The Hungry Mile Dedication

Guest speakers Jack Thompson, Peter Garrett, Frank Sartor & Warren Smith celebrate the renaming of "The Hungry Mile" along with MUA members at Darling Harbour.

Produced by Jamie McMechan Maritime Union of Australia Film Unit.




 The Hungry Mile

The Hungry Mile is the name harbourside workers gave to the docklands area of Darling Harbour East, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in the Great Depression. Workers would walk from wharf to wharf in search of a job, often failing to find one.^[1]

Wharves on Hickson Rd c.1920

Wharves on Hickson Rd.

The system of day labour gave rise to similar conditions on many port areas, such as Melbourne's Wailing Wall.

As stevedoring operations moved to ports at Port Botany and Port Kembla, the Government of New South Wales determined that this site should be renewed as an extension of the Sydney CBD with a significant new foreshore park providing recreational areas for a growing Sydney population.^[2] This area is being redeveloped into a recreational, business and shopping precinct.

The area was officially known as Millers Point and as part of the urban renewal plans, the State Government reviewed the name in 2006.^[3] The Maritime Union of Australia campaigned to renew the "Hungry Mile" name, as an acknowledgement of the site's historical significance to waterside workers. A public competition was held but the name Barangaroo was selected for the new suburb and officially gazetted in 2007. The name honours Barangaroo, an important indigenous woman from Sydney's early history who was a powerful and colourful figure in the colonisation of Australia.^[4] She was also the wife of Bennelong, another important indigenous figure after whom Bennelong Point is named, the site of the Sydney Opera House. A section of Barangaroo, Hickson Road between the Munn Street overbridge and the Napoleon Street intersection, was officially designated the Hungry Mile in 2009.^[5

Barangaroo in the foreground, before shipping buildings were demolished

Barangaroo, New South Wales - before shipping buildings were demolished

Ernest Antony and the Hungry Mile (11 April 2008)
http://unionsong.com/reviews/tenyears/


Union leaders walk the Hungry Mile
http://savemillerspoint.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/union-leaders-walk-hungry-mile.html


The Hungry Miles - Part 1



The Hungry Miles is a documentary made by the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit. It documents industrial relations on the waterfront since the 1930s and includes dramatised scenes of working conditions during the Depression. It also recounts the background to the Federal Governments 1954 amendments to the Stevedoring Industry Act, which proposed to give shipowners the right to directly recruit wharf labour and bypass the union; shows workers demonstrating; contrasts the gap between industry and workers in the division of profits; and evokes the spirit of the Eureka Stockade in portraying the solidarity amongst waterside workers. It includes voice-over narration by Leonard Teale and employs an orchestral score. Filmed and produced by Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit (WWFFU) members - Norma Disher, Keith Gow and Jock Levy (1955). Posted by Jamie McMechan Maritime Union of Australia Film Unit.
http://www.mua.org.au


The Hungry Miles - Part 2




The Hungry Miles is a documentary made by the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit. It documents industrial relations on the waterfront since the 1930s and includes dramatised scenes of working conditions during the Depression. It also recounts the background to the Federal Governments 1954 amendments to the Stevedoring Industry Act, which proposed to give shipowners the right to directly recruit wharf labour and bypass the union; shows workers demonstrating; contrasts the gap between industry and workers in the division of profits; and evokes the spirit of the Eureka Stockade in portraying the solidarity amongst waterside workers. It includes voice-over narration by Leonard Teale and employs an orchestral score. Filmed and produced by Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit (WWFFU) members - Norma Disher, Keith Gow and Jock Levy (1955). Posted by Jamie McMechan Maritime Union of Australia Film Unit.
http://mua.org.au


The Hungry Miles - Part 3



The Hungry Miles is a documentary made by the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit. It documents industrial relations on the waterfront since the 1930s and includes dramatised scenes of working conditions during the Depression. It also recounts the background to the Federal Governments 1954 amendments to the Stevedoring Industry Act, which proposed to give shipowners the right to directly recruit wharf labour and bypass the union; shows workers demonstrating; contrasts the gap between industry and workers in the division of profits; and evokes the spirit of the Eureka Stockade in portraying the solidarity amongst waterside workers. It includes voice-over narration by Leonard Teale and employs an orchestral score. Filmed and produced by Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit (WWFFU) members - Norma Disher, Keith Gow and Jock Levy (1955). Posted by Jamie McMechan Maritime Union of Australia Film Unit.
http://www.mua.org.au

Government's "Callous Cover-up" in Millers Point revealed

Tuesday, August 12th, 2014
Alex Greenwich, the Independent Member for Sydney, has accused the NSW Government of a "callous cover-up" with documents released under a freedom of information request indicating the Government sort to "sanitise" it's Social Impact Assessment done on Millers Point social and changed the methodology to cut out the community. (Report HERE)

Mr Greenwich said:

"The methodology of the Social Impact Assessment was changed to take out the agreed community oversight and feedback prior to the Government's sales announcement and media spin campaign"

"References to a study indicating serious health risks (including greater risk of death) of relocating elderly residents were down played in the final draft compared to earlier versions"

"Regardless of peoples opinion of selling public housing in Millers Point, everyone should be concerned by the government's deceptive handling of this process, which will see a community put at great risk".

"I call on the new Minister to act with her heart and her head, and work with the local community to retain social housing in Millers Point rather than putting lives of elderly residents at risk to make a quick buck. At the very least the Government should let the elderly residents age in place"

Further information (documents available upon request):

1. According to documents released as part of a freedom of information request, the methodology of the Social Impact Assessment of the sale of Millers Point properties was changed. The initial draft, as was agreed with the community, says that community members would be given 4 weeks to provide comment on the Draft Social Impact Assessment and that this would inform the peer review process. In the final version, no provision was given for community comment and it was released simultaneously with the Government's announcement.

 

2. References to a longitudinal study in Sweden that warns of serious health impacts of forced relocation particularly for older people was down played. The study analysed the effects of forced residential relocation among elderly people in terms of mortality and health service consumption and indicates that there is greater risk of death when relocating older people as part of area renewal.

RESOURCED: http://www.newsmaker.com.au/news/31689/governments-callous-coverup-in-millers-point-revealed#.VAaPsBqKCUk

Millers Point heritage guaranteed by law

12 Aug 2014

Family and Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton has said the heritage of Millers Point properties is strongly protected by state government and City of Sydney Council laws and regulations.

“The heritage protections for Millers Point cannot be ignored, and to say otherwise is simply false,” Minister Upton said.

“All the properties on sale in Millers Point that are heritage listed must be preserved and maintained in accordance with all the relevant local council regulations and state law.

The owner of any heritage listed property in Millers Point is required to meet statutory obligations set under S118 Minimum Standards of Maintenance and Repair of the Heritage Act, 1977.

“In addition to being subject to the Heritage Act, all Millers Point properties are addressed by the Local Conservation Area in the Sydney Local Environment Plan (LEP), administered by the City of Sydney Council,” Ms Upton said.

“The Heritage Act also controls any proposed changes to the physical structure of properties and the area’s landscaping.

“As a result of being subject to both the Heritage Act and the LEP, proposed modifications to the properties require the approval of both the Heritage Council of NSW and the City of Sydney Council.

“These standards are applicable to all State heritage listed buildings across NSW. The Millers Point properties are in no way exempt from this process,” Ms Upton said.

“In addition to the powers the authorities have to ensure minimum maintenance standards, each property will be sold with a Conservation Management Plan (CMP), endorsed by the Heritage Council of NSW.

“The CMP contains a periodic maintenance schedule with the further recommendation that the owner works with a heritage professional to periodically update the schedule. CMP’s themselves are subject to periodic review.

From millionaire’s row to public housing: Barangaroo rats seek board and lodging in Millers Point

An influx of rats at Millers Point may be the result of a colony at Barangaroo being disturbed.

Millers Point residents battling big, noisy new rat population

Colony likely turfed out from Barangaroo by building works

Vermin adding to stress of community already in upheaval

Large rats are on the march to Millers Point.

Residents are reporting an influx of large vermin believed to be migrating from nearby Barangaroo where construction has disturbed their usual digs.
The historic buildings are the perfect nesting place for the rodents, with wall and roof cavities serving as suitable places to seek out food and lodging.



Millers Point resident Barney Gardner with one of the suburb’s new arrivals.

Long-time resident Barney Gardner, who has seen the rats first-hand, said a number of families were contending with the pests in their homes.

“One woman was telling me she found this really large rat in her home,” he said.

FIRST MILLERS POINT PUBLIC HOUSING PROPERTIES LISTED 
              
“It was running around her place and it managed to chew its way through the carpet and then through the wooden stairs






One of the unwanted residents at Millers Point.

One theory is they have migrated from the Barangaroo site

He said another resident could hear them through the walls, “It’s not a nice thing to think about.”

“There is another lady in the street who said she is having to shut her bedroom door at night because she has become so scared of these rats,” he said.

“I have seen these rats before, they scurry around at night, but whether they are coming from Barangaroo is not definitely clear yet.”



A plague of vermin is the last thing residents need in Millers Point after contending with ongoing evictions from public housing.

Director of city operations with the City of Sydney Garry Harding said there were several reasons why rat numbers might be on the rise in Millers Point.

“The workers at Barangaroo may have been leaving food scraps which attract more rats,” he said.
“Then when those food sources dry up the rats will move on to try and find food elsewhere.

“It could also be that there may be more people feeding birds in the park. If the birds don’t eat all the food it attracts the rats.”

Rat catchers beside their catch in 1900 when the city was plaguplaguednfected vermin

Rats are nothing new for the harbourside suburb which was among those under siege from infected rats more than a century ago.

In 1900, Millers Point was quarantined after infected rats embarked off ships bringing the bubonic plague to Sydney.

CITY UNDER SIEGE AS BUBONIC PLAGUE GRIPS SYDNEY

A squadron of Sydney ratcatchers formed and in the next few months, more than 44,000 rats were officially killed and burned in a special rat incinerator.

Some councils were reportedly paying six pence a rat, making the pestilence very profitable.



Millers Point circa 1900. The historic suburb is still home to many of the original townhouses.

RATS IN THE RANKS
 

Have you noticed an increase in rat numbers around the city? Let us know below

Mr Gardner said efforts were being made to remove the rats, but there was some way to go.

ELDERLY PUBLIC HOUSING EVICTEES DOING IT TOUGH
ALEX GREENWICH: IT’S ‘SOCIAL CLEANSING’ 
              
“Whoever has come down here and set traps has been doing some good and they are killing them humanely,” he said.

Resident BeV Sutton said a plague of rats was the last thing the community needed after battling the State Government over the eviction of public housing tenants.

“There are probably more two-legged rats in Millers Point at the moment than four-legged but we keep soldiering on and we hope that soon this whole mess will all work out,” she said.

“But in all seriousness I have heard that there may be issues with some of the houses on the high street because the rats’ nests are being disturbed.”


Resourced: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/from-millionaires-row-to-public-housing-barangaroo-rats-seek-board-and-lodging-in-millers-point/story-fngr8h22-1227021590799?nk=1bd087ce4e5f279afc4f7c3ddc31936a

Millers Point: Battle under the Bridge

Social Cleansing? Elderly residents forced to move from Millers Point might face an increased risk of death. Stuart Bocking investigates the claim that has been allegedly cut from or buried in the government's report.
 
Independent Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich tells Stuart why he claims it is a form of social cleansing to move the public housing tenants out.

http://www.2ue.com.au/blogs/2ue-blog/millers-point-battle-under-the-bridge/20140811-3dihv.html

Heritage rules scrapped for Millers Point buyers

Nicole Hasham   August 12, 2014

Great history: John Arnold at work on a Millers Point house. Photo: Tamara Dean

The Baird NSW government has scrapped strict heritage rules for buyers of historic homes at Millers Point, undermining claims the public housing sell-off will revive the neglected harbourside suburb.

Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore and the National Trust have condemned the decision, which has raised fears the heritage-listed homes will not be properly restored, and left idle for years before being redeveloped or sold.

The government is selling 293 properties at Millers Point and The Rocks, evicting about 600 public housing tenants and potentially earning hundreds of millions of dollars in sales proceeds.

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In 2008 under the previous Labor government, 29 Millers Point properties were sold on 99-year leases. Owners were legally obliged to carry out conservation work within two years, plus further work in the medium and long term.

Owners paid a heritage bond – in some cases believed to be up to $175,000 – to guarantee work was properly completed. Approved heritage professionals were required to design and certify work, and compliance checks were conducted.

However, home buyers under the Coalition government will be relieved of such stringent obligations.
A “heritage handbook” sent to prospective buyers says no repair work is required as a condition of purchase, aside from basic maintenance such as ensuring the property is watertight.

No bond will be required, and the use of heritage-qualified professionals to oversee the work is recommended, not mandatory.

In Parliament last week, Liberal MP Barry O’Farrell, who was premier when the Millers Point sell-off was announced, said claims that heritage at Millers Point was at risk were “outrageous and false”.
"We know that [homes] will be better maintained, restored and preserved," he said, accusing critics of "hysteria".

Cr Moore said the eviction of residents threatened the social significance of Millers Point, and the government was now “washing their hands of responsibility” for built heritage.

Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich✓ said the relaxed rules may lead to “land banking”, whereby “people just buy a property so they’ve got the asset, and then they leave it”.

National Trust NSW chief executive Brian Scarsbrick✓ was concerned that “individual houses will be aggregated into large modern redevelopments and, even with some token facade conservation, the real heritage values of Millers Point will not survive".

A Department of Family and Community Services spokeswoman said conservation plans for each property will recommend a “maintenance schedule”, and authorities such as the City of Sydney may require that heritage professionals be hired.

Fairfax Media has also learnt the government also plans to offer current owners on 99-year leases a conversion to freehold titles, in exchange for payment. The plan would give state authorities less control over the properties than lease arrangements.

John McInerney, who bought a Millers Point home under a 99-year lease, said restoring a heritage property could be difficult, and removing legal obligations meant “the heritage of the area will suffer in the long run”.


Public housing tenant John Arnold, who has done maintenance on several properties, said many were badly rundown but “working on these old heritage places … you can quite often stumble across some great history”.

With Leesha McKenny

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/heritage-rules-scrapped-for-millers-point-buyers-20140811-102xqc.html 

community reveals its secrets to city explorers

John Dunn & Margaret Bishop
 Lower Fort Street

When they bought a Millers Point home for a city “adventure”, John Dunn and Margaret Bishop wondered how they would be received by long-time locals. But they found a warm, neighbourly community with the “best of everything”.

Gallery

“You've got the arts, theatre, galleries; there is a very vibrant city life right around it, but we are in this tiny little village that is separated from the rest of Sydney," John, 60, says.

“Plus the extraordinary houses, and the community. It’s a wonderful living history, there are some really strong, feisty characters around here … they are great to have as part of our community.”

The former teachers run an art publishing business from their 1830s home on the Dawes Point side of Millers Point. They are painstakingly restoring the building, which has slowly “revealed itself”, including the discovery of secret passages, John says.

He laments the “appalling” neglect of maintenance on many properties, which the government says are too expensive to restore using public money, and questions why every home must be sold into private hands.

“There are great long stretches that are very liveable, that are very suitable for public housing … that we think we should be allowed to hang on to,” he says.

“It’s really nice to live in a mixed neighbourhood … where you have all sorts of people, rather than one sort of group from society. We do want to conserve our community; it’s really being torn in two.”

Let’s stay together

Resourced:  http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/

Residents have vowed to "fight to the end" as market forces threaten Millers Point's maritime past, writes Nicole Hasham.

If the state government’s plan goes without a hitch, every public housing tenant at Millers Point - old and young, disgruntled and willing - will soon be gone. Sydney, a city that erases relics from its waterfront with unnerving ease, may scarcely miss a beat.

Residents will move to suburbs such as Ultimo and Leichhardt, Tweed Heads and Dubbo. Some will find relief in new ground-floor flats without perilous stairs, or have their family nearby. Others will feel lost, separated from neighbours they have known since birth.

Almost overnight, Australia’s first public housing site will become a prestige address, and homes built for wharfies will be fitted with en suites, atriums and entertaining decks.

Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton says NSW will be better off.

"This is a fair outcome. The proceeds from the sale … can make sure that we provide more homes for more tenants [and] invest in the upgrade of other public housing stock," she said.

“There are 58,000 households in NSW who don’t currently have public housing and they deserve that opportunity.”

58,000 families on the waiting list for public housing in NSW

The government’s argument - that rental subsidies and maintenance costs at Millers Point are too high, and sale proceeds will improve the ailing public housing system - has convinced some observers that the properties should be sold.

But others say deeper issues are at play: how gentrification and market forces diminish social equality, and what happens to the soul of a city inhabited only by the wealthy.

“What’s happening here is social cleansing. We are a city that has working class roots – and to destroy those roots and sell off a piece of history, we are going to suffer in the long term,” Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said.

“Any global city needs people at all income levels to help that city thrive. And the general vibe here will change, from one of diversity and tolerance to … McMansions throughout our inner city. ”

The swift, wholesale nature of the Millers Point sell off, along with properties at the Rocks, has also perturbed some.

Our city shouldn’t be a place that only has space for the wealthy. Does [this] announcement mean all inner city social housing like in Glebe or Woolloomooloo ... is also under threat? The community of Millers Point deserves better than this.” Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore

           

Our city shouldn’t be a place that only has space for the wealthy. Does [this] announcement mean all inner city social housing like in Glebe or Woolloomooloo ... is also under threat? The community of Millers Point deserves better than this.”

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore

Four months into the relocation process, less than one-quarter of 393 households had accepted offers of new homes. If the government’s timetable is to be met, it has a little over 18 months to move the remaining households and sell 300 properties, while getting a good return for taxpayers.

Some residents, such as Flo Seckold, 81, are refusing to budge.

“I am not going. I was born here and I don’t want to go,” said Mrs Seckold, who was recently widowed and is the daughter of maritime workers.

“At my age, how can I go out and start a new life, where I don’t know anybody?”

465

the number of Millers Point residents to be relocated, from 206 properties

A further 125 residents will be evicted from nearby properties at the Sirius building and Gloucester St

It’s the only place I’ve ever known, this is where I grew up, this is my life. It will be a fight [to evict us] because we will have many many supporters. We don’t want violence, but we are prepared to go to jail.” Barney Gardner, aged in his 60s a life-long Millers Point resident

Dawn Caruana, who lost her husband and son in a car accident in 1979, said the community and her local church, St Brigid’s, have been a vital support system ever since.

“I’ll fight to the end with everyone else,” said Mrs Caruana, whose husband, John, worked as a stevedore at the Millers Point wharves.

“There is a community here and I don’t think it should be broken.”

I lost my husband and son in a car accident in 1979. The community was absolutely wonderful, the support never stopped. They rallied around, people brought food, cared for the kids. That’s what they do in this area, when anything like that happens. We are there for each other.” Dawn Caruana, who moved to Millers Point 48 years ago after marrying her now late husband, John

Ms Upton said the government’s relocation service was “working with each tenant and understanding those tenants’ needs … to find them better accommodation”.

“We are paying for relocation costs, we are paying for the re-establishment of utilities when those tenants move, and some have already moved to surrounding areas in Sydney,” she said.

But public historian Shirley Fitzgerald, co-author of Millers Point: The Urban Village, asked why the oldest residents, some of whom are the last living links to the suburb’s working class past, cannot see out their days in the area - a move in line with the state’s own “age in place” policy.

“Its being done very brutally. There are very real human issues here,” she said.

“If the government were determined to [sell] its public housing, it could do it a bit more gently over a number of years and allow people to live out their lives.”

She warned that while heritage controls may preserve the look of Millers Point homes, most of which are more than a century old, “once the area goes to the well-heeled, you have lost the social significance of the place”.

No one wanted to know about this place when I was growing up. [Now] we are not good enough and it will be for the lah-de-dahs who don’t care about it, all they want is the harbour view.” Colin Tooher, the sixth generation of his family to grow up in Millers Point

Leases were traditionally passed down through low-paid maritime families, helping create a tight-knit community that has lasted through generations.

The tenant mix broadened when the Department of Housing took control of Millers Point in the mid-1980s.

In 2003, the entire suburb was listed on the state heritage register as a “living cultural landscape”. National Trust’s NSW president, Ian Carroll, does not oppose the sale, so long as homes are bought by “people who can restore them respectfully and in accordance with proper conservation plans”.


However, he said the wishes of long-term maritime descendants who wish to stay in the suburb should be heeded.

At the time of writing, six homes had been released for sale as the government tests buyer appetite. Some Millers Point properties could fetch more than $3 million, and there are estimates the sale will inject up to $500 million into the government’s coffers.

Average sale price of a Millers Point property under a limited sell-off by the previous Labor government.

$1.3m  The current Coalition government expects higher prices this time around.
We know there are people who are passionate about living here and we want to make the move as easy as possible. But we are very pleased that we have come to the decision … to sell these properties in this magnificent area for the benefit of the entire social housing system.” Former Community Services Minister Pru Goward, announcing the sell-off




Ms Upton said selling every property was the fairest way to bolster the public housing system. However, Real Estate Institute of NSW president Malcolm Gunning said allowing some public housing tenants to remain at Millers Point could increase the value of other homes.

“Diversity ... actually improves property prices and the liveability of the area. It becomes a more interesting place to live," he said.

"If it becomes ‘prestige’, where you’ve got just all owner-occupiers, you tend to get a bit of sameness."

Mr Gunning said housing the wealthy next to those less fortunate was also "a great leveller – people become less pretentious".

A government-commissioned social impact assessment of the Millers Point sale said some proceeds should be used to build new social housing in the suburb, especially for older residents.

       As Fairfax Media has revealed, a draft version of the assessment also emphasised that relocating elderly public housing residents could increase their risk of death. The warning was downplayed in the final version released by the government in March.

The government says the Millers Point proceeds will be reinvested into the social housing system, but there are fears the money will vanish into a gaping deficit rather than build new housing stock.

The NSW public housing system has run at average loss of $330 million since the early 1990s. Over the past decade, more than 9000 properties have been sold to fund replacements and maintenance.


$800,000  the estimated repair bill to restore the worst terrace houses to heritage standard

Mr Greenwich questioned why the government has not produced a business case for the sale, or explained how the public housing system will be made sustainable in the long term.
“This is a government which does not have a public or social housing policy, and uprooting a whole community as your justification for solving the public housing crisis ... no one is buying that,” he said.
If the government proceeds with the sale, Mr Greenwich said, community housing providers should be allowed to take over some properties, so a proportion of tenants can stay in the area.

If not, he predicts the government will still be trying to relocate public housing tenants in five or 10 years’ time.“I think the government has really underestimated the strong community sense here and their strong fight to stay in the area,” he said.

Among those sure to be manning the final barricade is Barney Gardner. The 65-year-old former shipping and council worker has lived in High Street his entire life, and says authorities will have to physically drag him and his neighbours out.“How is it going to look if the government comes through with a sheriff and starts forcibly evicting [elderly] people?” he said.

“This is our home. It’s an ongoing battle and it’s not going to go away.”  With Leesha McKenny

RESOURCED : http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/plan.html

After two desperate years, now comes relief

Resourced:  http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/


Lloyd Leard, Dalgety Road

Lloyd Leard will miss his quaint apartment and the million-dollar harbour view that greeted him every morning for the past 14 years. But he will not miss the steps that lead there.

Several falls down the steep concrete staircase over the years have left him with a "trifecta" of injuries: a broken ankle, knee and hip. All three joints are now held together with pins and he relies on crutches to walk.

The former hairdresser had become increasingly housebound, and his boisterous border collie, Diesel, had to be cared for elsewhere.

“I could not take him for walks … he would take off down to the park and I just couldn't chase after him. If his lead caught under my crutch, I couldn't stand another fall, I really couldn't," Lloyd, 60, says.

He is among a group of Millers Point residents who are happy to leave the area. After two "desperate" years waiting to be relocated, he has packed up his eclectic collection of trinkets and curios collected from around the world, and moved to a ground floor flat in Daceyville.

But he says residents who want to stay in Millers Point should be given the chance.

“I’m very friendly with my next-door neighbour, and she really doesn't want to go, she's been here all her life," Lloyd says.

“It’s going to be very hard for particularly older people, to have to leave here. I feel for them if they have to be forced out."


Resourced:  http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/

Battle with bureaucracy has not dented her will

Resourced:  http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/


The Millers Point that Wendy Ford moved to 35 years ago was a little-known place that "no one wanted to know anything about".

"You'd get in a cab and say, 'Millers Point, please', and they'd head over the bridge to Milsons Point," she says.

"And then suddenly it's become the most expensive real estate in Australia."

She moved to Millers Point from Neutral Bay and overnight, her rent halved, "which was a big help when you're a single parent".

The Millers Point of old was a quiet place, where at night "the only thing you'd hear would be the train on the Harbour Bridge", she says.

Now the city has grown up around it, but Wendy, 70, still likens the suburb to "a country town".

She battled the bureaucracy for decades to get basic upkeep on her home. New floorboards and a kitchen have been installed, but only after a falling cabinet door gave her a dent still faintly visible along her hairline.

"People walk into my house and say, 'you have such a nice house,'" Wendy says.

"It took 35 years to get the house the way it is - and a lot of that was fighting them."

The retired special education teacher had little time to be involved in the community when she was working, but that changed when she retired.

"Everyone knows everyone, and everyone sort of looks out for everyone," she says.

"They'll have to drag me out. We're here for the long haul; we're not going to give up."


Resourced:  http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/ 

From a troubled past to a life of restoration

Resourced:  http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/ 
John Arnold, Kent Street
The houses of Millers Point can give up former colours, forgotten markings and glimpses of distant lives when you strip back decades of paintwork, John Arnold says.

“While I’m standing there, I’m thinking about the fellow that was standing there before me painting this place,” says John.

“I’m thinking about the person who was actually sitting in the dining room, eating their dinner… Just people, living.”

It has been seven years since John landed in Millers Point after his most recent stint in jail - armed robberies, assaults and drink-driving among his priors; drugs and alcohol, his vices.

“I was in tears when I got the place,” he says of his small public housing studio, one of three units tucked inside what was once a grand Kent Street terrace.

A “grateful” John says his biggest fear at the time was ending up on the street. “That’s why we’re in the system, because sometimes we can’t cut the grade to fit into society so perfectly,” he says.

In the years since, John has sought to patch things up. He got his license as a painter and decorator in about 2010, and has done restoration work on some of the neighbouring Millers Point properties - some of the first former public housing sold to private buyers at about the same time.

He married this year, his wife Jun now five months pregnant.

The Garrison Church where they wed is one of the spots that can be taken in from Observatory Hill, which John says is also the best vantage point to see how village knits together with the city growing ever larger behind it.

“You’ve got the concrete jungle behind you; you’ve these buildings 30, 40, 60 floors high and then you turn around and you’ve got this place that was built hundreds of years ago by the first settlers, and prisoners and convicts,” he says.

“Some [convicts] were given freedom through it and probably lived amongst these places.”

Resourced:  http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/ 

A lifetime watching the ships come in

Bob Flood, High Street

Brim, flathead, mackerel, leatherjacket: Bob Flood has fished them all from the wharves at Millers Point, and says they make "beautiful eating".

The fourth-generation resident has "never been crook", despite warnings about fishing in Sydney Harbour. "You just cut them behind the spine, take their head off and skin them and bring them home. Mum used to cook them up … sensational," he says.

Gallery

As well as pulling the odd meal from the harbour, Bob, 64, has also drawn a livelihood from it. His teenage years were spent pressing wool into bales, ready for loading onto ships for export. As a tugboat worker, he helped haul oil barges up Parramatta River to the Clyde refinery; then he became a painter and docker on the wharves."I worked casual at all sorts of places. When the ships came in, you had a quid. When they weren't here, you did it tough," he said.


Bob remembers his childhood fondly and says he has become "part of the furniture" in Millers Point.
"[The neighbourhood kids] all got on together and looked after one another. You could borrow off each other, swap things. We weren't well dressed or anything like that, [but] we … were happy with what we had," he says.


"Millers Point was really something to us, just being brought up here. It's just sad, what's going to happen, really sad.


The feeling of the place [is] inside me and it's never going to leave me. Never."

From a gloomy place, good things grew

Bev Sutton, Argyle Place

"I belong to this place," Bev Sutton says, looking out over the flourishing back garden she has tended for 37 years. The third generation of her family to live at Millers Point, Bev calls the area her "spirit home".


"There's just something about the place that keeps you here. It will be hard to leave. And I don't think I'll ever feel the same way again about anywhere else."

Gallery

Bev, a semi-retired bookkeeper, does not qualify for public housing and pays close to market rent for her home, one of the oldest in Millers Point.


It once ran as a boarding house where guests, mostly pensioners, were often down on their luck. Bev, 73, found it a "sad place" when she took over the lease.


"Some of them had drinking problems, others had mild mental problems ... it took me quite a few years to get rid of that sadness," she says.


"After many years, when I had looked after it, painted it and put lots of nice colourful things in, it was almost like one day the house decided that, ‘OK, I'm now going to warm towards you'."


Through a gap in her backyard fence, she keeps tabs on her 81-year-old neighbour, Flo. The two pop in and out of each other's yards - Bev to make occasional use of Flo's clothesline, and Flo to put food scraps in the compost that feeds Bev's garden.


"We've known each other all of our lives. The community [of Millers Point] is the really important thing, and that's going to be broken up," Bev says.


"The sad part about it is, unless you've lived in a close community, people don't understand it."

LIBERALS TRIED TO CONCEAL SEVERE RESIDENT HEALTH RISKS FROM MILLERS POINT SELL OFF

Posted by Nsw Labor on August 11, 2014

NSW Labor has today called on the Baird Liberal Government to stop its heartless fire-sale of public housing in Millers Point following revelations that it edited a key report to downplay the potentially devastating health impacts – including death – that forced relocations may have on residents.

“The Liberals have selectively edited a social impact report to remove information about the negative health impacts – including potential death – that forced relocations will have on the elderly and frail residents who live in Millers Point,” Shadow Minister for Housing Sophie Cotsis said.

“The Liberals must abandon this heartless housing sell-off and allow elderly residents to continue living in their homes.”

Labor candidate for Sydney Edwina Lloyd condemned the Liberals’ cover-up of the potential harm that forced relocations will have on local residents
.
“The NSW Liberal Government’s forced relocation of elderly tenants from Millers Point is an international embarrassment,” Ms Lloyd said.

“Last month the plight of Millers Point residents was raised at the United Nations by Sydney lawyer Kim Boettcher from the Aged Rights Service.

“Today we have seen more evidence that the NSW Liberal Government is callously putting a short-term cash-grab ahead of the health and well-being of elderly residents.

“The Liberals are evicting tenants from the Sirius building, which was purpose built to provide public housing so people from Millers Point and the Rocks could continue to live in their community.

“The Liberal Government has betrayed these tenants, and Minister for Family and Community Services Gabrielle Upton should have the decency to meet with residents and hear their concerns.”

City of Sydney Labor Councillor Linda Scott added: “There is a housing affordability crisis in the inner-city and this sell off will remove a significant number of affordable housing dwellings from the City of Sydney forever.

"Under the Liberals' heartless sell-off, a vibrant community – many of whom have lived in Millers Point for generations – will be turfed-out and dispersed."

Ms Cotsis said the Government’s claim that the Millers Point proceeds would be reinvested could not be believed. She noted that under Mike Baird, the budget to build new housing has been cut in half compared with what Labor invested in its final year.

Last year, the NSW Auditor General found that the Liberal Government had delayed $85 million worth of maintenance work – contributing to a maintenance backlog that is now worth $330 million.[1]
“Since coming to office the Liberals have sold more public housing that they have built, and they have used the proceeds of sales to paper-over their budget cuts,” Ms Cotsis said.

“The most recent Annual Report of the Land and Housing Corporation shows the Liberals sold 1300 properties, but only built 500 new properties.

“There were no details about how the sale of Millers Point will be reinvested in this year’s State Budget, and during a recent Parliamentary Inquiry government officials could not provide any details on how the proceeds from the sale would be spent.

“The fact is that the Liberals do not have a long-term plan for social housing, even though it has been a year since the Auditor General recommended they develop one.

“The sale of Millers Point housing is just another short-sighted fire-sale of a public asset by the Liberals, and the price will be paid by of some of the most vulnerable people in our community.”

Ms Cotsis added that a public housing forum would be held next month focusing on the plight of elderly residents and women in housing:

Time:              Midday, 6 September 2014
Location:        Abraham Mott Hall, 15A Argyle Street, Millers Point
The forum will feature an expert panel including Sydney lawyer Kim Boettcher from the Aged Rights Service.

Government downplayed death warning at Millers Point

Nicole Hasham

The NSW government ignored warnings that moving elderly residents from Millers Point would increase their risk of death, and an official report was altered to downplay the potentially deadly effect of the public housing sell-off.

Internal documents also show authorities changed the study methods used by consultants researching the social consequences of the sale, so the findings were concealed until after the decision was announced in March.

Concerns: John Dunn and Margaret Bishop fear for elderly tenants at Millers Point. Photo: Tamara Dean

A source familiar with the research confirmed departmental officials were ''concerned about [using] the word ‘death’ '' in the final report, which the government used to demonstrate that the effect of relocations on vulnerable residents had been fully considered.

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The interference has reignited criticism of the decision to sell the entire Millers Point public housing portfolio, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the government’s coffers, rather than allowing some elderly and long-term residents to stay.


However, Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton says Millers Point properties are unsuitable for elderly residents and thousands of tenants across the social housing system have been relocated without serious health effects.

Health risk warnings ignored: Millers Point. Photo: Tamara Dean

Documents obtained by independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich under freedom of information laws show warnings about an increased risk of death were either removed or altered in a social impact assessment, commissioned by the NSW Land and Housing Corporation.


A first draft, prepared by consultants Cred Community Planning in July last year, highlighted in the report’s summary that a full sell-off, and forced relocations, could lead to ''negative health impacts, and potentially death'' for older people or those with generational links to the area. That reference was omitted from the final report.


The risk of death was included in the body of the final 134-page report. However key detail was removed, including quotes from a Scandinavian longitudinal study that risk of death in urban renewal was ''one important implication we want to emphasise''.

Refusing to take the bait: Millers Point residents Bob Flood (standing) and Barney Gardner. Photo: Ben Rushton

The report recommended that older people with long-standing ties to the area be allowed to “live out their life in Millers Point”.


Alternatively, it said new, accessible seniors’ housing at Millers Point should be built from the sales proceeds. Neither option was taken up by the government.


The early draft also shows researchers intended to release the report for public comment before it was finalised. The final version was released on the day the sale was announced in March, without consultation.


Mr Greenwich said the government had ''buried'' references to a higher risk of death, and changed the project’s methodology ''so the public didn’t have access to this information before the government started their campaign of spin''.


Ms Upton said the social impact assessment ''contained a comprehensive explanation of the risks and potential health impacts of relocating older people'', including references to the longitudinal study.


''A wide variety of expert advice has informed this decision,'' she said, adding the report also noted the risks of ''leaving residents in ageing and unsuitable properties''.


Ms Upton said Housing NSW had relocated 3000 tenants ''in recent years without any older residents dying or being hospitalised'' and that older and vulnerable residents would be supported in their move.


University of Sydney urban planning professor Peter Phibbs, who peer-reviewed the study, said ''the government obviously wasn’t all that keen to have [the risk of death featured] prominently in the report'', adding it was ''a very significant part of that research and should impact the strategy you follow''.


Shelter NSW executive officer Mary Perkins said moving elderly and vulnerable people ''carries very heavy risks'' and the government ignored proposals by tenants groups to allow some public housing residents to stay at Millers Point.


The social impact assessment contained a letter from St Vincent’s Hospital psychiatrist Anthony Richardson, recommending that a patient, who suffers from schizophrenia, not be relocated.
''Moving [the patient] again represents a very large stressor and is best avoided from a medical point of view,'' he wrote.


A spokesman for the Department of Family and Community Services said ''medical needs are fully taken into account in the relocation process''.


Bob Flood fighting Millers Point relocation


Brim, flathead, mackerel, leatherjacket: Bob Flood has fished them all from the wharves at Millers Point, and says they make ''beautiful eating''.


The fourth-generation resident has ''never been crook'', despite warnings about fishing in Sydney Harbour. ''You just cut them behind the spine, take their head off and skin them, and bring them home. Mum used to cook them up ... sensational,'' he says.


Mr Flood, 64, is among scores of residents who have vowed to fight their relocation as part of the government’s public housing sell-off.


After a lifetime of living and working on the harbour, and drawing the occasional meal from it, he has become ''part of the furniture'' at Millers Point.

• MULTIMEDIA The people, the history and the fight to keep a neighbourhood together

He fears for the welfare of his elderly neighbours, despite government assurances that they will be supported in their move.


''Moving people out of here ... it’s going to affect me for sure. People who are 90 and 80, I think it’s just their death sentence,'' Mr Flood said.


''We always thought ... we’d be here till we died like our family. We were always taught ... to look after the place and look after the people who were here, and that’s what we’ve done.''

Resourced: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/government-downplayed-death-warning-at-millers-point-20140810-1020pc.html#ixzz3A23445SN

Estate agents gagged for covert Millers Point house sell-off

Toby Johnstone 
Resourced: http://smh.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/estate-agents-gagged-for-covert-millers-point-house-selloff-20140809-101y5u.html

For sale: 23 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point has views of the Opera House and Walsh Bay

The first batch of state-owned properties at Millers Point has hit the market without a sound, largely because of a gag placed on the agents by the government.



Three real estate agencies contacted by Domain confirmed that all information about the listings had to come through official government channels.



It has also emerged that the auctions of the historic homes will be closed to the public and will be held at undisclosed locations. Property inspections are strictly by appointment.




Colonial Classic: Built in 1834, this Regency-style house at 29 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point, is being offered for the first time in more than a century

When asked why agents were not able to to discuss the listings with the media, a spokesman for the NSW Office of Finance and Services said: "We want the agents focusing on doing what they do, which is sales."


But the head of a Millers Point public housing tenants' group, Barney Gardner, said the government was trying to keep the sale campaigns "low key".


"It's all going on behind closed doors," he said. "They don't want us to come along and protest."



On the quiet: 11 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point, is for sale.

Agents are understood to be providing price guides to potential buyers, but no price information is being given to the media.


Before the government clampdown, Domain published a price guide of more than $1 million for the first Millers Point property to be auctioned at 119 Kent Street, which hit the market a few weeks ago.


The four-bedroom Victorian home listed with Peter Starr of McGrath is over four levels and has water views over Walsh Bay.



First up: 119 Kent Street, Millers Point is expected to go for more than $1 million at its August 21 auction

Based on the crowds milling about outside the private inspections at Kent Street, buyer interest is high.


The most recent listings are on Lower Fort Street, which runs from the harbour at Dawes Point up to Observatory Hill.


One of the properties is a historic four-bedroom Georgian house called Tarra. Built in 1840, the home has views of the Opera House (from underneath the bridge) and is footsteps from harbourside restaurants and cafes at The Rocks.


An older home at 29 Lower Fort Street was built in the Colonial Regency style in 1834 and is being advertised through Rohan Aalders of Di Jones as "being offered for the first time in over a century".
The spokesman said all the properties available at the moment were vacant, but when asked when the last tenants moved out he said: "I couldn't comment on that."


Each property is being sold with a conservation-management plan, which gives a guide as to what is acceptable when renovating.


The four properties on offer through McGrath and Di Jones are on freehold titles. In the past, the state government had raised money for public housing by selling 99-year leases for the vacant properties.
Two more freehold homes are expected to come onto the market shortly as the government plans to use the first round of auctions "to test the market".


The spokesman said the agents were "getting a fair volume of inquiries".


Although they have shunned publicity, by opting to slowly bring the properties onto the market over two years, the government has shown some real-estate savvy.


"Obviously you don’t want to flood the market," the spokesman said.


The Office of Finance and Services is in charge of the the sales, while the Department of Family and Community Services is handling the relocation of the public housing tenants.


More than 100 tenants have already been moved from the Millers Point precinct. A spokesperson for the department said most tenants had moved to Glebe, Bondi, Ultimo, Leichardt, Marrickville, Pyrmont and some to North Sydney and Kirribilli.


Resourced: http://smh.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/estate-agents-gagged-for-covert-millers-point-house-selloff-20140809-101y5u.html

8 August 2014

 

The dismantling of Millers Point social housing has begun in earnest, with 6 properties advertised for sale. About 85 properties have been vacated since the announcement, with the option for tenants to compete against one another for a new home in a lottery to allocate new properties.





This week I met with Millers Point residents to update them on the City’s work to offer support through this incredibly difficult time.





We’ve opened our community facilities for support services to provide counselling, mental health and legal services, given a grant to help Millers Point residents’ groups in their campaign to save their homes, and to the Redfern Legal Centre to support tenants through advocacy and advice.



Meanwhile, Barry O’Farrell used his first private members statement since resigning to attack Alex Greenwich, the Member for Sydney, and I for standing with residents as they are kicked out of their homes.



I’ve called on successive NSW Governments to maintain and protect public housing in this historic precinct and I’ve been working with residents and Alex Greenwich MP to try to save these homes from being sold.



The City’s Sustainable Sydney 2030 plan for the future of our City sets targets of 7.5% affordable housing and 7.5% social housing in the City by 2030. To reach that target, we must dramatically increase the number of affordable housing dwellings and maintain all public housing in the City.


For 189 years Millers Point has been a living example of a close, socially mixed community, and in 2003 it was listed on the State Heritage Register as “a living cultural landscape”. It is vital that the NSW Government retain social housing in the inner city, particularly where there are established, supportive and well serviced communities. Instead, state governments have demolished Millers Point by neglect.



The Government argues that sales in Millers Point will fund the construction of social housing in other parts of Sydney, but no further details on where and when have been provided.



The Government hasn’t made a commitment to build new housing in the Millers Point area and surrounding suburbs, despite clear recommendations from the Social Impact Study it commissioned. It’s especially important that older residents aren’t displaced from their homes and support networks.







I will continue to call on the NSW Government to halt the proposed sale of the Millers Point social housing estate, support residents to stay in their homes, and to reinvest funds in new social housing in or near Millers Point if the sales proceed.



I met with The Hon. Gabrielle Upton MP, the Minister for Family and Community Services, to raise the community’s concerns with her directly and hopefully explore opportunities to work together to ensure the wellbeing of this unique and important community.



If you would like to show your support for the Millers Point community I encourage you to come along to the community picnic has been planned to be held at the Abraham Mott Hall and Village Green on Sunday 14 September.



You can also buy a ‘Save Millers Point’ t-shirt or badge designed by Reg Mombassa here.
This is an incredibly difficult time for the people of Millers Point and I congratulate this community on its efforts to keep calling this special part of Sydney home.



(Image top courtesy of Nic Porter)



Resourced: http://clovermoore.com.au/millers-point-update/

Millers Point Public Housing (Proof)

MILLERS POINT PUBLIC HOUSING

Page: 1

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL (K u-ring-gai) [12.12 p.m.]: The decision by State Government members about the future of public housing at Millers Point is tough, logical and equitable. It is tough because it represents fundamental reform that is designed to free up funds to deliver more public housing. It contrasts with the approach that was taken by the past government, which turned a blind eye to manifest problems with Millers Point's public housing. It is logical because an estimated $90 million to $100 million is needed to restore and maintain the Millers Point properties. It is money that could and should be better spent on expanding the number of public housing properties across New South Wales, especially given the current unmet demand. The $28 million already realised from the former Government's leasehold program involving 29 Millers Point terraces is sufficient to construct three times as many public housing dwellings elsewhere in the State. Above all, the decision is equitable.

How can anyone seriously justify providing annual subsidies as high as $44,000 to tenants in this suburb when public housing tenants in Campbelltown receive $8,000 and those in Mount Druitt, Gosford and Newcastle receive approximately $7,000 per annum? As the Minister for Community Services has said repeatedly, for every subsidised tenancy in Millers Point the Government could provide assistance to an extra three to five public housing tenants elsewhere in the State. There is a need for public housing across the State and the Government needs to address all that demand, not just those fortunate few who have access to an area and harbour views that most people can only ever dream about. It is important to remind members of the House that public housing tenants at Millers Point are to be relocated—that is, provided with housing elsewhere—not tipped into the street. The many elderly residents of Millers Point will therefore have better accessibility.

Amongst the hysteria generated by some about this decision have been claims that the heritage of the Millers Point precinct has been threatened. These claims are outrageous and false. Regrettably, they are dishonest claims that have been made by Independents who represent this area at a State and a civic level. Even those with a passing association with the properties know that, despite tens of millions of dollars in taxpayers' funds being spent on the terraces in recent decades, too many of them are in poor condition. The fact that these properties are Government-owned and subject to the Heritage Act has failed to guarantee a high standard of maintenance and conservation. Under this Government's program we know that they will be better maintained, restored and preserved. As part of the 2008 program that sold 99-year leases on 29 properties, responsibility for restoration was assigned to the new owners and bonds were required to ensure that restoration work complied with the Heritage Act. It is also obvious that those who participated in the program were passionate about preserving and maintaining properties in such an historic precinct of our city, reportedly spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and, in some instances, up to $1 million on restoring those terraces. People who buy these properties will be subject to the relevant heritage laws in a way in which government never subjects itself.

It was particularly disappointing to see the National Trust of Australia join the uninformed chorus. In May the trust's president falsely claimed that the Government's decision would see terraces "demolished and redeveloped", ignoring the provisions of the State's Heritage Act and the City of Sydney's local environmental plan. As a long-time National Trust member, I cannot fathom why the organisation is willing to spread untruths and promote heritage fears where none exist. Many people believe the National Trust has lost its way in recent years and these claims confirm that belief. Not only does the Government's program offer a practical way to improve the heritage of an historic harbour-side residential precinct, but also it does so in a financially responsible way that will deliver more public housing to New South Wales. The National Trust should strongly support any effort to improve and protect heritage buildings anywhere in New South Wales. It should also be honest enough to acknowledge the financial pressures that all governments and many non-government agencies face, especially in this area of social welfare. After all, it is not unknown for the National Trust to lease its properties and presumably it does so for the same reason: to gain income to assist it to meet its wider conservation obligations.

There is the rub. This tough, logical and equitable decision will assist the Government to better meet the demands of those needing public housing across New South Wales. This program will recycle the value of these housing assets and provide more accommodation elsewhere. It will deliver better value in the way in which taxpayers' money is spent as well as offering improved heritage outcomes. In the interests of taxpayers and of all public housing tenants across this State whose needs are not being met currently—not just the fortunate few at Millers Point—this program should be supported.


http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA20140805004?open&refNavID=HA8_1#

Minister’s Miserable Ploy – Divide and Conquer

Edwina Lloyd · Monday, August 4, 2014

MILLERS POINT: Pitting desperate people against each other in a contest for survival is one of the most cynical, devious and miserable ploys in politics. But that is exactly what Minister for Community Services, Gabrielle Upton, did last month.

The Minister’s office rolled out a mother with special needs children, Marissa Esposito, from the public housing waiting list, to justify the evictions of public housing tenants from the Millers Point area. It was a classic divide and conquer tactic – and a distraction from the real issues.
Instead of reporting on the state government’s failure to invest in affordable housing, the media

presented a confected debate about who was the most deserving of government support.
Without doubt, Ms Esposito and her family are in need of help and they should not be left permanently in limbo on the public housing waiting list. But here’s the rub – the sell-off of public housing in Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks will not help Ms Esposito and her family one iota. To put it simply, she’s been sold a pup.

There will be no construction bonanza of new public housing properties and no reduction in the public housing waiting list. The Minister says that money from the sale of properties will go back into the social housing budget. But what she does not say is that the state government is actually selling more houses than it is building.

In fact, in 2013-14 the state government sold 1,386 properties but built only 536 new ones.
So where is all the money going?

The answer lies in the State Budget. Budget documents reveal that state government has cut funding for public housing maintenance. There is now an estimated $336 million backlog of maintenance work waiting to be done on public housing. And, as we discovered in the recent Select Committee on Social, Public and Affordable Housing, money from the sale of properties (including those in Millers Point) is now being used to make up the shortfall in maintenance funding.

Last year the Auditor General found the state government’s practice of selling public housing properties to fund recurrent maintenance costs was financially unsustainable. It does not fix the problem because, eventually, there are no more houses to sell. But, most importantly, reducing the number of public housing properties does nothing to reduce the waiting list. In fact it can only make the problem worse.

The Minister has claimed that the sale of each house in Millers Point will fund the construction of three houses in other parts of Sydney. The clear inference from these comments is that new houses will be built – but, when pressed, she is unable to say where or when.

She doesn’t have an answer because she doesn’t have a plan.

The public housing tenants at Millers Point have a lot more questions for the Minister. They have written, called, visited the Minister’s electorate office and invited her to their community. Minister Upton has refused to speak to them on every occasion – compounding the dishonesty over her government’s policies with disrespect for the people who are most affected by them.

But this is not just a matter of dishonesty and disrespect. There are important reasons why we all should care about the fate of the Millers Point community and why we need to retain affordable housing in the inner city. Without access to affordable housing, the low-wage service workers who make our city tick and the elderly residents who have given our city so much of their lives will be forced further away from their jobs, their communities and their support networks. And without them our city loses its workers, its heart and its character.

In their place will come a few wealthy home-buyers who are attracted to the idea of living in an area that was once an “authentic working class suburb” but has been tastefully renovated and turned into an exclusive enclave for the rich.

Once Millers Point is gone the state government will go after the residents in Ivanhoe, the residents in Woolloomooloo and other areas of interest to the property developers.
The real answer to addressing our affordable housing crisis is to invest in new housing stock, to ensure existing social housing is properly maintained and to retain a mix of housing that meets the diverse needs of local communities.

Edwina Lloyd is a criminal defence lawyer who has been endorsed by the ALP to run against Alex Greenwich for the state seat of Sydney in next year’s election.

Source: http://www.southsydneyherald.com.au/ministers-miserable-ploy-divide-and-conquer/#.U-AE4xqKCUk

Millers Point and the United Nations

Monday, August 4, 2014

Our colleague Kim Boettcher, solicitor for The Aged-care Rights Service (TARS), has addressed the United Nations' Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing (5th session), and drawn attention to the plight of tenants of social housing at Millers Point and The Rocks, and of other older persons. The text of her address follows.

Thank you Mr Chairman for giving me the floor.  I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to their elders past and present.

My name is Kim Boettcher and I am a delegate of The Aged-care Rights Service Incorporated, an independent legal centre in Sydney, Australia which specialises in advising and representing older people. We thank the Member States for their attendance and concern about the rights of older people.

The Australian delegates who are here today stand in the legacy of an Australian lawyer and politician, Dr HV Evatt, elected the President of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly that met here in New York in 1948.  He was known as ‘the Champion of the Small Nations.’

I am here representing people from one of the small nations, my older clients who are not seen and not heard in society.  It is often said that a society is judged by how it treats its disadvantaged and its minorities.  That treatment is better for recognising that basic human rights apply to all people rich and poor alike.

There is a storm brewing on the edge of Sydney Harbour, Australia, which epitomizes the problem we face with no international legal instrument for older people in place. In the shadow of the Sydney harbour bridge, the inner city known as “the Rocks” and Millers Point is being redeveloped.  A casino is being built on the old wharves by one company, residential and office blocks by another company, and surrounding properties are being sold off by government.  Over 600 public housing tenants are being forcibly displaced from an area where there has been public housing for over 100 years. Sixty per cent are older people and sixty percent are women.  These families have often lived there for generations- they worked at the wharves during times when there were no worker’s rights and they went home covered in flour and coal dust because there were no showers; they lived through a Great Depression, wars and worked hard to make my nation what it is today.  They are part of the fabric of society and a living heritage at the heart of the city.  Over the past year, they have been door knocked and interviewed by the authorities with no legal representation, no attorney, no guardian or even a support person in the room, telephoned, texted and inundated with letters about moving out. One older person was told that her home was being renovated.  She put up with the renovations for 8 months only to find she is being moved out.  As the wharves are being knocked down for the casino to be built, hoards of rats are moving up the hill and to the area where these people live.  Nothing is being done about the rats.  If repairs and maintenance need to be done, they are told “if it’s not a big repair job, we will do minor repairs.” Meanwhile down the street, millions of dollars are being spent on the empty houses being prepared for sale at large profits.  It is clear that we need infrastructure, businesses and healthy national economies but not by breaching the human rights of older people.
The residents are being asked to sign consent forms over a cup of tea and an informal chat, which would result in the handing over of all of their most personal medical, legal and family information.  They are asked to complete online surveys (which include identifying themselves) for the chance to win an IPad, which has the same evidential effect as the consent forms in disclosing private  information.  It is left to attorneys and advocates to raise the alarm. 

Breaches of the right to privacy for older people by governments, corporations and individuals, is a precursor to elder abuse.  Privacy over health and medical records, legal and financial records, physical privacy and privacy over personal information should all be part of a Convention.  This would build on Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so that there is accountability for violations against older people.

It so easy to move people on once you know all about them and you can find an excuse to put them in an aged care home, under the care of the state guardian, in a mental health facility, or simply to move them to somewhere deemed more suited to them, but which isolates from their lifelong friends and community. 

Back in Sydney, stakeholders with vested interests are courting the media, and the Australian public is being courted with a fiction that these people are dole-bludgers, or unable to care for themselves, derelict and worthless.  Public opinion has fallen for the myth that these older people have had their million dollar harbour views and it’s time to move on.  The truth is that most of them don’t even have harbour views and they have basic, modest accommodation.  They are wonderful, interesting, independent people when you bother to speak to them. One of the elderly residents told me last week that to relocate them away from their community, is “one step short of putting you up against a wall and shooting you because it’s saying you are of no value to society.  You are worthless.” 

What is occurring is the dissolution of a community.  In fact, this is an opportunity for government and industry to follow the lead of entrepreneurs such as the Yunis microcredit projects to support the housing of older people, to engage in social business.  If only they would seize such a life-changing opportunity.

Let us not forget that the most displaced peoples are in conflict zones in many countries.  Older people often suffer the most if they are frail and vulnerable and have health problems. Along with women and children, they are the first victims of physical and sexual violence, torture and often death.  Older people in conflict zones don’t usually start the journey to my country by refugee boat, or by plane. If they miraculously make the journey, they would not be allowed in, because they are too old to be a young, skilled migrant.  I respectfully request that Member States think of these forgotten people who need the protection of the proposed Convention the most.

My organisation is a Member of the Global Alliance of the Rights of Older People Australia- GAROP Australia- rightsofolderpeople.org.au.  Our alliance of leading Australian organisations advocating for and representing older people was formed as a result of last year’s working group.  We are proud to declare that our regional alliance is flourishing with the support of prominent politicians championing our cause.

Finally, I am also a Member of the International Commission of Jurists Australian Section. Today, I bring a message from the ICJ Australia to this Session:

“ICJ Australia supports the work of GAROP Australia in strengthening the rights and voices of older people in our region. ICJ Australia supports the need for an international legal instrument to protect older people’s human rights in Australia and across the globe and to allow them to live free from discrimination.”

In conclusion, a convention is inevitable, but only if we all continue to work diligently to achieve it.

My organisation supports and commends the intervention by the IFA Delegate today in calling for a Chair’s summary on the main elements of a new legal instrument. I respectfully recommend that the Chair considers documents that have been drafted such as the Chicago Declaration of July 2014, and the 2014 Declaration of Rights for Older People in Wales. To my Welsh colleagues I say congratulations- iechyd da a diolch yn fawr!

Thank you.

Resourced From http://tunswblog.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/millers-point-and-united-nations.html