Residents of Williamstown’s Techno Park Estate have received an early Christmas present, with the last of the apartment blocks approved for residential use, bringing their two and a half year fight to remain in their homes, to an end.
On Monday 8 December, Hobsons Bay council granted certificates of compliance for blocks two and eight, after the occupants proved they’d had been continually used for residential purposes for 15 years.
With residents of blocks four and 12 and 11 having already had their existing rights recognised, the decision means everyone living at the estate can remain indefinitely, regardless of zoning changes.
This will protect them from eviction attempts such as the one launched by Hobsons Bay council in April 2023, when residents received letters ordering them to leave because the estate sat on industrial-zoned land and that the surrounding fuel tanks at Mobil’s Altona refinery posed a safety risk.
Since then, the Save Techno Park campaign was launched, the eviction attempt was withdrawn, five of the seven sitting councillors didn’t seek re-election and the fuel tanks are now being torn down.
However, Techno Park resident Lara Week said it wasn’t until Monday that the saga finally felt over.
“It’s an enormous relief,” she said.
“We had two and a half years of this huge pressure and uncertainty on our shoulders and we’re all just getting used to the fact that it’s over.”
Ms Week lives in one of the last two towers to be approved and was a key figure in the Save Techno Park campaign, winning the 2025 Hobsons Bay Citizen of the Year Award for her efforts.
“I think the lesson is what is possible when people say no, that they won’t accept decisions from government that harm people and work together,” she said of the campaign.
Ms Week thanked those who supported them, including Cr Daria Kellander, the only councillor to oppose the eviction attempt and one of just two to have since been re-elected.
“I can’t even describe the happiness I’m feeling right now,” Cr Kellander said in a Facebook post.
“I’m proud of the residents, proud of the fight, and so grateful we finally got here.”
