Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:32): Melbourne’s iconic Festival Hall was already a place where people came to worship. They worshipped Johnny Cash, Rage Against the Machine, the Living End, Oasis, even Frank Sinatra, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Powderfinger and the Beatles. Also known as the house of stoush, Melburnians also made their way to Festival Hall to worship at the feet of the gods of boxing, like Lionel Rose, Anthony Mundine, Lester Ellis and Barry Michael. For the 1956 Olympics the sporting gods took over. It also hosted those who worshipped consumerism, being the home for the popular TV show The Price Is Right. I could go on. But now it will have worshippers of only one kind—evangelical Christians. Only those who worship with Brian Houston, the son of the disgraced pastor, can show their faces there now after it was revealed that Hillsong Church has purchased the venue and intends to redevelop it as its headquarters. What a terrible loss to our city. What a sad end to the life of a place that has brought together so many people from all walks of life.
