Phillip Island development plan halted after Miley Cyrus's tweet
BY:JOHN FERGUSON From: The Australian September 23, 2011 12:00AM
EVERY government has a weakness, and Hollywood starlet Miley Cyrus just might be Ted Baillieu's.
Hours after the teenage star of TV's Hannah Montana tweeted in favour of protecting Victoria's Phillip Island against development, the Baillieu government blinked.
It buckled yesterday amid growing publicity and ended plans to develop a further 200 houses at the township of Ventnor, about 140km southeast of Melbourne.
Labor is convinced that the moment commercial TV jumped on the Cyrus story the game was up for the development.
Cyrus's boyfriend, Australian actor Liam Hemsworth, has a family home near Ventnor, until now a little-known township 15 minutes' drive from the island's de facto capital of Cowes.
Labor's planning spokesman Brian Tee introduced the world to Cyrus's interest in the debate on Wednesday and by yesterday morning it was game over for the opening up of land on the edge of Ventnor.
"It's a sad day for planning in Victoria when planning decisions are made after the intervention of a Hollywood starlet," he said.
Cyrus, with 2.4 million followers on Twitter, tweeted on Wednesday: "Phillip Island is such a magical place, it would be a shame to see it change."
Victoria's Planning Minister, Matthew Guy, said Cyrus had nothing to do with the decision.
"I don't even know who she is," he told The Australian.
Bass Coast Mayor Veronica Dowman puts the result down to the council and community campaigns.
"I honestly don't believe governments make decisions based on celebrities," she said. "But I do believe - and we are very grateful for her help - it gave the campaign an extra impetus that attracted the commercial press."
Mr Guy countered that the issue was not so much about the township, but the need to provide extra low-cost housing.
The Twittersphere, meanwhile, was emphatic: Cyrus 1, government 0