Melbourne Save The Palace Rally Hoping To Attract 30,000

The Melbourne public and music industry stakeholders will converge on the city's Parliament steps this month to rally against the development of the Palace Theatre from a live music and cultural venue into apartments.

Organised by the Save The Palace Theatre Committee, the rally will take place Saturday 12 October at 12pm and they hope to fill Bourke Street down to the Palace Theatre. Today Tania Wilson, who is doing publicity for the rally, told theMusic.com.au that they hoped to attract 30,000 people to the rally, given the committee's Facebook page had tipped over 30,000 likes yesterday.

The future of the venue, which has a capacity of 1,855, is under threat due to a $180 million development plan to turn the site into a 30-storey complex, which would include Australia's first W Hotel.

With the development application currently being considered by the State Government, while the Council are yet to discuss it, the Committee's Rebecca Leslie told theMusic today that the application for the development permit is currently 'deferred'.

An application for the venue's heritage listing to be updated to include the whole venue – it currently only covers the interior – has been accepted by Heritage Victoria and they are currently assessing. It is believed that Heritage have asked to meet the architects to discuss the heritage value, which could be the cause of the current deferral.

The committee are also hoping that the initial proposal could be reversed on height issues, but that would likely just push nit back for re-proposal.

With speakers – including musicians and representatives from government and heritage – currently being approached to speak at the rally, the committee are calling on industry and punters to be vocal in their support of the venue and are asking musicians to promote the cause to their fans.

Even though the development proposal is currently in limbo, the rally will continue to go ahead as a show of support for the venue's live music and cultural importance and to stress its sustainability for future generations.