"Friends, it is rightly said that familiarity breeds contempt, because the present Council of the City of Greater Geelong seems to display a total lack of appreciation of its own assets, at least in the case of Osborne House.

I am an outsider, and I do not come here to tell Geelong people what they should and shouldn't do. But as an outsider - and one who has known and loved Geelong for half a century - I can perhaps see more clearly your council just how special Geelong is. And of course you can see it too, because that is why you are here.

Geelong has a greater concentration of early buildings - that is, buildings of the 1840s and 1850s - than any other city or region in Victoria, and these are what we are dealing with here at Osborne House. Of course Geelong also has much else, some wonderful Edwardian buildings, for example, and some great engineering works.

However, I am not just talking about heritage, or about special buildings. I am talking about the buildings which give Geelong its character, and make it what it is. The things that make you feel that this is your place. That is what is threatened by the sort of development proposed here.

There have been some major battles in Victoria recently involving the construction of inappropriate multi-unit developments or flats; the destruction of residential amenity (both matters of concern to Save Our Suburbs); the destruction of parks (now being fought by the Parklands Defence Council); and the destruction of heritage items (which used to be fought by the National Trust, a body which is now unfortunately more or less defunct).

What is striking is that the development proposed here combines all four of those issues. Your council has achieved a sort of hat trick, to strike a blow not just at one but at four precious aspects of Geelong together - in fact to sort of out-Kennett Jeff Kennett himself.

There are many ways of destroying a building other than hacking it to death. For example, you can eviscerate it, you can asphyxiate it, and you can bleed it to death. When you build flats in a structure you are going to effectively destroy most of its interior - that is, eviscerate it. When you surround it with new development you asphyxiate it. When you cut off its community or other uses you drain its lifeblood.

Under this treatment the Osborne House stables, and to some extent Osborne House itself, will be nor more than a dead husk - a quaint fossil or relic of the past. It will not be the first, and I am afraid it will not be the last, of the new plastic relics of old Geelong - your new city of Disneyland exhibits, and of modern developments with historical themes, where once you had a real city with a real history.

Of course your council is acting from economically rational motives. These are the same motives that ought to have seen the Parthenon in Athens redeveloped as a luxury hotel, and the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne turned into an office precinct. The authorities in Athens, however, have recognised that there are other considerations than economic profit. Even the authorities in Melbourne have held beck from the ultimate rationalisation. By the councillors of Greater Geelong have a purer vision and a stronger will.

You should tell your councilor’s something. You, the residents and ratepayers, place a high value upon the city you have: they are not entitled to destroy your city without your approval. You are the owners of Geelong: they are your servants. And it is time that they heard and obeyed your wishes."