When Melbourne creates a world-class civic asset that secures critical and popular acclaim, it is a moment worth enjoying. But when the strongest praise comes from those who originally opposed the project, it is a prompt for all of us to learn some lessons.

Such is the case with Melbourne's magnificent new museum, a $290 million achievement that has captured the imagination of Victorians and won professional endorsement within Australia and internationally for its design, ambience and functionality.

This project has created a landmark building for Australia, one that simultaneously gives us the largest museum in the southern hemisphere and an intimate home for our nation's history and culture. At a time when the State Government is yet to initiate any major projects of its own, the museum teaches us four significant lessons:

1. We should have faith in the excellence of our architects, engineers and builders - and confidence in the value of design competitions.
2. Great major projects require a comprehensive vision matched by guaranteed funding.
3. Controversy will sometimes accompany these projects, but ill-informed or vexatious critics should not be allowed to stop ideas that are in the public interest.
4. It takes considerable time to turn a dream into a reality, so governments must foster and then expedite civic projects.

A replacement for the hopelessly inadequate Swanston Street museum had been discussed by governments of all political persuasions since the 1970s, but nothing had been achieved. The Cain government announced an $80 million museum development for the Queen Victoria Hospital site in 1985, but never funded its construction. In 1991, the Kirner government promised a $200 million project opposite the World Congress Centre, but only built a $6 million concrete shell. Worse still, it allocated no funding for the rest and had not even bought all of the proposed site.

Under the Kennett government, the Agenda 21 program of major projects was conceived. A captivating museum would be built, along with a modern and larger exhibition centre, the State Library would be expanded, the Regent Theatre and the Old Treasury Building fully restored, and all of these assets would be enhanced by the construction of a "city circle" tram network. All projects would be built debt-free using hypothecated funding from the state's casino revenue.

The public admired the economic activity and thousands of jobs the buildings would deliver. But then the critics found their voice.

The museum was the first to be attacked, with the ALP describing the idea of building it in Carlton as "an act of vandalism", Sigmund Jorgensen wrote in The Age that the project was an "architectural disaster" and predicted that the surrounding 100-year-old trees would die. Steve Bracks said the museum could "have serious effects on the amenity of Melbourne generally".

These critics were joined by those who questioned the need for a 30,000-square-metre exhibition centre, and others (including officials in the Public Transport Corporation) who argued that our proposed "city circle" tram was not viable.

The lesson to be learnt here is that you should not allow early criticism to halt the creation of well-planned civic assets. Once people see the plans they understand the vision, they rethink and often develop new views (like ALP politicians who now sing the museum's praises) while other critics are simply proved wrong (none of those trees died).

If we had succumbed to the critics who opposed the look of the new museum, the Gallery of Life with its necessarily high "blade" roof would have been deleted, denying the building its tall-forest feature that has won near-universal acclaim since its opening.

We did not meddle with the design, because we had faith in a project that had won an international architectural competition. In this light, the Bracks Government should now rethink its stance on Federation Square. By meddling in that project it has come up with a compromise that no one likes.

The final lesson that merits highlighting is the state's need for more major projects. Developments such as the museum and exhibition centre (and subsequent projects such as our Sport and Aquatic Centre and Beacon Cove development) teach us how much can be achieved if you keep rolling out new ideas.

The challenge is to add diverse and viable projects to the development "pipeline". Projects that come to mind include the exciting concepts for reinvigorating the showgrounds; building a 5000-seat state auditorium next to the Exhibition Centre; and, as an example in regional Victoria, creating a multi-million-dollar technology park at Geelong's Deakin University.

If we continue to think big, we can create an even better Victoria.

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