Barangaroo complaints are the height of hypocrisy

Clover Moore is reported as condemning the approval of the Barangaroo project by the Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, saying: ''It is still too big … [The city is] concerned about the visual impacts of the planned hotel tower over the harbour.'' But two weeks ago the Herald reported the mayor's council urging Mr Kelly to almost double the height of Goldfields House at Circular Quay to 191 metres (''City site reaches new heights in trade-off deal'', December 6). The architect Penelope Seidler said ''the mayor's plan seeks to create a skyscraper directly in front of First Fleet Park … one of the most historic places in Sydney''.

The three Barangaroo towers to which the lord mayor objects are 209, 180 and 160 metres tall. She has campaigned against these three buildings all year, yet she is happy to support the doubling of an important building at Circular Quay to 191 metres. The humbug is breathtaking. The 170-metre hotel overlooking Darling Harbour is shocking, but 191 metres hanging over historic Circular Quay is OK.

Paul Keating Chairman, Barangaroo design excellence review panel