From the day James made his unsolicited submission, one could see that this was going to be trouble for the government. He wanted more height, more views, more casino floor space, more space, more of Barangaroo — a public space — placed in his fat mittens. By comparison to the other buildings there that should never had been built, his is at least one and a half time as tall...

There are the other buildings on Barangaroo:

Barangaroo (picture by Gus leonisky)

It sounds like the deal of the century: a bargain price of $38,000 paid for 1,100 square metres of prime waterfront land.

Too good to be true? The community of Woy Woy on the central coast thought so.

They began demanding answers shortly after the development application was lodged for a four-story apartment block for seniors on the site which also includes the local bowling club and sits at the edge of the waterfront with a playground, bike track and walking path.

When residents started asking questions about the development, they discovered part of the land at the front of the block was once crown land and the Government had sold it off in 2015 for $38,830.

The developer's conduct is not under question.

....

Locals attempted to obtain the true valuation under Freedom of Information laws but were unsuccessful.

Resident Ross Cochrane president of the Save Woy Woy Waterfront Facebook group said "somewhere along the line that $120,000 [valuation] has come back to $38,000".

The State Government is required by law to advertise the sale of public land in a newspaper local to the sale or in a state-wide publication.

In this case, the advertisement for the sale of the Woy Woy land appeared in The Bateman's Bay post — a publication that serves residents 380 kilometres south of Woy Woy.

Greens MP David Shoebridge has referred the sale to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

"This is one dodgy deal... the Government treats public land like it's their own, like it's a play thing they can just doll out to whoever," he said. 

"Well I think the public is sick of that, they want a government who holds the public land in trust."

The sale is one of the Government's many which has raised $9 billion for the coalition in the past six years. 

"We have uncovered these failings after constant digging for the truth and we now need ICAC to look at not just this sale, but the thousands of other public sites sold off by the Coalition," Mr Shoebridge said.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-17/woy-woy-bowling-club-property-deal...

Bold by Gus

Read from top. I suppose the sales was cheap because the land will be under water by 2100... see:

The world's tallest statue is nearing completion in India.

It is designed to be a 182m (600ft) high tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a hero in India's independence struggle, in Gujarat state.

The Spring Temple Buddha in China is currently the world's biggest statue at 128 metres.

India's statue has cost 29.9bn rupees (£330m; $430m) and is seen as a pet project of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The "Statue of Unity", as it is known, will be inaugurated by the Indian leader on 31 October.

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-45396916

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I wonder who will be the politician invited to cut the ribbon at James' Casino... ScoMo?...

Read from top.

May be our Captain Cook statue revamp at Kurnell should be taller than that of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and wear an australian flag pin on the lapel of his glorious uniform... like our glorious ScoMo...

The Star Casino Hotel... See the Crown Casino Hotel at top.

Billionaire James Packer has sold almost half of his stake in casino giant Crown Resorts for $1.76 billion in a deal that is set to spark questions about whether it complies with the conditions of a licence with the NSW government.

Mr Packer's private investment vehicle on Thursday night said it had sold about half its shares in Crown to the Hong Kong-based Melco Resorts & Entertainment, which runs venues in Macau and once had a joint-venture casino with Crown in the hugely popular Chinese gambling hub.

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/james-packer-sells-1-76b-stake...

Read from top.

Berejiklian delivers on a jackpot day for Sydney casinos

Sydney’s two casino giants have hit the jackpot after the Berejiklian government dropped a legal case that threatened Crown Resort’s interests at Barangaroo, and the Premier intervened ... the credibility of the state’s planning system.

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