Highrise Harry strong arms Gladys Berejiklian over development

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Billionaire Meriton apartments developer, “Highrise” Harry Triguboff, has threatened NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian with legal action for Ryde MP Victor Dominello’s opposition to Meriton’s 1270 Meriton unit development in Sydney’s Macquarie Park. From the Daily Telegraph:

In an extraordinary display of force by the country’s third richest person, the Meriton founder wrote a personal letter to the Premier saying Ryde MP Victor Dominello “is being completely unreasonable” in his opposition to the company’s 1270 unit development in Sydney’s north west.

“Mr Dominello continues to specifically attack my development proposal at Macquarie Park which has endorsement from both council and the state government”…

Mr Dominello, who is the member for Ryde and NSW Customer Service Minister, had prepared an online petition objecting to the development proposal which consisted of four towers, the biggest of which being 42 storeys…

“If he is unable to be controlled, then I will have no option but to commence my own legal proceedings,” Mr Triguboff wrote. “Let me know what you can do”…

Meriton’s group general counsel Joseph Callaghan doubled down on Saturday, saying: “It is entirely appropriate that Mr Triguboff engages directly and transparently with political leaders to hold them accountable for certainty of outcome in industry”…

Mr Dominello told The Sunday Telegraph: “Mr Triguboff might be one of the country’s richest and most powerful men, but I won’t be bullied. I will continue to fight for my community. Harry does not intimidate me and my community will always come first,” he said.

For decades, Triguboff has actively strong armed Australia’s politicians to implement policies that are beneficial to his interests, including running a mass immigration policy. The below interview from 2006 highlights these dealings in all its hideous glory:

IT’S simple, says Harry Triguboff. Sydney has too much green and not enough grey, and if you want to look at trees – well, go climb a mountain…

“You go north and we have all these reserves and you go south and you have all the reserves, and they are the best part of the coast. That is crazy. We should be building on this area,” he said.

“If they want to see trees, they can go to Katoomba, there are plenty of trees there”…

He also called for a big increase in immigration, saying the population of Sydney should be 20 million by 2050, with the population of Australia 150 million…

He said he spoke far more to Mr Carr than he does to his successor, Morris Iemma, and convinced him to change laws concerning owners’ corporations to stop rogue elements in body corporates engaging lawyers and consultants without a proper vote.

He said that about three years ago he convinced Mr Carr there should be more development in Sydney, saying Mr Carr would have more than $1 billion in stamp duty if councils approved developments on all of Meriton’s land.

“He was telling openly he saw me more than he saw cabinet ministers. That doesn’t mean he did what I told him but he knew [my] story very well,” Mr Triguboff said.

“This is the way it works, you have a minister of planning and then sometimes you’re not happy with what he does and you go to Carr … and you say ‘listen, this is the position’.

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Harry Triguboff has also claimed credit for changing the Australian dream:

In 1963, Harry Triguboff decided to challenge the Great Australian Dream of owning a house on a quarter-acre block.

“I looked around and I saw cottages everywhere… I thought it was time they lived in apartments.”

So, who is setting Sydney’s planning policies: the State Government or Highrise Harry?

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It’s high time our politicians set policy in the interests of the ordinary residents, whose neighbourhoods and amenity are being destroyed by ugly high rise towers.

About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.