The Advertiser
a day ago
- The Advertiser
Vatican to become the world first carbon-neutral state
Italy has agreed to a Vatican plan to turn a 430-hectare field north of Rome, once the source of controversy between the two, into a vast solar farm that the Holy See hopes will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world's first carbon-neutral state. The agreement announced on Thursday stipulates that the development of the Santa Maria Galeria site will preserve the agricultural use of the land and minimise the environmental impact on the territory, according to a Vatican statement. Details weren't released, but the Vatican will be exempt from paying Italian taxes to import the solar panels, but won't benefit from the financial incentives that Italians enjoy when they go solar. Italy, for its part, can use the field in its accounting for reaching European Union clean energy targets. Any excess electricity generated by the farm beyond the Vatican's needs would be given to the local community, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not public. Vatican officials have estimated it will cost under 100 million euros ($A177 million) to develop the solar farm, and that once it is approved by the Italian parliament, the contracts to do the work could be put up for bids. Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher signed the agreement with Italy's ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto. The Italian parliament must approve the arrangement since it has financial implications for the territory, which holds extraterritorial status in Italy. The Santa Maria Galeria site has long been the source of controversy because of electromagnetic waves emitted by Vatican Radio towers located there since the 1950s. The once-rural site some 35km north of Rome is dominated by two dozen short- and medium-wave radio antennae that transmit news from the Catholic Church in dozens of languages around the globe. Over the years as the area became more developed, residents began complaining of health problems, including instances of childhood leukemia which they blamed on the electromagnetic waves generated by the towers. The Vatican denied there was any causal link but cut back the transmissions. Pope Francis last year asked the Vatican to study developing the area into a vast solar farm, hoping to put into practice his preaching about the need to transition away from fossil fuels and find clean, carbon-neutral energy sources. Pope Leo XIV visited the site in June and affirmed that he intended to see Francis' vision through. Leo has strongly taken up Francis' ecological mantle, recently using a new set of prayers and readings inspired by Pope Francis' environmental legacy. In the 1990s at the height of the controversy over the radio towers, residents sued Vatican Radio officials, claiming the emissions exceeded the Italian legal limit, but the court cleared the transmitter. In 2012, the Vatican announced it was cutting in half the hours of transmission from the site, not because of health concerns but because of cost-saving technological advances in internet broadcasting. Italy has agreed to a Vatican plan to turn a 430-hectare field north of Rome, once the source of controversy between the two, into a vast solar farm that the Holy See hopes will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world's first carbon-neutral state. The agreement announced on Thursday stipulates that the development of the Santa Maria Galeria site will preserve the agricultural use of the land and minimise the environmental impact on the territory, according to a Vatican statement. Details weren't released, but the Vatican will be exempt from paying Italian taxes to import the solar panels, but won't benefit from the financial incentives that Italians enjoy when they go solar. Italy, for its part, can use the field in its accounting for reaching European Union clean energy targets. Any excess electricity generated by the farm beyond the Vatican's needs would be given to the local community, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not public. Vatican officials have estimated it will cost under 100 million euros ($A177 million) to develop the solar farm, and that once it is approved by the Italian parliament, the contracts to do the work could be put up for bids. Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher signed the agreement with Italy's ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto. The Italian parliament must approve the arrangement since it has financial implications for the territory, which holds extraterritorial status in Italy. The Santa Maria Galeria site has long been the source of controversy because of electromagnetic waves emitted by Vatican Radio towers located there since the 1950s. The once-rural site some 35km north of Rome is dominated by two dozen short- and medium-wave radio antennae that transmit news from the Catholic Church in dozens of languages around the globe. Over the years as the area became more developed, residents began complaining of health problems, including instances of childhood leukemia which they blamed on the electromagnetic waves generated by the towers. The Vatican denied there was any causal link but cut back the transmissions. Pope Francis last year asked the Vatican to study developing the area into a vast solar farm, hoping to put into practice his preaching about the need to transition away from fossil fuels and find clean, carbon-neutral energy sources. Pope Leo XIV visited the site in June and affirmed that he intended to see Francis' vision through. Leo has strongly taken up Francis' ecological mantle, recently using a new set of prayers and readings inspired by Pope Francis' environmental legacy. In the 1990s at the height of the controversy over the radio towers, residents sued Vatican Radio officials, claiming the emissions exceeded the Italian legal limit, but the court cleared the transmitter. In 2012, the Vatican announced it was cutting in half the hours of transmission from the site, not because of health concerns but because of cost-saving technological advances in internet broadcasting. Italy has agreed to a Vatican plan to turn a 430-hectare field north of Rome, once the source of controversy between the two, into a vast solar farm that the Holy See hopes will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world's first carbon-neutral state. The agreement announced on Thursday stipulates that the development of the Santa Maria Galeria site will preserve the agricultural use of the land and minimise the environmental impact on the territory, according to a Vatican statement. Details weren't released, but the Vatican will be exempt from paying Italian taxes to import the solar panels, but won't benefit from the financial incentives that Italians enjoy when they go solar. Italy, for its part, can use the field in its accounting for reaching European Union clean energy targets. Any excess electricity generated by the farm beyond the Vatican's needs would be given to the local community, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not public. Vatican officials have estimated it will cost under 100 million euros ($A177 million) to develop the solar farm, and that once it is approved by the Italian parliament, the contracts to do the work could be put up for bids. Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher signed the agreement with Italy's ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto. The Italian parliament must approve the arrangement since it has financial implications for the territory, which holds extraterritorial status in Italy. The Santa Maria Galeria site has long been the source of controversy because of electromagnetic waves emitted by Vatican Radio towers located there since the 1950s. The once-rural site some 35km north of Rome is dominated by two dozen short- and medium-wave radio antennae that transmit news from the Catholic Church in dozens of languages around the globe. Over the years as the area became more developed, residents began complaining of health problems, including instances of childhood leukemia which they blamed on the electromagnetic waves generated by the towers. The Vatican denied there was any causal link but cut back the transmissions. Pope Francis last year asked the Vatican to study developing the area into a vast solar farm, hoping to put into practice his preaching about the need to transition away from fossil fuels and find clean, carbon-neutral energy sources. Pope Leo XIV visited the site in June and affirmed that he intended to see Francis' vision through. Leo has strongly taken up Francis' ecological mantle, recently using a new set of prayers and readings inspired by Pope Francis' environmental legacy. In the 1990s at the height of the controversy over the radio towers, residents sued Vatican Radio officials, claiming the emissions exceeded the Italian legal limit, but the court cleared the transmitter. In 2012, the Vatican announced it was cutting in half the hours of transmission from the site, not because of health concerns but because of cost-saving technological advances in internet broadcasting. Italy has agreed to a Vatican plan to turn a 430-hectare field north of Rome, once the source of controversy between the two, into a vast solar farm that the Holy See hopes will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world's first carbon-neutral state. The agreement announced on Thursday stipulates that the development of the Santa Maria Galeria site will preserve the agricultural use of the land and minimise the environmental impact on the territory, according to a Vatican statement. Details weren't released, but the Vatican will be exempt from paying Italian taxes to import the solar panels, but won't benefit from the financial incentives that Italians enjoy when they go solar. Italy, for its part, can use the field in its accounting for reaching European Union clean energy targets. Any excess electricity generated by the farm beyond the Vatican's needs would be given to the local community, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not public. Vatican officials have estimated it will cost under 100 million euros ($A177 million) to develop the solar farm, and that once it is approved by the Italian parliament, the contracts to do the work could be put up for bids. Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher signed the agreement with Italy's ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto. The Italian parliament must approve the arrangement since it has financial implications for the territory, which holds extraterritorial status in Italy. The Santa Maria Galeria site has long been the source of controversy because of electromagnetic waves emitted by Vatican Radio towers located there since the 1950s. The once-rural site some 35km north of Rome is dominated by two dozen short- and medium-wave radio antennae that transmit news from the Catholic Church in dozens of languages around the globe. Over the years as the area became more developed, residents began complaining of health problems, including instances of childhood leukemia which they blamed on the electromagnetic waves generated by the towers. The Vatican denied there was any causal link but cut back the transmissions. Pope Francis last year asked the Vatican to study developing the area into a vast solar farm, hoping to put into practice his preaching about the need to transition away from fossil fuels and find clean, carbon-neutral energy sources. Pope Leo XIV visited the site in June and affirmed that he intended to see Francis' vision through. Leo has strongly taken up Francis' ecological mantle, recently using a new set of prayers and readings inspired by Pope Francis' environmental legacy. In the 1990s at the height of the controversy over the radio towers, residents sued Vatican Radio officials, claiming the emissions exceeded the Italian legal limit, but the court cleared the transmitter. In 2012, the Vatican announced it was cutting in half the hours of transmission from the site, not because of health concerns but because of cost-saving technological advances in internet broadcasting.
