Trees cut down in Albert Park to make way for $350m pit lane upgrade
Workers used heavy machinery to fell several trees around the park's permanent pit lane building on Tuesday as part of a major redevelopment of the street circuit's garages and hospitality zone.
The new facilities are being built after the Labor government renegotiated its contract with Formula 1 owners Liberty Media in 2023 to ensure the event stays in Melbourne until 2037.
As part of the new deal, the state government agreed to upgrade the pit lane garages, race control and media centre, as well as the Paddock Club hospitality area. It is expected to be open by 2028.
Construction will not begin until after the 2026 F1 race, however early works have started, including the erection of temporary fencing and clearing of trees that are in the path of the new buildings.
Opponents of Formula 1's annual takeover of the park say it is yet another increase to the permanent footprint of an event that was always supposed to be temporary.
'It's just another, further encroachment on a public park, all for an event that's three days every year,' said Geoff Gowers, a committee member of Save Albert Park, which has protested the lakeside grand prix since before its inception in 1996.
'It involves carting in thousands of tons of concrete and steel. And then taking them back out again. So you might well say it's already an environmental disaster, as well as cutting down trees.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
2 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley outlines what it would take for Coalition to dump net zero as debate divides both parties
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has explained the key questions a Coalition energy policy must address, amid a heated debate within the Liberal and Nationals parties over net zero policy. Ms Ley told Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell she wanted to develop an energy policy which focussed on manufacturing and the aspirations of Australian business owners, while making power more affordable and reducing emissions. The Opposition Leader said a working group led by Shadow Energy Minister Dan Tehan will "flesh out" the partyroom's different perspectives and will assess expert advice on the issue. "We have to work through this policy process, and I'm not foreshadowing what the outcome will be. It will be underpinned by two fundamental things, playing our part to responsibly and transparently reduce emissions as we should, and also have a stable, reliable energy grid that provides affordable energy for households and businesses," she said. "I think most people would agree the government is failing on both of them. Cost is going up and emissions are going up too." On net zero, Ms Ley refused to contend with Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce's call to scrap the policy, but agreed there was an "over-reliance" on renewable energy, hinting at a possible decision to leave net zero behind in the future. Ms Ley said "we do have time" to come to a final call on net zero, noting the Coalition's election loss was "not quite three months ago" while the next election was three years away. She said Labor held the "levers" on the Australia's net zero approach, and that the Coalition would "hold them to account" for the "train wreck" the government had created on energy policy. "The government owns current energy policy and we will hold them to account for the absolute train wreck that it's become," Ms Ley said. Ms Ley was also asked about the Labor government's Economic Reform Roundtable in August, in which tax hikes have been rumoured to be put forward as a fix-all approach to the slump in productivity and rising budget deficits. The Opposition Leader said she was "hoping for some good ideas,but I'm not holding my breath", and confirmed shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien would be present during discussions. "We'll be talking to the people who are sitting in that room, but many of them have said privately to me that they're going to speak up during and after that meeting because the problem we have here is Labor's got advice to say, 'you're going to need to raise taxes because the budget is broken,'" she said. "But they haven't said they have a plan to do anything other than that. So what that tells me is already they're baking in an outcome from this productivity roundtable that is all about raising taxes." Ms Ley said in her view that the path to prosperity was through growth in the private sector. "It's not about making the expenditure of the government more efficient. It's about growing businesses, which of course energy is a critical part of," she said. "It's all about recognising that the pathway to prosperity is through growth. It's through the private sector. It's to the Australians we back every day who are out there giving back, taking risks, having a crack." The Opposition Leader was also pressed on the harrowing images emerging from Gaza after Israel was pressured to open more channels for aid to enter the war-torn enclave. Ms Ley expressed she was "distressed" by the images of starvation coming out of Gaza but urged that Hamas must return Israeli hostages to end the war. She said the Palestinian people "deserved so much better" after its Hamas leadership had "let them down for decades". The Opposition Leader declined to respond to reports that the images depicting starvation in Gaza were fake and insisted that there needed to be "partners in the peace process" representing Palestinians. Ms Ley was asked to respond to 2011 comments she made in which she sympathised with the Palestinian people, and that they had been "airbrushed out of history". "I am a friend to the Palestinian people, I'm not a friend of their leadership, I'm not a friend of Hamas, how could anyone be?" she said.
Sky News AU
4 hours ago
- Sky News AU
‘Hallucinating': Opposition slams Labor over ‘inventing' US beef ban talks
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has called out Trade Minister Don Farrell for suggesting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump had discussed Australia's ban on US beef imports. 'Australians rely on the government to confidently and competently advocate for our national interest,' Ms Ley said during Question Time on Monday. 'Yesterday, the trade minister seemed to be hallucinating on national TV when he invented a conversation between the US President and the prime minister about beef. 'How can Labor be trusted to secure tariff exemptions when the trade minister confuses a public statement from the president with a leader-to-leader phone call that never happened?'
Perth Now
6 hours ago
- Perth Now
Lib Senator goes rogue on key Labor Bill
Demoted Liberal senator Sarah Henderson is pushing for an indexation cap on Labor's student debt-slashing Bill. Central to Labor's re-election pitch, it was the first piece of legislation the Albanese government introduced when parliament resumed last week. NewsWire understands it did so confident the Coalition would back it in, despite opposition posturing that it was not guaranteed. Sussan Ley and her education spokesman Jonno Duniam have since publicly signalled they would pass it as is, making Senator Henderson yet another Coalition backbencher to break from the party line on a key issue. Former opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson is pushing for major changes to Labor's student debt-slashing bill. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia 'This is a proposal for a HECS loan inflation guarantee, so effectively saying that HECS should not be above 3 per cent indexation,' Senator Henderson told Sky News on Monday. 'We've seen student debt completely run out of control under Labor. 'It's been an absolute fiasco, which is why they brought forward their student debt discount. 'At one stage, it was close to 16 per cent increase, and even after the change in indexation, it's still 14.3 per cent up since Labor was elected.' Senator Henderson was opposition education spokeswoman under Peter Dutton but banished to the back bench in the new Coalition front bench under Ms Ley. She said she put her indexation policy forward before the May 3 election but it ended up on the 'cutting room floor' – a decision she labelled 'regrettable'. 'I did actually propose this in the lead up to the last election,' Senator Henderson said. 'I've been talking to my colleagues, I've received a very positive response. 'So I'm hoping that we'll go through our ordinary party room processes, but I'm very much hoping that this amendment will get the support not just of the Coalition, but also of the parliament.' Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has signalled the Coalition will back Labor's student debt-slashing Bill as is. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia However, she said the opposition should not vote against Labor's Bill. The Bill would cut student debts by 20 per cent for some 3 million graduates, or wipe off $5500 from the average debt. The changes would also raise the repayment threshold for student loans from $54,000 to $67,000. Unless members of the Coalition back her amendments, Senator Henderson will have a hard time getting her changes off the ground. The Greens have ruled out working with her, with the minor party's education spokeswoman Mehreen Faruqi saying on Monday that the 'Coalition and Sarah Henderson are no friends of higher education'. Senator Faruqi has blasted the Bill for not going far enough. But with support from the Coalition, whether the Greens back it matters little to getting through the Upper House. Education Minister Jason Clare introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives last week.
