Tim Gurner keeps making everyone mad

Property developer and committed anti-ageing bio-hacker Tim Gurner has a habit of getting on people’s nerves.

Usually, that comes from the things the almost-billionaire says: remember his comments that Millennials shouldn’t eat smashed avocado if they wanted to buy a house and that “we need to see pain in the economy” to increase productivity?

Tim Gurner in front of his project on Chapel Street. Credit: Eamon Gallagher

This time, the Gurner Group, which is plotting a luxury tower in Barangaroo, has raised the ire of residents in Melbourne’s South Yarra who live near the company’s massive multibillion-dollar redevelopment of the Jam Factory on Chapel Street.

At the weekend, residents kicked up a stink at after-hours demolition work on the 18,000 square metre site, with Stonnington Council Mayor Melina Sehr accusing Gurner of breaching local laws and approved permit conditions.

The noise was so bad many were unable to sleep, we’re told. Concrete dust has covered surrounding cars and buildings.

Council is seeking an urgent meeting with the developer to ensure it doesn’t happen again, although it looks to CBD like most of the place has been knocked down already.

Stonnington also wants Gurner to address the breaches it says have occurred – a free day pass to his Saint Haven wellness clubs (annual fees: $23,000), perhaps?

They have also threatened to take Gurner to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal if the alleged non-compliance persists.

“Residents can be assured that inappropriate noise and dust impacts are absolutely unacceptable, and local amenity is of utmost concern,” Sehr said.

Councillor for South Yarra Kate Hely told CBD that she had been inundated with complaints from nearby residents.

“It was 24/7, very invasive levels of sound,” she said.

And there’s plenty of hammering still to come.

The rebuilt Jam Factory will house 448 apartments, a five-star luxury hotel, retail outlets and office space, as well as high-end restaurants and other entertainment options.

Gurner, who wants to live to the age of 500, according to staff at Saint Haven, did not respond to a text message from CBD seeking a response.

Dress to impress

At a conference in Tamworth last year, Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig relayed what he thought was a touching anecdote about a female carpenter working at Newcastle Council who he presented a women’s young achiever award to.

“She came to Parliament House and I presented her with an award. She was in this black strapless dress, a very articulate young lady, I was impressed that she’s an apprentice carpenter, and I was so pleased to see a young lady going into what’s normally a male trade,” Hoenig said.

Then, two weeks later, their paths crossed again when the minister was meeting apprentices in Newcastle.

“There this young lady is, but not in a black strapless dress, but in fluoros and cargo workpants with paint all over them, looking completely different to what I saw two weeks ago,” he said.

The woman told Hoenig she’d spent $500 on a dress and heels just for the award ceremony, which she was planning to sell because of the expense. Enter Hoenig to the rescue – he sent the woman a gift voucher for $500 so she could keep the dress and heels. She spent it on a new grinder instead.

Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig at an earlier estimates hearing.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Hoenig’s heartwarming story was picked up on by Liberal shadow minister Aileen MacDonald in estimates last week.

“Why did you focus on her appearance, describing her black strapless dress at Parliament House and then contrasting it with her work attire?” MacDonald asked.

“Do you consider that a personal gift of this nature from a senior male minister to a young female apprentice could be perceived as inappropriate?”

Hoenig said: “I wouldn’t think so. I just told them the story of what she told me. I don’t recall what she wore when I presented one of many women with an award.”

The minister got increasingly flustered as MacDonald pressed him on whether the gift was appropriate.

“I thought it was a nice touch,” he said, later noting it was his own money, not the government’s. Whatever gets it past the pub test.

Fund and games

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s best-laid plans to call an election for April 12 this weekend after the WA poll could be hit by a literal cyclone churning off the coast of southern Queensland.

If Cyclone Alfred wreaks enough havoc to make a Sunday trip to Yarralumla politically untenable, the government will be dragged back to Canberra later this month to deliver a budget. Talk about a sliding doors moment.

But the bubble is prepared. As CBD reported this week, invites are out for the Liberal Party’s budget reply fundraiser. The Federal Labor Business Forum has been circulating invitations for its own budget night fundraisers for some time now. With conventional wisdom rallying around an early April poll, those invites were assumed to be just that.

But on Thursday, prospective donors received another timely reminder of a Standing Networking Dinner Reception on budget night (starting price $1200 a head) with RSVPs due by next Monday. Perhaps someone in head office knows something we don’t. If not, given the circumstances creating uncertainty around the election date, we’d say it’s all in rather poor taste. Then again, Labor frontbenchers weren’t the ones attending fundraisers at harbourside mansions this week.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.