Victoria’s Planning Minister Justin Madden has proved his sacked press secretary wrong by approving the 91-metre, 26-storey glass hotel tower at the back of Melbourne’s historic Windsor Hotel and across the road from State Parliament.

As The Age’s Paul Austin wrote this morning: “the new Windsor will be the most visible legacy of the Justin Madden era in the evolution of Melbourne.”

However, poor old Justin cannot take a trick. He was widely lampooned after calling  3AW’s Neil Mitchell “Jon” seven times during this interview last month when trying to defend the leaked media plan which suggested a sham consultation process over the Windsor.

Then we had another stumbling performance at yesterday’s press conference as Madden couldn’t correctly explain he was dealing with a 26-storey development amid questions from Ten’s Gareth Boreham, Seven’s Brendan Donohue and ABC radio’s Ryan Sheales.

This prompted more ridicule from Mitchell today who wasn’t given access to Madden at the top of his show because the Minister was instead talking to long time rival “Jon” Faine. Mitchell gleefully played the audio of Madden’s latest stumbles and called for him to be sacked. Have a listen here.

One question which remains unanswered is whether a different decision would have been taken if Peta Duke’s media plan proposing Madden block the proposal on the back of community objections had remained private.

Then you have the whole question of the planning merits. The nine page notice of decision, which Madden signed this week, actually reflects a reasonable planning process.

There was an independent expert panel report which considered 26 community submissions and we even had an internal audit report from PwC.

However, the so-called probity report comprises a one page letter from RSM Bird Cameron which stresses that it had not conducted a probity audit and didn’t examine any part of the process before March 11 when the whole media plan was hatched.

Madden was spruiking the “proper process” to Faine this morning, who didn’t take the opportunity to contrast it with the process Manningham City Council has just been subjected to.

The saga of the On Luck Chinese Nursing Home in Donvale, which is chaired by Manningham’s deputy mayor Fred Chuah, took another dramatic twist this week when Madden unilaterally changed our planning scheme without seeking going through a formal community consultation process (go here to see Madden’s letter to the council and the press release distributed yesterday by local Labor MP Brian Tee).

Nursing homes are a “prohibited use” in the Green Wedge yet Madden has intervened to allow a $15 million-plus expansion which will create the biggest nursing homes in Manningham.

We’re yet to get an apology for this backroom process but instead just hear dark talk of defamation action and accusations of racism from members of the ruling Labor faction on an issue which is all about governance and process.

Labor councillor Ivan Reid, whose main platform was stopping inappropriate development, was grinning away and provocatively winking at the Green councillor David Ellis on Tuesday night when Labor mayor Charles Pick announced that his former boss Brian Tee was poised to make the announcement.

Being a Green who lives in the Green Wedge, Ellis is naturally outraged by the whole process and is pushing ahead with his Councillor Conduct Panel against the deputy mayor.

And if a probity audit is good enough for the Windsor process then maybe we should call in PwC for a bit of internal audit work on the Justin Madden special which is causing all these rockets in Manningham.

We’ve had nothing like the proper process around the Windsor, instead just a besieged Minister who played “God” despite very strong unanimous objections from councillors and our planning department.

Stephen Mayne is a Manningham City Councillor and is not paid by Crikey for items which refer to council matters.