City of Melbourne councillors have left the door open to supporting a proposed fountain in Carlton offered as a gift by family of wealthy property developers who donated it to Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s election campaign.
This masthead asked all councillors for their opinion of the proposed fountain on Wednesday and whether they would support it if it came to a vote.
Most declined to comment (Davydd Griffiths, Refael Camillo, Olivia Ball and Owen Guest) or did not respond (Philip Le Liu, Kevin Louey), while three councillors left the door open to supporting the fountain if the final proposal had merits.
Reece and his deputy, Roshena Campbell, said they would recuse themselves.
Reece promised to build a fountain towards the end of his successful council election campaign in 2024, describing it as a site that would celebrate the contributions of the city’s Italian community.
An investigation by this masthead revealed that the Marcocci family, who initially built their wealth as the owner of meat wholesalers University Foods Group, had offered to fund the fountain, which Reece estimated would cost between $1 million and $5 million in November last year.
The Marcocci family have since expanded into property development and own the $80 million La Storia development on Cardigan Street in the heart of Carlton, which is metres from the fountain’s proposed Argyle Square site. This site was being developed long before the fountain was offered.
Reece promised during his election campaign that he would not accept donations from property developers.
The lord mayor initially didn’t reveal who had offered to fund the project, but eventually named the family while appearing on ABC Radio on Tuesday morningafter they were revealed in The Age. He denied that the Marcoccis classified as developers during the interview, saying they had no current applications for a development.
The Marcocci family also own a large parcel of land in the city’s Macaulay precinct, which the council is considering whether to compulsorily acquire.
Maurizio Marcocci, managing director of University Food Group, defended his family’s contributions and engagement with the council in a statement to this masthead on Tuesday night.
“The family has at all times followed due process and complied with council officer requests to introduce the concept, design and funding of the fountain to councillors through the appropriate channels,” Marcocci said.
Independent councillor Andrew Rowse said the fountain proposal should not be rejected solely because it was being offered by a Reece campaign donor. Rowse said he would decide whether to support the fountain donation when council officers presented a full report and advice on the proposal to councillors.
“It would be a massive shame if the offer was withdrawn,” he said.
“Every item – whether it be consideration of a philanthropic partnership, whether it be announcing Melbourne’s floral emblem – each item is represented and considered on its own merits and independent of any other item.
“To presume that the donation of the fountain will change anything else would be an incorrect assumption.”
Rowse said it was appropriate for Team Nick members to recuse themselves from council discussions about the fountain and the Macaulay precinct, after the Marcocci family donated $10,000 to their election campaign.
Councillor Mark Scott, who ran for council as a member of the mayor’s Team Nick, said he would need to evaluate whether he had a conflict of interest because of donations to the campaign.
“If so, I would declare a conflict and not be part of the debate or vote,” he said.
Councillor Gladys Liu said she would consider the fountain on its merits “if and when the matter comes forward”.
On Wednesday, Premier Jacinta Allan would not say whether Victoria should ban donations from developers at a state and local government level, but floated that future reform was possible.
“We’ve already moved to require the declaration of donations for both councillors and staff in the local government sector. And we’ll consider whether there are other reforms,” Allan said.
However, any overhaul of donation rules could be complicated by Allan’s cabinet reshuffle unveiled on Wednesday, with youth justice and corrections minister Paul Hamer taking over the local government portfolio from Nick Staikos.
Transparency International chief executive Clancy Moore said the change of minister was no reason to delay reform to ban property developer donations.
“The next election is not until November so the Allan Labor government has ample time to develop the necessary reforms,” Moore said.
In Argyle Square on Wednesday afternoon, park goers were largely unaware of the council’s proposed fountain project. One university student said that it would be a nice way to improve the southern side of the park, while another wondered whether philanthropic funding could be better utilised.
Alec Dempster, who works opposite the square, said that while he wasn’t opposed to a fountain, he would be interested to know more about the design to decide whether it would suit the space.
“If it’s only a little thing that dribbles over the edge, it’s not worth it,” Dempster said. “If [the council] wants to build a Trevi Fountain, why not? What’s wrong with a bit of beautification?”
He added that the project’s funding and public sentiment should be taken into consideration before the fountain was green-lit. “When you’re doing a civic project, you’ve got to take motives into account … it’s for the public … Some civic projects are there to glorify the name of the giver,” he said.
Friends Julia Waters and Dominique Matthews, who often walk through the square to attend university nearby, said that building a fountain would be a good way to increase public use of the space.
“More people would be taking photos and stuff. It would attract a lot of people,” said Waters.
The friends were even on board with one of Reece’s suggestions that the hypothetical fountain would be a romantic place to meet up for a date. “At Carlton Gardens, there’s always weddings happening there around the fountain,” Matthews said.
A spokesperson from the Local Government Inspectorate said it “treats all matters with the strictest of confidence and cannot comment on any investigation, potential or ongoing”.
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