Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video They show that Robert Doyle, the lord mayor in December 2017, was the only person at the city council told of the plan before the state government surprised Melbourne by announcing, days before Christmas, that Federation Square would be partly rebuilt to make way for the Apple store. To accommodate the phone and computer giant's wishes, the Koorie Heritage Trust will be moved to another site within Federation Square. Another perspective of the tech giant's planned flagship store. Credit:Apple Mr Doyle stood down from office facing sexual harassment accusations before his views on Apple’s plans were revealed.

After lengthy talks with Apple, the state government rammed through the demolition plans at the public square without public consultation, and without Melbourne City Council’s knowledge beyond a letter sent to Mr Doyle a week before the announcement. This was done to protect Apple’s interests, the documents reveal. Credit:Matt Golding “Due to the commercial-in-confidence status of this project, Melbourne City Council was not engaged,” one report to Mr Wynne says. Under Apple’s plans for Federation Square, the existing Yarra building, constructed as part of the original project and opened in 2002, will be knocked down.

The prime Yarra River frontage will then be leased to Apple for 21 years, and the company will spend hundreds of millions of dollars over two years building its new store. The officer reports to Mr Wynne make clear the many benefits the government believes will be brought by demolishing the existing Yarra building and moving the Koorie Heritage Trust. The new store will be one of only five 'global Apple flagship stores'. Others are either already open or being built in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington and Milan. In contrast to the secrecy surrounding Apple’s new store, Federation Square was built as the result of lengthy public debate about its symbolism as Melbourne’s civic and cultural square. Loading

The documents released under freedom of information state that predictions of a massive increase in visitor numbers to the square, which currently attracts 10 million people annually, were supplied solely by Apple to the Victorian government. “Apple anticipates 1.8 to 2.1 million visitors per annum to the Fed Square store (based on visitation to existing Melbourne, Sydney and other stores), with typically 50 per cent local, 20 per cent outside of Victoria and 30 per cent international visitors,” one document says. The Age revealed in January that Apple’s plan was given a green light by the state government despite three senior ministers – including Mr Wynne – arguing against it in a heated Cabinet debate. Having lost that argument in cabinet, Mr Wynne approved the project. Since then, designs for the store have been reworked to further reduce its footprint so that it gives back more public open space and allows better sight lines of the Yarra River than are available now. While the store’s physical footprint has been reduced, however, the documents released by Mr Wynne’s office show that Apple still intends to monopolise public space as part of its 21-year tenancy at Federation Square.

An artist's impression of the Apple store at Federation Square. "At times, the events [will ]extend from the store into the public realm,” the planning reports state. The government argues that the Yarra building, which is to be replaced by Apple’s new store, was “originally designed and built as a late addition to Federation Square”. “The Yarra building itself has always presented a visual and physical barrier between Federation Square and the Yarra riverside with access between them limited and exposure to the square from the riverside effectively non-existent,” a government statement listing the project's benefits says. Other benefits include more than 250 jobs during the store’s construction and more than 200 new ongoing jobs once the project is complete.

A spokeswoman for Mr Wynne said the "revamp" of Federation Square would create more than 500 square metres of new public space and open the square up to the river. Asked what attempts had been made to verify Apple's prediction of 2 million new visitors a year, she said the estimate was based on visitor numbers to Apple’s other global flagship stores. Tania Davidge, the president of Citizens for Melbourne, a group campaigning against demolition of the Yarra building for Apple, said there was no evidence the government had "independently assessed the community, cultural or civic impact of building an Apple store in the heart of Fed Square". "Our public places should be shaped by people not brands," Ms Davidge said.

Melbourne City Council's deputy chair of planning Rohan Leppert said the department's report for Mr Wynne recommending approval for the store appeared to have been "reverse-engineered around the in-principle support already given by the government to locating Apple at Fed Square". "'State significance' has become a byword for secrecy and of making planning decisions without a strategic basis or adequate process," said Cr Leppert, a Greens member. "This is no way to plan a city."