By Reid Sexton
DECADES of neglect have left Victoria's Parliament House in a shocking state of disrepair.
Parts of the building are crumbling and politicians and staff face serious health and safety issues.
Water erosion and poor maintenance have taken their toll on Parliament HouseCredit: Wayne Taylor
Falling bricks, leaking offices and a slapdash fire system are among the dangers, alongside the more traditional occupational hazards of politics.
Wet weather over the past year has intensified water leakage in parts of the historic building and recently forced the National Gallery of Victoria to remove two 19th century paintings it had loaned.
Underlining the contrast between the building's grand facade and the haphazard nature of much of the repair work over the past century, a car antenna was recently discovered in the library being used to pin in brickwork.
The 155-year-old building is undergoing a multimillion-dollar refurbishment.
About $5.25 million will be spent next financial year, making a total of $21 million since the the project started in 2006.
Much of the repair work to date has focused on replacing and reinforcing the external sandstone walls of the building, greatly weakened by water penetration.
Upper-house president Bruce Atkinson,
who is overseeing the refurbishment with lower house Speaker Ken Smith, said the work was vital to ensure the building survived and returned to being a healthy working environment.
Sections of stone falling from the building, he said, presented a major occupational health and safety risk.
Shadow treasurer Tim Holding recently had a fist-sized piece of brick fall from a wall in his office.
He is one of many opposition MPs with subterranean offices beneath the front steps of Parliament who regularly must work with water trickling down the wall when it rains.
Mr Atkinson told The Age that another Labor MP had complained of becoming sick because of damp caused by flooding.
But the biggest problem, he said, was the water that had slowly seeped through the sandstone walls of the building, threatening its structural integrity.
"[Its] integrity was undermined by water damage and there were some pieces that were falling from the building."
Mr Atkinson said the restoration project had another eight years to go, but work would be needed beyond that to ensure the building did not lapse into such a state again.
"A lot of the repairs over the last 150 years — particularly over 40 to 50 years ago — can be characterised as being fairly temporary in nature," he said. "It has not necessarily aged gracefully and there's certainly a number of projects that need to be competed in the building over the next 20 years to ensure we retain this gem of Victorian architecture for another 150 years."
Former Heritage Victoria chief Ray Tonkin said Parliament House remained the most impressive Australian state parliament, with its importance magnified by its impact on the nearby streetscape.
"It's an icon at the top of Bourke Street there," he said.