August 21, 2014
The NSW Liberal Government’s secret auctions of public housing properties at Millers Point strikes at the heart of community confidence that this is nothing more than a fire sale of public assets and should be stopped.
“The revelations that public housing at Millers Point are going to be sold in secret is just more evidence that taxpayers can have no confidence in this process and that it needs to be stopped immediately,” Shadow Minister for Housing Sophie Cotsis said.
“These secret auctions show the government is more concerned with a quick cash grab, rather than the best interests of taxpayers and the current tenants of these properties.
“The Liberals claims they want to invest the revenue from the sales in new public housing but there is no evidence of that in the budget.
“Everyone knows that if you are selling your house at auction, you want to attract as many bidders as possible in order to get the best price.
“Instead of making these auctions open for everyone, the NSW Liberal Government is holding them in secret.
“These secret auctions are not transparent and they do not guarantee the best return for the sale of a public asset.
“The Liberals’ watered down heritage requirements mean that potential speculators can landbank these properties for future development.”
Labor candidate for Sydney Edwina Lloyd condemned the Liberals’ handling of housing at Millers Point.
“Labor opposes the forced eviction of public housing tenants from Millers Point,” Labor candidate for Sydney Edwina Lloyd said.
“The NSW Liberal Government has already been caught tampering with reports to downplay the impact that forced evictions will have on residents’ health - and they have watered down heritage rules for purchasers of these properties.
“These secret auctions show that the entire process is a sham and that the Liberals are determined to sell these properties, even if it means that taxpayers do not receive the best sale price at auction.
“I am calling on the NSW Liberal Government to halt this sale process, talk to the tenants they are evicting and develop a real plan to deliver affordable housing in the inner-city.”
Resourced: http://www.johnrobertson.com.au/secret_auctions_at_millers_point
Friday, 22 August 2014
Vacated Millers Point four level terrace fetches $1.911 million at private State Government auction
Jonathan Chancellor | 21 August 2014
The jubilant Minister for Family and Community Services, Gabrielle Upton, and Minister for Finance and Services, Dominic Perrottet, have announced the first sale of a government-owned heritage property at Millers Point sold at McGrath auction for $1.911 million tonight.
The news of the sale price was broken on twitter by 2GB, with bidding starting at $1 million.
The last public housing tenant paid $77.20 a week rent at the property which had revised price guidance of $1.3 million plus. It has water views over Walsh Bay.
An initial price guide of $1 million plus was suggested for the rundown four-bedroom heritage-listed home which has been vacant since early 2011.
“For every Millers Point property that is sold, we can build three modern properties that are more accessible and comfortable,” Ms Upton said after the auction.
She said the sale was "a win" for the 58,000 households on the waiting list for public housing because it helps make the social housing system more sustainable and will help get new properties in the system sooner.”
But activists says that the minister who introduced the relocation policy, Pru Goward has thrice refused to commit all sale proceeds to public housing.
The first property to go under the hammer, 119 Kent Street, received strong buyer interest with more than 200 groups inspecting the four bedroom, four level property in the first two weeks of its listing.
That was despite property inspections being strictly by appointment, with buyers teeing it up with the listing agent.
There were also more than 1500 enquiries received through the real estate agent’s website and more than 50 pre-auction very bulky contracts were issued.
There are currently five other properties on the auction market - including through Di Jones Real Estate - as part of the Government’s first tranche of sales in the Millers Point precinct.
Given concerns of activist tenants turning up to distrupt the auction, there was no disclosure as to the location of the auction.
Conditions of entry to the auction, drawn up by Government Property NSW and obtained by Fairfax Media, banned any form of video, audio or photography.
All media outlets were to be denied entry.
Almost 600 public housing tenants will be evicted across 263 homes for the sales program, which has been described by critics as ''social cleansing''. Even the Pet Shop Boys during their recent visit tweeted their concern as to the relocation outcome.
One of the properties is a four-bedroom 1840 Georgian house called Tarra, that has views of the Opera House from underneath the bridge.
The strict silly auction rules were reported by The SMH as including:
1. As the auction will be held on private property, McGrath reserves its rights.
2. Admittance to the auction is for bona fide buyers who are in a position to purchase the property on the night.
3. Due to restricted space, only pre-registrations will be accepted and only two people per group are permitted.
4. No press or media or other real estate agents will be permitted entry.
5. No video, audio or still photography will be permitted.
6. Individuals that cause disturbance on the night or during the auction process will be asked to leave or may be removed.
7. You will be asked to sign the above conditions of entry on the night.
Resourced: http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/finding/residential-investment/sales-and-auctions/34760-millers-point-four-level-terrace-fetches-1-911-million-at-private-auction.html
The jubilant Minister for Family and Community Services, Gabrielle Upton, and Minister for Finance and Services, Dominic Perrottet, have announced the first sale of a government-owned heritage property at Millers Point sold at McGrath auction for $1.911 million tonight.
The news of the sale price was broken on twitter by 2GB, with bidding starting at $1 million.
The last public housing tenant paid $77.20 a week rent at the property which had revised price guidance of $1.3 million plus. It has water views over Walsh Bay.
An initial price guide of $1 million plus was suggested for the rundown four-bedroom heritage-listed home which has been vacant since early 2011.
“For every Millers Point property that is sold, we can build three modern properties that are more accessible and comfortable,” Ms Upton said after the auction.
She said the sale was "a win" for the 58,000 households on the waiting list for public housing because it helps make the social housing system more sustainable and will help get new properties in the system sooner.”
But activists says that the minister who introduced the relocation policy, Pru Goward has thrice refused to commit all sale proceeds to public housing.
The first property to go under the hammer, 119 Kent Street, received strong buyer interest with more than 200 groups inspecting the four bedroom, four level property in the first two weeks of its listing.
That was despite property inspections being strictly by appointment, with buyers teeing it up with the listing agent.
There were also more than 1500 enquiries received through the real estate agent’s website and more than 50 pre-auction very bulky contracts were issued.
There are currently five other properties on the auction market - including through Di Jones Real Estate - as part of the Government’s first tranche of sales in the Millers Point precinct.
Given concerns of activist tenants turning up to distrupt the auction, there was no disclosure as to the location of the auction.
Conditions of entry to the auction, drawn up by Government Property NSW and obtained by Fairfax Media, banned any form of video, audio or photography.
All media outlets were to be denied entry.
Almost 600 public housing tenants will be evicted across 263 homes for the sales program, which has been described by critics as ''social cleansing''. Even the Pet Shop Boys during their recent visit tweeted their concern as to the relocation outcome.
One of the properties is a four-bedroom 1840 Georgian house called Tarra, that has views of the Opera House from underneath the bridge.
The strict silly auction rules were reported by The SMH as including:
1. As the auction will be held on private property, McGrath reserves its rights.
2. Admittance to the auction is for bona fide buyers who are in a position to purchase the property on the night.
3. Due to restricted space, only pre-registrations will be accepted and only two people per group are permitted.
4. No press or media or other real estate agents will be permitted entry.
5. No video, audio or still photography will be permitted.
6. Individuals that cause disturbance on the night or during the auction process will be asked to leave or may be removed.
7. You will be asked to sign the above conditions of entry on the night.
Resourced: http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/finding/residential-investment/sales-and-auctions/34760-millers-point-four-level-terrace-fetches-1-911-million-at-private-auction.html
First Millers Point property sells for $1.9 million
The first property to be auctioned as part of the state government sell-off of public housing at Millers Point sold for $1,911,000 on Thursday night.
The house at of 119 Kent Street was initially marketed through McGrath's Peter Starr for more than $1 million. Due to the high level of interest, the price guide was was revised to more than $1.3 million ahead of the auction.
The private auction was held at McGrath Estate Agents' head office in Edgecliff with only vetted pre-registered bidders invited to attend. On arrival potential buyers were required to show their cheque book before they were were allowed to enter.
An auction attendee advised Domain of the sale price and said "everyone in the room was shocked".
Bidding started at $1 million but then jumped up to $1.45 million. It was purchased by a buyer who appeared to be in his thirties.
The Minister for Finance and Services, Dominic Perrottet, said "this initial sale is an excellent test for the market".
Millers Point: a community under the hammer
The four-bedroom unrenovated terrace had been vacant since February 2011. The last public housing tenant paid $77.20 a week in rent.
There were approximately 80 people present at the auction. More than 50 pre-auction contracts were issued for the property.
One of the conditions of entry specified that only two people per group were allowed to attend due to "restricted space".
Members of the Millers Point community were gathered outside the auction to protest the government sell-off.
The house is the first of 293 state-owned properties to be sold in the Millers Point precinct.
The remainder will be sold off over a two year period with the next auction taking place on Tuesday August 26.
There are currently five freehold Millers Point homes listed on Domain.com.au.
Resourced: http://m.smh.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/first-millers-point-property-sells-for-19-million-20140821-106usl.html
The house at of 119 Kent Street was initially marketed through McGrath's Peter Starr for more than $1 million. Due to the high level of interest, the price guide was was revised to more than $1.3 million ahead of the auction.
The private auction was held at McGrath Estate Agents' head office in Edgecliff with only vetted pre-registered bidders invited to attend. On arrival potential buyers were required to show their cheque book before they were were allowed to enter.
An auction attendee advised Domain of the sale price and said "everyone in the room was shocked".
Bidding started at $1 million but then jumped up to $1.45 million. It was purchased by a buyer who appeared to be in his thirties.
The Minister for Finance and Services, Dominic Perrottet, said "this initial sale is an excellent test for the market".
| Sold: 119 Kent Street, Millers Point sold for $1.9 million at a private auction on Thursday night. |
Millers Point: a community under the hammer
The four-bedroom unrenovated terrace had been vacant since February 2011. The last public housing tenant paid $77.20 a week in rent.
There were approximately 80 people present at the auction. More than 50 pre-auction contracts were issued for the property.
One of the conditions of entry specified that only two people per group were allowed to attend due to "restricted space".
Members of the Millers Point community were gathered outside the auction to protest the government sell-off.
The house is the first of 293 state-owned properties to be sold in the Millers Point precinct.
The remainder will be sold off over a two year period with the next auction taking place on Tuesday August 26.
There are currently five freehold Millers Point homes listed on Domain.com.au.
Resourced: http://m.smh.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/first-millers-point-property-sells-for-19-million-20140821-106usl.html
Thursday, 21 August 2014
PROTESTING & HOLDING A VIGIL
TONIGHT - PROTESTING & HOLDING A VIGIL" outside of the "McGrath Estate Agents" at 5:00pm-7:00pm, 119 New South Head Rd.
BUYER BEWARE: SALE DOES NOT HAVE COMMUNITY SUPPORT
The Millers Point Community today said the NSW Government had failed to win community support for the sale of public housing at Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks.
Millers Point, Dawes Point and the Rocks Public Housing Tenants Group Convenor Barney Gardner said the first of the houses to be put up for sale (119 Kent Street, Millers Point) would be auctioned by McGrath Real Estate tonight.
“Premier Mike Baird and Minister for Vaucluse Gabrielle Upton have failed to win support for the sale.” Mr Gardner said.
“They have no political mandate, and no social license for their cruel program to displace an entire community of public housing tenants.”
“Whoever buys these properties will be contributing to the destruction of a close-knit community, while removing many elderly and vulnerable people from their local support networks.”
Mr Gardner also slammed McGrath Real Estate for profiteering from the sale process.
“If McGrath had any sense of corporate responsibility it would have declined the opportunity to tender for this project.”
“The agent knows these sales are morally wrong because they are being held behind closed doors, under the cover of darkness.”
On behalf of the residents of Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks who are being evicted, I call on people to show their disgust by Boycotting McGrath Real Estate and taking their business elsewhere.”
Note: Member of the Millers Point community will be holding a protest vigil outside the McGrath Real Estate headquarters in Edgecliff between 6pm and 7pm tonight.
WHAT: Millers Point protest vigil.
WHEN: Between 6pm and 7pm tonight, Thursday 21 August
WHO: Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks public housing tenants.
WHERE: 191 New South Head Road, Edgecliff.
GABRIELLE UPTON'S COMEDY CAPERS
By Edwina Lloyd
The spin doctors in Minister Upton’s Office probably thought they were forming a cunning plan to thwart the nasty public housing tenants, but the ridiculous secrecy surrounding the covert auction of the Millers Point properties smacks of Inspector Clouseau rather than James Bond.
I smell a rat.
The sale process has turned into a comical and chaotic display of the Liberal Government’s complete arrogance and disregard for public opinion.
The auctions will be by invitation only, with bidders vetted to make sure they are genuine buyers - and not “plants” who might leak the secret details to either the media or, horror of all horrors, local residents.
It's been reported that bidders at the auctions will be informed of the location just two hours beforehand, via text message.
About a year ago, the Baird Liberal Government announced that it would destroy this close-knit community. Did they really think the locals wouldn’t be a little upset?
Their arrogant, callous and careless actions once again shows that they just don’t care about what people think of them. They don’t listen to the concerns from the community.
As long as they give property developers and wealthy investors what they want, then the broader community can go to hell.
Certainly, Minister Upton has done everything in her power to give people that impression. She has steadfastly refused to meet with the people she is displacing from Millers Point, failed to respond to their letters, avoided their phone calls and even ducked for cover when they inconveniently turned up at one of her press conferences.
As one of the 60 per cent elderly Millers Point residents, Barney, proclaims, “What is she scared of? Does she think we will attack her with our walking sticks? We just want to share our concerns, we deserve that at least, don’t we?”
Safely ensconced in her Double Bay bunker, where she has almost zero chance of running into someone with an annual income of under $150,000, she can reassure herself that flogging off public housing properties in Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks is somehow in the public interest.
Even though, of course, her rationale to explain the sales is completely flawed and based on a lie.
Last week Joe Hockey told us that poor people don’t drive cars. This week Gabrielle Upton is showing us that, according to the Liberals, poor people don’t deserve to live in the city.
It’s that belief which is driving Gabrielle Upton’s program to rid Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks of pensioners and people on low-incomes.
The whole program stinks, the rat is out of the bag, Minister. Cloaking the auctions under a veil of government secrecy won’t disguise the putrid smell of the Liberal’s latest sad, mean scheme.
YOU CAN SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN!
Sign the online petition- https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/save-the-heritage-the-community-of-millers-point-dawes-point-the-rocks
Download, print out and fill out & return the paper based petition-https://clrdoutney.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/millers-point-petition.pdf
Support the campaign and buy a T-Shirt Online-
http://www.capturethatphotographics.com/ Mouse over photography projects then click on Save Millers Point it will bring up the T-Shirt Purchase page.
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http://www.pozible.com/project/185489
Clover Moore is only half the story: shadowy panel devouring Sydney land
Aug 20, 2014
An Orwellian five-member panel will be making planning decisions surrounding Sydney public land in future. Cui bono? NSW political reporter Alex Mitchell reports.
Get used to the name of the entity known as UrbanGrowth NSW, because you will be hearing a lot more about it over the next few years.
It is the Orwellian body created by the New South Wales Coalition government to control the levers of urban planning and development. It has a five-member board to administer multibillion-dollar projects that will devour public land and public spending while delivering massive profits to construction companies and their investors.
Already UrbanGrowth NSW has its hands all over prime Sydney Harbour land near Balmain, called Bay Precinct, the Parramatta CBD and the historic centre of Newcastle.
The state-owned corporation was established in 2012 by then-planning minister Brad Hazzard, a Manly solicitor recently elevated to Attorney-General and Justice Minister.
New Planning Minister Pru Goward, a former ABC presenter and John Howard’s handpicked Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, is now in charge of the body whose mission statement reads like something scripted by Rob Sitch, of Hollowmen and Utopia fame.
According to the official website, its task is “to drive urban transformation that will underpin the future prosperity of urban and regional centres across NSW. We collaborate with government, private and community stakeholders to create a united vision of a project, building a strong sense of placemaking in the renewal process and enabling its delivery.”
In future, major urban projects will be discussed and decided by UrbanGrowth’s cabinet-appointed board members without obstruction from meddlesome councillors, MPs, public servants, community groups or environmentalists.
“If the Coalition succeeds in rigging the ballot in favour of the business community in Sydney’s CBD, why not elsewhere?”
Just as James Packer collared a high rollers’ casino site from the Barangaroo Delivery Authority and VicUrban delivered the construction boom at Melbourne Docklands, so UrbanGrowth is poised to make super profits for developers, fund managers and overseas investors in urban centres in NSW.
It is fulfilling the catchcries of the Baird (and Abbott) governments: “We’re open for business”, “We want to be remembered for building infrastructure” (i.e. any infrastructure at any cost, regardless of its community or cultural value) and “we know best what should be built, where and by whom”.
Accompanying the pro-development push are authoritarian changes to the local government electoral system, starting with greater voting entitlements for big businesses in the City of Sydney.
Premier Mike Baird has given support to legislation proposed in the upper house by the reactionary Shooters Party to arm big business with two votes while ordinary citizens receive one, an objective long advocated by shock jock Alan Jones and The Daily Telegraph.
Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore, an independent, has become the centre of attention, as she claims the proposal to give businesses two votes is aimed specifically at her. But this is only half-true:
Moore’s days are numbered anyway, and if she doesn’t resign at the next council election in 2016, when she will be approaching 70, she faces almost certain defeat.
Major CBD redevelopments in Sussex Street, Chinatown, Haymarket and Millers Point, all blue-chip sites for profit-hungry developers, are the primary considerations in the push for a pro-business Sydney City Council.
Will the embarrassing departure of Newcastle lord mayor Jeff “The Developer” McCloy following cash campaign donations he made to Liberal MPs at the 2011 state election lead to a greater voting entitlement for businesses in Newcastle as well? If the Coalition succeeds in rigging the ballot in favour of the business community in Sydney’s CBD, why not elsewhere?
Balmain MP Jamie Parker, the former mayor of Leichhardt and the first Green in the Legislative Assembly, has condemned UrbanGrowth’s compulsory purchase powers and its lack of transparency.
He has asked why there are no community representatives on the five-member board, which consists of chairman John Brogden, a former NSW opposition leader, Matthew Quinn, former managing director of Stockland (2000-2013), Robert Hamilton, co-founder of the Mirvac Group, Bonita Boezeman, executive with Time Warner for 23 years, and chief executive David Pitchford, chief operating officer of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and ex-general manager of the mega-development called Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.
“The names don’t fill me with confidence,” Parker told Crikey. “They are a who’s who of big-time developers and their friends.”
Architects, town planners and community groups are waiting for John Robertson’s opposition to commit to scrapping UrbanGrowth NSW and the proposed pro-business City of Sydney voting system.
RESOURCED: http://www.crikey.com.au/?p=453320
An Orwellian five-member panel will be making planning decisions surrounding Sydney public land in future. Cui bono? NSW political reporter Alex Mitchell reports.
Get used to the name of the entity known as UrbanGrowth NSW, because you will be hearing a lot more about it over the next few years.
It is the Orwellian body created by the New South Wales Coalition government to control the levers of urban planning and development. It has a five-member board to administer multibillion-dollar projects that will devour public land and public spending while delivering massive profits to construction companies and their investors.
Already UrbanGrowth NSW has its hands all over prime Sydney Harbour land near Balmain, called Bay Precinct, the Parramatta CBD and the historic centre of Newcastle.
The state-owned corporation was established in 2012 by then-planning minister Brad Hazzard, a Manly solicitor recently elevated to Attorney-General and Justice Minister.
New Planning Minister Pru Goward, a former ABC presenter and John Howard’s handpicked Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, is now in charge of the body whose mission statement reads like something scripted by Rob Sitch, of Hollowmen and Utopia fame.
According to the official website, its task is “to drive urban transformation that will underpin the future prosperity of urban and regional centres across NSW. We collaborate with government, private and community stakeholders to create a united vision of a project, building a strong sense of placemaking in the renewal process and enabling its delivery.”
In future, major urban projects will be discussed and decided by UrbanGrowth’s cabinet-appointed board members without obstruction from meddlesome councillors, MPs, public servants, community groups or environmentalists.
“If the Coalition succeeds in rigging the ballot in favour of the business community in Sydney’s CBD, why not elsewhere?”
Just as James Packer collared a high rollers’ casino site from the Barangaroo Delivery Authority and VicUrban delivered the construction boom at Melbourne Docklands, so UrbanGrowth is poised to make super profits for developers, fund managers and overseas investors in urban centres in NSW.
It is fulfilling the catchcries of the Baird (and Abbott) governments: “We’re open for business”, “We want to be remembered for building infrastructure” (i.e. any infrastructure at any cost, regardless of its community or cultural value) and “we know best what should be built, where and by whom”.
Accompanying the pro-development push are authoritarian changes to the local government electoral system, starting with greater voting entitlements for big businesses in the City of Sydney.
Premier Mike Baird has given support to legislation proposed in the upper house by the reactionary Shooters Party to arm big business with two votes while ordinary citizens receive one, an objective long advocated by shock jock Alan Jones and The Daily Telegraph.
Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore, an independent, has become the centre of attention, as she claims the proposal to give businesses two votes is aimed specifically at her. But this is only half-true:
Moore’s days are numbered anyway, and if she doesn’t resign at the next council election in 2016, when she will be approaching 70, she faces almost certain defeat.
Major CBD redevelopments in Sussex Street, Chinatown, Haymarket and Millers Point, all blue-chip sites for profit-hungry developers, are the primary considerations in the push for a pro-business Sydney City Council.
Will the embarrassing departure of Newcastle lord mayor Jeff “The Developer” McCloy following cash campaign donations he made to Liberal MPs at the 2011 state election lead to a greater voting entitlement for businesses in Newcastle as well? If the Coalition succeeds in rigging the ballot in favour of the business community in Sydney’s CBD, why not elsewhere?
Balmain MP Jamie Parker, the former mayor of Leichhardt and the first Green in the Legislative Assembly, has condemned UrbanGrowth’s compulsory purchase powers and its lack of transparency.
He has asked why there are no community representatives on the five-member board, which consists of chairman John Brogden, a former NSW opposition leader, Matthew Quinn, former managing director of Stockland (2000-2013), Robert Hamilton, co-founder of the Mirvac Group, Bonita Boezeman, executive with Time Warner for 23 years, and chief executive David Pitchford, chief operating officer of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and ex-general manager of the mega-development called Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.
“The names don’t fill me with confidence,” Parker told Crikey. “They are a who’s who of big-time developers and their friends.”
Architects, town planners and community groups are waiting for John Robertson’s opposition to commit to scrapping UrbanGrowth NSW and the proposed pro-business City of Sydney voting system.
RESOURCED: http://www.crikey.com.au/?p=453320
Secret auction of Millers Point house
Nicole Hasham, Toby Johnstone
21st August 2014
The first state-owned property at Millers Point is going to auction at a secret location on Thursday evening, and skittish authorities have imposed unusually strict rules on those invited to attend.
The house at 119 Kent Street is the first of 293 public housing properties to be sold off at Millers Point and The Rocks.
The last public housing tenant paid $77.20 a week in rent. The property now has a price guide of more than $1.3 million.
Millers Point: a community under the hammer
In a bid to duck media attention and protests over the controversial public housing sell-off, only vetted buyers who are ''in a position to purchase the property on the night'' will be permitted entry.
Under instructions from the government, McGrath Estate Agents have not publicly disclosed the address where the auction will be held.
Conditions of entry to the auction, drawn up by Government Property NSW and obtained by Fairfax Media, ban any form of video, audio or photography. Media outlets will be denied entry.
The conditions, which must be signed by bidders, include a warning that ''individuals that cause disturbance on the night or during the auction process will be asked to leave or may be removed''.
An initial price guide of more than $1 million was given for the rundown four-bedroom heritage-listed home, but it has since been revised upwards. The property has been vacant since February 2011.
Almost 600 public housing tenants will be evicted for the sales program, which has been described by critics as ''social cleansing''.
Labor candidate for the state seat of Sydney Edwina Lloyd accused the government of ''ridiculous secrecy surrounding the covert auction''.
''The sale process has turned into a comical and chaotic display of the Liberal government’s complete arrogance and disregard for public opinion,'' she said.
As previously reported, the government has also gagged real estate agents from talking to the media, and property inspections are strictly by appointment. Bidders for some homes have reportedly been told they will be given two hours' notice of the auction, due to fears of protests.
Fair Trading Minister Matthew Mason-Cox last week rejected suggestions the sales lacked transparency, telling Parliament he had ''complete confidence'' in the auction process.
Millers Point community leader Barney Gardner said residents were calling for a boycott of real estate agents involved in the sales, accusing them of ''profiteering out of people’s misery''.
To make their views known to potential buyers, Millers Point residents are planning a protest at McGraths Estate Agents’ head office at Edgecliff on Thursday evening, where they believe the auction will take place.
''[Buyers] will contribute to the destruction of a close-knit community, and would also be removing many elderly and vulnerable people from their local support networks,'' Mr Gardner said.
A Government Property NSW spokesman said it was ''normal'' for agents to vet prospective buyers ''in any auction of this type''.
Potential buyers were required to pre-register for the auction ''given the high level of interest'', he said.
Dawn Caruana, a Kent Street public housing tenant, said she would ''fight to the end'' to stay at Millers Point.
''There is a community here and I don’t think it should be broken,'' she said.
Condition of Entry
1. As the auction will be held on private property, McGrath reserves its rights.
2. Admittance to the auction is for bona fide buyers who are in a position to purchase the property on the night.
3. Due to restricted space, only pre-registrations will be accepted and only two people per group are permitted.
4. No press or media or other real estate agents will be permitted entry.
5. No video, audio or still photography will be permitted.
6. Individuals that cause disturbance on the night or during the auction process will be asked to leave or may be removed.
7. You will be asked to sign the above conditions of entry on the night.
Resourced: http://www.smh.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/secret-auction-of-millers-point-house-20140820-1066ai.html
21st August 2014
| Under the hammer: The Kent Street house is expected to fetch $1.3m. |
The first state-owned property at Millers Point is going to auction at a secret location on Thursday evening, and skittish authorities have imposed unusually strict rules on those invited to attend.
The house at 119 Kent Street is the first of 293 public housing properties to be sold off at Millers Point and The Rocks.
The last public housing tenant paid $77.20 a week in rent. The property now has a price guide of more than $1.3 million.
| Under the hammer: The Kent Street house is expected to fetch $1.3m |
| Millers Point: a community under the hammer |
In a bid to duck media attention and protests over the controversial public housing sell-off, only vetted buyers who are ''in a position to purchase the property on the night'' will be permitted entry.
Under instructions from the government, McGrath Estate Agents have not publicly disclosed the address where the auction will be held.
Conditions of entry to the auction, drawn up by Government Property NSW and obtained by Fairfax Media, ban any form of video, audio or photography. Media outlets will be denied entry.
The conditions, which must be signed by bidders, include a warning that ''individuals that cause disturbance on the night or during the auction process will be asked to leave or may be removed''.
An initial price guide of more than $1 million was given for the rundown four-bedroom heritage-listed home, but it has since been revised upwards. The property has been vacant since February 2011.
Almost 600 public housing tenants will be evicted for the sales program, which has been described by critics as ''social cleansing''.
Labor candidate for the state seat of Sydney Edwina Lloyd accused the government of ''ridiculous secrecy surrounding the covert auction''.
''The sale process has turned into a comical and chaotic display of the Liberal government’s complete arrogance and disregard for public opinion,'' she said.
As previously reported, the government has also gagged real estate agents from talking to the media, and property inspections are strictly by appointment. Bidders for some homes have reportedly been told they will be given two hours' notice of the auction, due to fears of protests.
Fair Trading Minister Matthew Mason-Cox last week rejected suggestions the sales lacked transparency, telling Parliament he had ''complete confidence'' in the auction process.
Millers Point community leader Barney Gardner said residents were calling for a boycott of real estate agents involved in the sales, accusing them of ''profiteering out of people’s misery''.
To make their views known to potential buyers, Millers Point residents are planning a protest at McGraths Estate Agents’ head office at Edgecliff on Thursday evening, where they believe the auction will take place.
''[Buyers] will contribute to the destruction of a close-knit community, and would also be removing many elderly and vulnerable people from their local support networks,'' Mr Gardner said.
A Government Property NSW spokesman said it was ''normal'' for agents to vet prospective buyers ''in any auction of this type''.
Potential buyers were required to pre-register for the auction ''given the high level of interest'', he said.
Dawn Caruana, a Kent Street public housing tenant, said she would ''fight to the end'' to stay at Millers Point.
''There is a community here and I don’t think it should be broken,'' she said.
Condition of Entry
1. As the auction will be held on private property, McGrath reserves its rights.
2. Admittance to the auction is for bona fide buyers who are in a position to purchase the property on the night.
3. Due to restricted space, only pre-registrations will be accepted and only two people per group are permitted.
4. No press or media or other real estate agents will be permitted entry.
5. No video, audio or still photography will be permitted.
6. Individuals that cause disturbance on the night or during the auction process will be asked to leave or may be removed.
7. You will be asked to sign the above conditions of entry on the night.
Resourced: http://www.smh.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/secret-auction-of-millers-point-house-20140820-1066ai.html
Wednesday, 20 August 2014
BIG INTEREST IN FIRST MILLERS POINT PUBLIC HOUSES
By Alicia Wood
The first two Millers Point public housing properties will go to auction this month, with one having attracted more than 200 inspections already.
The four-storey Victorian house at 119 Kent St, with harbour views, has had more than 200 inspections and has attracted more than 1000 inquiries — with more than 50 people signing pre-auction contracts ahead of the 21 August sale.
Five days later Lower Fort Street — another four storey house with harbour views — will go under the hammer. Together, the properties are expected to make the NSW government more than $4 million — enough to build at least eight new Housing NSW properties in Western Sydney.
They are the first of 293 former public housing properties in Millers Point to be sold.
The government expects to make at least $500 million from the sale process.
Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton said it would cost up to $100 million to restore and maintain the houses. “It simply is not fair to the 58,000 applicants on the social housing waiting list for the government to spend millions of dollars maintaining properties which are not suitable for social housing,” Ms Upton said.
http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/homebuyers-search-for-the-suburbs-that-have-houses-for-sale-at-less-than-1-million/story-fndban6l-1227019799198
Our Response
G' Day Friends & Supporters of Millers Point! If this naïve Minister, Gabrielle Upton would accept our invitation come to Millers Point and meet the Public Housing Tenants maybe, just maybe she would understand that over 90% don't live in homes like the ones being sold and that the huge maintenance & repair bills she refers to are not applicable to the majority of the P.H.T's homes, and, as to "NOT SUITABLE" for Public Housing! What’s changed in over 100yrs to make them unsuitable? And they will last another 100yrs if the maintenance & repairs are performed periodically as they were by the previous landlords Sydney Harbour Trust and then the M.S.B. (both State Gov. Depts.)
The This Tenant of 65yrs in the same dwellings (40yrs next door, 25yrs? present home) can only see one reason and that is the huge amount of money that would be shared by the "STATE LIBERAL GOV. & THEIR DEVELOPER MATES" from the sale of our homes. You see the homes that have already been sold were to private individuals and they have been vacant for several years as are the latest offerings but what about the typical rows of Terrace Houses that the average Public Housing Tenant lives in that could be brought back to pristine condition for approx. 1/4 of the figure quoted by the State Liberal Gov.? These will be very attractive and Developers will buy entire streets!
Let’s not forget no State Government own these properties "You" the people of NSW do! and should ponder one thing, and that is these simple dwellings including the large homes they are selling have been "PAID FOR TEN TIMES OVER IN THEIR LIFE TIME" and the main reason that they have stood the test of time is because of the people that have, and still lived in them! Importantly the reason that they have lapsed into disrepair is due to those who owe not only the Tenants but the people of NSW duty of care! That’s right the "NSW Government".
I ask more questions out of interest, if $4 million is expected to be raised for the sale of these two properties and "EIGHT NEW H/NSW PROPERTIES" are to be built in Western Sydney, then "WHERE & WHEN" will the first spade of dirt be turned because already $40 million has been raised through the sale of properties in Millers Point previously and there is no evidence of large developments of Social, Public or Affordable Housing in NSW, rather this State Liberal Gov. has sold off more properties then it has built or acquired. We here at the "POINT" remain sceptical and suspicious!!!
Kind Regards, Barney Gardner.
#savemillerspoint
Resourced: http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/homebuyers-search-for-the-suburbs-that-have-houses-for-sale-at-less-than-1-million/story-fndban6l-1227019799198
 |
| 119 Kent Street, Millers Point. |
The first two Millers Point public housing properties will go to auction this month, with one having attracted more than 200 inspections already.
The four-storey Victorian house at 119 Kent St, with harbour views, has had more than 200 inspections and has attracted more than 1000 inquiries — with more than 50 people signing pre-auction contracts ahead of the 21 August sale.
Five days later Lower Fort Street — another four storey house with harbour views — will go under the hammer. Together, the properties are expected to make the NSW government more than $4 million — enough to build at least eight new Housing NSW properties in Western Sydney.
They are the first of 293 former public housing properties in Millers Point to be sold.
The government expects to make at least $500 million from the sale process.
Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton said it would cost up to $100 million to restore and maintain the houses. “It simply is not fair to the 58,000 applicants on the social housing waiting list for the government to spend millions of dollars maintaining properties which are not suitable for social housing,” Ms Upton said.
http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/homebuyers-search-for-the-suburbs-that-have-houses-for-sale-at-less-than-1-million/story-fndban6l-1227019799198
Our Response
G' Day Friends & Supporters of Millers Point! If this naïve Minister, Gabrielle Upton would accept our invitation come to Millers Point and meet the Public Housing Tenants maybe, just maybe she would understand that over 90% don't live in homes like the ones being sold and that the huge maintenance & repair bills she refers to are not applicable to the majority of the P.H.T's homes, and, as to "NOT SUITABLE" for Public Housing! What’s changed in over 100yrs to make them unsuitable? And they will last another 100yrs if the maintenance & repairs are performed periodically as they were by the previous landlords Sydney Harbour Trust and then the M.S.B. (both State Gov. Depts.)
The This Tenant of 65yrs in the same dwellings (40yrs next door, 25yrs? present home) can only see one reason and that is the huge amount of money that would be shared by the "STATE LIBERAL GOV. & THEIR DEVELOPER MATES" from the sale of our homes. You see the homes that have already been sold were to private individuals and they have been vacant for several years as are the latest offerings but what about the typical rows of Terrace Houses that the average Public Housing Tenant lives in that could be brought back to pristine condition for approx. 1/4 of the figure quoted by the State Liberal Gov.? These will be very attractive and Developers will buy entire streets!
Let’s not forget no State Government own these properties "You" the people of NSW do! and should ponder one thing, and that is these simple dwellings including the large homes they are selling have been "PAID FOR TEN TIMES OVER IN THEIR LIFE TIME" and the main reason that they have stood the test of time is because of the people that have, and still lived in them! Importantly the reason that they have lapsed into disrepair is due to those who owe not only the Tenants but the people of NSW duty of care! That’s right the "NSW Government".
I ask more questions out of interest, if $4 million is expected to be raised for the sale of these two properties and "EIGHT NEW H/NSW PROPERTIES" are to be built in Western Sydney, then "WHERE & WHEN" will the first spade of dirt be turned because already $40 million has been raised through the sale of properties in Millers Point previously and there is no evidence of large developments of Social, Public or Affordable Housing in NSW, rather this State Liberal Gov. has sold off more properties then it has built or acquired. We here at the "POINT" remain sceptical and suspicious!!!
Kind Regards, Barney Gardner.
#savemillerspoint
Resourced: http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/homebuyers-search-for-the-suburbs-that-have-houses-for-sale-at-less-than-1-million/story-fndban6l-1227019799198
Saturday, 16 August 2014
Millers Point: A Community Up For Sale
Within the first six months of 1900, over 44,000 rats were killed and heaped into piles throughout some of Sydney’s oldest suburbs.
In an attempt to rid the city of the bubonic plague, professional rat catchers either threw the rats’ muddied corpses into Sydney harbour or destroyed them in special rat-friendly incinerators.
Those very rats, covered in plague-spreading fleas, first made land on the wharves which still hug the suburb of Millers Point.
Many local homes were marked for cleansing, disinfecting, demolition and burning, as the plague went on to kill 103 people in eight months. Today, homes in Millers Point are still being marked out, but for a different type of cleansing.
The New South Wales state government will auction off 293 high-value public housing properties in Millers Point, Gloucester Street and the Sirius building in The Rocks over a two year period, forcing 590 residents to be relocated.
Many of these residents, and even some whose homes aren’t being sold, have tied yellow ribbons to their front doors in solidarity against the state government’s plan.
Aside from such a ribbon, the red-brick frontage of 14 High Street is decorated with three small Australian flags and the words “NO SALE OF PUBLIC HOUSING” stencilled onto a white banner.
The home, like many others in the suburb, has barely changed as high-rises have climbed into the cityscape around it. Number 14 belongs to Barney Gardner, a 65-year-old who has lived in Millers Point since his birth.
Barney has moved house only once, making the trip from 12 High Street to 14 High Street in 1990.
You never stray far from the tree.
Sandwiched between commercial tourist precinct The Rocks on its east and the forthcoming high-roller-haven Barangaroo to its west, Millers Point is comparatively quiet, placid and residential. It’s dotted with slick offices but lined with pastel and earth-coloured terraces. The homes here are heritage listed, “But the people are too,” Barney says. “So if they get rid of the people, who’s gonna tell the stories?”
Approaching the Harry Jensen Activity Centre on Argyle Street, a large banner is visible across the centre’s fence-line - “OUR COMMUNITY NOT 4 SALE”. Inside, the space is weighted by a sterile linoleum floor, metal-framed chairs crowding small round tables, and a kitchen to the rear.
A whiteboard on the wall reads, “THURSDAY: Roast pork with gravy and apple, or french lamb casserole, and veggies.”
Barney twice offers coffee or tea or water or biscuits before we sit. He’s wearing a plaid flannel shirt, and speaks calmly. But just over a week before we spoke, he was standing outside Sydney Town Hall, yelling into a megaphone and comparing the state government’s plan to Nazism.
“We’re gonna stay in our places FOREVER,” he and over a dozen protesters shouted, their voices coldly subsumed by the wind.
In March, Pru Goward, then Minister for Family and Community Services, revealed that the state government will relocate the 590 evicted residents and reinvest the proceeds from the sale of their homes back into the social housing system, which has over 57,000 people on its waiting list.
Affected residents immediately received a letter from Family & Community Services titled “MOVING TO A NEW HOME”.
The letter opened with, “I am writing to you today to inform you that government owned properties in Millers Point area [sic] will be sold, including the home you occupy.”
Three residents died and two others were hospitalised in the following weeks.
“It can’t be directly attributed to what’s going on, but we know [the letter] did affect them,” Barney says, shuffling the newspapers and documents which sit in piles on the table between us.
As the convener of the Millers Point, Dawes Point & The Rocks Public Housing Tenants Group,
Barney speaks for many residents who cannot represent themselves.
According to Barney, Millers Point is “under attack” from a “blitzkrieg” whose main tactic is harassment via Specialist Relocations Officers, aka the government “goons”.
“We don’t wanna have a violent confrontation, but if they force that upon us that’s their doing, not ours," he says. “We’ll just be linking arms and chaining ourselves to gates and doorways.”
Specialist social agency Cred Community Planning were commissioned by the Department of Housing in 2012 to develop a Social Impact Assessment for Millers Point.
The assessment was only made publicly available on the day of Pru Goward’s sale announcement. Cred’s assessment declared that the public housing in Millers Point “is not generally considered suitable as social housing dwellings”, due to the expense of internal upgrades, high maintenance liabilities, and the fact that many buildings aren’t Building Code of Australia compliant.
In her sale announcement, Goward claimed that almost $7 million had been spent on property maintenance over the last two years alone.
Cred recommended that some of the funds from the sale of homes in and around Millers Point be used to build new social housing properties nearby, especially for elderly residents, adding that they may experience “ongoing negative impacts of stress and poor health outcomes”.
The state government dismissed this recommendation, and said that they want elderly residents to “build connections in their new communities”.
Cred’s assessment also noted that 55 per cent of Millers Point tenants have lived in the area for over 10 years, and that 12 households have lived in the suburb for at least five generations.
For many residents, the state government’s plan to sell their homes is not only an attack on the basis of their livelihoods but an attack on their emotional and historical links to the suburb.
For many, including Barney, it’s a losing battle.
“My mind wanders to despair because I see the elderly people here. The despair and the look in their eyes, the sound of their voice. But that helps me keep focused on what we’re trying to do,” he says. “Would the Americans allow a McDonalds to be built on Plymouth Rock?” Barney suddenly asks.
“[Millers Point] is only going to be, eventually, for the rich,” he says. “The root of all evil in this is
money, nothing else.”
In an opinion piece published by Fairfax Media, Pru Goward claimed that there is “no room for nostalgia” when discussing the fate of Millers Point. Goward cites what she believes to be only “short term anguish [the move] may cause some tenants”.
Barney doesn’t agree.
“I remember one day they had about 10 kids in ‘em,” Barney says, describing the billy carts that he and his childhood friends used to race down some of Millers Point’s steepest hills. The carts were home-made, with timber from the wharves and metal ball bearings from the maritime machine shop.
Barras, they were called. “There’s no footy oval, there’s no cricket pitch. So our playground was the streets,” Barney says.
Throughout its history, Millers Point’s wharf lineage has been its backbone. Wharf workers, including Barney’s father, used to make their way down onto Hickson Road at half-past six each morning to line up for work along ‘The Hungry Mile’, which leads from Walsh Bay to Darling Harbour.
Barney’s mother worked nearby in the wharf canteen. Her family was poor, as were most others in the suburb.
As a baby, Barney’s sister often slept in a dresser drawer. The Maritime Services Board owned much of the housing in Millers Point until an audit in the early 1980s made residents Housing Commission (now Housing NSW) tenants by default.
Barney, who has worked in the city council, in wool stores and with a local electrician, also ended up working in the waterfront around shipyards. “These houses were purposefully built for the maritime industry workers, people who worked in the wharves, went to sea, worked in stores, all manner of maritime industry,” he says.
Decades before his waterfront work, Barney and his childhood chums used to sneak past the wharf watchmen to get the best fishing spots. They would race their bikes around the streets of Millers Point, and learn to swim down at the Metal Wharf on Walsh Bay, which now houses offices and expensive condominiums.
“That was all our fun, and we wouldn’t swap it for anything else because it was really, really a good time,” he says. “A hard time but a good time.”
“It has been a wonderful life,” he says, before quickly self-countering. “It’s been hard... we’ve been blamed for a lot of things in this area since it first evolved, and one was the bubonic plague. Then they found out it was the fleas on the rats.... No one wanted to live here.”
The New South Wales state government has already begun searching for potential buyers for the high-value properties in and around Millers Point, asking for expressions of interest in both private and commercial circles. Beginning on the 13th May this year, the state government also began showing prospective one-bedroom public housing apartments to the Millers Points residents who are being moved out.
Between 10am and 12pm each Tuesday, in the Phillips Room of the Sirius building, the properties are shown on television screens. Residents interested in the apartments have to bid against each other, before the bids are collected and the winners drawn from a ballot.
Locals are calling it a “public housing lotto”. What’s more, if you miss the lotto the Housing department will decide where you’ll end up moving to.
The blue government-produced banner in the centre of the Phillips Room reads: My Property Choice.
Many Millers Point residents are concerned that a number of the places they’re being shown are in the Sydney suburb of Redfern, which has a crime rate well above the state average, while Millers Point is well below.
Yet, with over 57,000 people on the public housing waiting list, there’s a crucial unanswered question, “Why are they finding us places [to move to] but they can’t find people on the waiting list places?” Barney asks.
Barney wants to live out the rest of his life in Millers Point - to “age in place” is the phrase preferred by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore. Yet there’s an overarching fear that residents can only go along with the state government’s ‘decide what you want or we’ll decide for you’ proposal.
“We’re fearful that the vulnerable people will be signed up and put in one of these places, what we call ‘rat holes’,” Barney says with a smirk. The people who built Millers Point now feel as worthless as the rats who once caused them so much trouble.
Elderly locals are quietly gathering for Thursday lunch as I leave the Harry Jensen Activity Centre. Outside, on the painted wooden panels of the bus shelter, a message has been written in dark permanent marker.
“People before Profit!”
resourced: https://newmatilda.com/2014/08/16/millers-point-community-sale
In an attempt to rid the city of the bubonic plague, professional rat catchers either threw the rats’ muddied corpses into Sydney harbour or destroyed them in special rat-friendly incinerators.
Those very rats, covered in plague-spreading fleas, first made land on the wharves which still hug the suburb of Millers Point.
Many local homes were marked for cleansing, disinfecting, demolition and burning, as the plague went on to kill 103 people in eight months. Today, homes in Millers Point are still being marked out, but for a different type of cleansing.
The New South Wales state government will auction off 293 high-value public housing properties in Millers Point, Gloucester Street and the Sirius building in The Rocks over a two year period, forcing 590 residents to be relocated.
Many of these residents, and even some whose homes aren’t being sold, have tied yellow ribbons to their front doors in solidarity against the state government’s plan.
Aside from such a ribbon, the red-brick frontage of 14 High Street is decorated with three small Australian flags and the words “NO SALE OF PUBLIC HOUSING” stencilled onto a white banner.
The home, like many others in the suburb, has barely changed as high-rises have climbed into the cityscape around it. Number 14 belongs to Barney Gardner, a 65-year-old who has lived in Millers Point since his birth.
Barney has moved house only once, making the trip from 12 High Street to 14 High Street in 1990.
You never stray far from the tree.
Sandwiched between commercial tourist precinct The Rocks on its east and the forthcoming high-roller-haven Barangaroo to its west, Millers Point is comparatively quiet, placid and residential. It’s dotted with slick offices but lined with pastel and earth-coloured terraces. The homes here are heritage listed, “But the people are too,” Barney says. “So if they get rid of the people, who’s gonna tell the stories?”
IMAGE: Angela Nicholson.
Approaching the Harry Jensen Activity Centre on Argyle Street, a large banner is visible across the centre’s fence-line - “OUR COMMUNITY NOT 4 SALE”. Inside, the space is weighted by a sterile linoleum floor, metal-framed chairs crowding small round tables, and a kitchen to the rear.
A whiteboard on the wall reads, “THURSDAY: Roast pork with gravy and apple, or french lamb casserole, and veggies.”
Barney twice offers coffee or tea or water or biscuits before we sit. He’s wearing a plaid flannel shirt, and speaks calmly. But just over a week before we spoke, he was standing outside Sydney Town Hall, yelling into a megaphone and comparing the state government’s plan to Nazism.
“We’re gonna stay in our places FOREVER,” he and over a dozen protesters shouted, their voices coldly subsumed by the wind.
In March, Pru Goward, then Minister for Family and Community Services, revealed that the state government will relocate the 590 evicted residents and reinvest the proceeds from the sale of their homes back into the social housing system, which has over 57,000 people on its waiting list.
Affected residents immediately received a letter from Family & Community Services titled “MOVING TO A NEW HOME”.
The letter opened with, “I am writing to you today to inform you that government owned properties in Millers Point area [sic] will be sold, including the home you occupy.”
Three residents died and two others were hospitalised in the following weeks.
“It can’t be directly attributed to what’s going on, but we know [the letter] did affect them,” Barney says, shuffling the newspapers and documents which sit in piles on the table between us.
As the convener of the Millers Point, Dawes Point & The Rocks Public Housing Tenants Group,
Barney speaks for many residents who cannot represent themselves.
According to Barney, Millers Point is “under attack” from a “blitzkrieg” whose main tactic is harassment via Specialist Relocations Officers, aka the government “goons”.
“We don’t wanna have a violent confrontation, but if they force that upon us that’s their doing, not ours," he says. “We’ll just be linking arms and chaining ourselves to gates and doorways.”
Specialist social agency Cred Community Planning were commissioned by the Department of Housing in 2012 to develop a Social Impact Assessment for Millers Point.
The assessment was only made publicly available on the day of Pru Goward’s sale announcement. Cred’s assessment declared that the public housing in Millers Point “is not generally considered suitable as social housing dwellings”, due to the expense of internal upgrades, high maintenance liabilities, and the fact that many buildings aren’t Building Code of Australia compliant.
In her sale announcement, Goward claimed that almost $7 million had been spent on property maintenance over the last two years alone.
Cred recommended that some of the funds from the sale of homes in and around Millers Point be used to build new social housing properties nearby, especially for elderly residents, adding that they may experience “ongoing negative impacts of stress and poor health outcomes”.
The state government dismissed this recommendation, and said that they want elderly residents to “build connections in their new communities”.
Cred’s assessment also noted that 55 per cent of Millers Point tenants have lived in the area for over 10 years, and that 12 households have lived in the suburb for at least five generations.
For many residents, the state government’s plan to sell their homes is not only an attack on the basis of their livelihoods but an attack on their emotional and historical links to the suburb.
For many, including Barney, it’s a losing battle.
“My mind wanders to despair because I see the elderly people here. The despair and the look in their eyes, the sound of their voice. But that helps me keep focused on what we’re trying to do,” he says. “Would the Americans allow a McDonalds to be built on Plymouth Rock?” Barney suddenly asks.
“[Millers Point] is only going to be, eventually, for the rich,” he says. “The root of all evil in this is
money, nothing else.”
In an opinion piece published by Fairfax Media, Pru Goward claimed that there is “no room for nostalgia” when discussing the fate of Millers Point. Goward cites what she believes to be only “short term anguish [the move] may cause some tenants”.
Barney doesn’t agree.
Barney Gardner, born and bred in Millers Point, but being moved out of the suburb as the NSW Government sells the community out from under him. IMAGE: Angela Nicholson.
“I remember one day they had about 10 kids in ‘em,” Barney says, describing the billy carts that he and his childhood friends used to race down some of Millers Point’s steepest hills. The carts were home-made, with timber from the wharves and metal ball bearings from the maritime machine shop.
Barras, they were called. “There’s no footy oval, there’s no cricket pitch. So our playground was the streets,” Barney says.
Throughout its history, Millers Point’s wharf lineage has been its backbone. Wharf workers, including Barney’s father, used to make their way down onto Hickson Road at half-past six each morning to line up for work along ‘The Hungry Mile’, which leads from Walsh Bay to Darling Harbour.
Barney’s mother worked nearby in the wharf canteen. Her family was poor, as were most others in the suburb.
As a baby, Barney’s sister often slept in a dresser drawer. The Maritime Services Board owned much of the housing in Millers Point until an audit in the early 1980s made residents Housing Commission (now Housing NSW) tenants by default.
Barney, who has worked in the city council, in wool stores and with a local electrician, also ended up working in the waterfront around shipyards. “These houses were purposefully built for the maritime industry workers, people who worked in the wharves, went to sea, worked in stores, all manner of maritime industry,” he says.
Decades before his waterfront work, Barney and his childhood chums used to sneak past the wharf watchmen to get the best fishing spots. They would race their bikes around the streets of Millers Point, and learn to swim down at the Metal Wharf on Walsh Bay, which now houses offices and expensive condominiums.
“That was all our fun, and we wouldn’t swap it for anything else because it was really, really a good time,” he says. “A hard time but a good time.”
“It has been a wonderful life,” he says, before quickly self-countering. “It’s been hard... we’ve been blamed for a lot of things in this area since it first evolved, and one was the bubonic plague. Then they found out it was the fleas on the rats.... No one wanted to live here.”
The New South Wales state government has already begun searching for potential buyers for the high-value properties in and around Millers Point, asking for expressions of interest in both private and commercial circles. Beginning on the 13th May this year, the state government also began showing prospective one-bedroom public housing apartments to the Millers Points residents who are being moved out.
Between 10am and 12pm each Tuesday, in the Phillips Room of the Sirius building, the properties are shown on television screens. Residents interested in the apartments have to bid against each other, before the bids are collected and the winners drawn from a ballot.
Locals are calling it a “public housing lotto”. What’s more, if you miss the lotto the Housing department will decide where you’ll end up moving to.
The blue government-produced banner in the centre of the Phillips Room reads: My Property Choice.
Many Millers Point residents are concerned that a number of the places they’re being shown are in the Sydney suburb of Redfern, which has a crime rate well above the state average, while Millers Point is well below.
Yet, with over 57,000 people on the public housing waiting list, there’s a crucial unanswered question, “Why are they finding us places [to move to] but they can’t find people on the waiting list places?” Barney asks.
Barney wants to live out the rest of his life in Millers Point - to “age in place” is the phrase preferred by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore. Yet there’s an overarching fear that residents can only go along with the state government’s ‘decide what you want or we’ll decide for you’ proposal.
“We’re fearful that the vulnerable people will be signed up and put in one of these places, what we call ‘rat holes’,” Barney says with a smirk. The people who built Millers Point now feel as worthless as the rats who once caused them so much trouble.
Elderly locals are quietly gathering for Thursday lunch as I leave the Harry Jensen Activity Centre. Outside, on the painted wooden panels of the bus shelter, a message has been written in dark permanent marker.
“People before Profit!”
resourced: https://newmatilda.com/2014/08/16/millers-point-community-sale
Lend Lease baulking at providing affordable homes in Barangaroo
Nicole Hasham
Heritage rules scrapped for Millers Point buyers
Packer's casino approval one of the fastest in history
The prospect that lower-income earners could enjoy a pad at Barangaroo is in doubt after it emerged Lend Lease is wavering on a commitment to build affordable housing next to James Packer's luxury casino.
The change in stance follows an admission by the state government that a taskforce set up to help solve Sydney’s housing affordability crisis has not met for more than a year, or delivered the housing policy it promised, despite previously saying "doing nothing" was not an option.
Fairfax Media has learnt that Lend Lease has been eyeing off locations away from Barangaroo on which to build the affordable housing component it pledged in return for developing public harbourside land.
Under current approvals for Barangaroo south, 2.3 per cent of 100,000 square metres of residential floor area must be “key worker housing” – homes rented to lower-income public sector workers such as police, nurses, teachers and paramedics.
However it has emerged Lend Lease has been in talks with not-for-profit housing groups about building the homes off-site – potentially allowing it to reap a greater profit from the Barangaroo residential floorspace.
It is understood the developer has considered nearby Millers Point as a potential site. The government is controversially relocating 465 public housing tenants from that suburb as part of a property sell-off.
A source at one community housing provider confirmed the organisation had met with Lend Lease, but questioned whether heritage restrictions at Millers Point would allow affordable housing development.
The source said there had always been questions over how affordable housing, which is often set as a percentage of market rent, would be provided at Barangaroo.
“If market rent is $1000 for a one-bedroom unit, 80 per cent of [that] is still not affordable,” the source said, adding “you’d have to have very small units”.
A Lend Lease spokesman confirmed it had held discussions with government agencies and community housing groups about off-site housing at Barangaroo, but no "deal" had been reached at Millers Point.
University of Sydney urban planning professor Peter Phibbs said the affordable housing commitment at Barangaroo was very low by international standards. If low-cost homes were to be built off-site, they should remain in the inner city, he said.
Professor Phibbs, a member of the affordable housing taskforce established in 2011, said the government had “basically given up on it”, adding “I wouldn’t describe it as active”.
A report by the taskforce in 2012 said Sydney faced an "acute" housing affordability issue and "doing nothing" was not an option.
A Planning Department spokesman did not explain why the taskforce had not met since June last year, nor why it had not delivered the policy it promised. He said affordable housing was being delivered under existing policies.
Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said Lend Lease would enjoy a "huge windfall" if it was allowed to dodge its affordable housing provision at Barangaroo. If the government “is going to let them get away with" building low-cost homes at Millers Point, the rent should be cheap enough to allow existing public housing tenants to live there, he said.
Resourced: http://www.smh.Heritage rules scrapped for Millers Point buyerscom.au/nsw/lend-lease-baulking-at-providing-affordable-homes-in-barangaroo-20140815-1049rr.html
The change in stance follows an admission by the state government that a taskforce set up to help solve Sydney’s housing affordability crisis has not met for more than a year, or delivered the housing policy it promised, despite previously saying "doing nothing" was not an option.
Fairfax Media has learnt that Lend Lease has been eyeing off locations away from Barangaroo on which to build the affordable housing component it pledged in return for developing public harbourside land.
Under current approvals for Barangaroo south, 2.3 per cent of 100,000 square metres of residential floor area must be “key worker housing” – homes rented to lower-income public sector workers such as police, nurses, teachers and paramedics.
However it has emerged Lend Lease has been in talks with not-for-profit housing groups about building the homes off-site – potentially allowing it to reap a greater profit from the Barangaroo residential floorspace.
It is understood the developer has considered nearby Millers Point as a potential site. The government is controversially relocating 465 public housing tenants from that suburb as part of a property sell-off.
A source at one community housing provider confirmed the organisation had met with Lend Lease, but questioned whether heritage restrictions at Millers Point would allow affordable housing development.
The source said there had always been questions over how affordable housing, which is often set as a percentage of market rent, would be provided at Barangaroo.
“If market rent is $1000 for a one-bedroom unit, 80 per cent of [that] is still not affordable,” the source said, adding “you’d have to have very small units”.
A Lend Lease spokesman confirmed it had held discussions with government agencies and community housing groups about off-site housing at Barangaroo, but no "deal" had been reached at Millers Point.
University of Sydney urban planning professor Peter Phibbs said the affordable housing commitment at Barangaroo was very low by international standards. If low-cost homes were to be built off-site, they should remain in the inner city, he said.
Professor Phibbs, a member of the affordable housing taskforce established in 2011, said the government had “basically given up on it”, adding “I wouldn’t describe it as active”.
A report by the taskforce in 2012 said Sydney faced an "acute" housing affordability issue and "doing nothing" was not an option.
A Planning Department spokesman did not explain why the taskforce had not met since June last year, nor why it had not delivered the policy it promised. He said affordable housing was being delivered under existing policies.
Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said Lend Lease would enjoy a "huge windfall" if it was allowed to dodge its affordable housing provision at Barangaroo. If the government “is going to let them get away with" building low-cost homes at Millers Point, the rent should be cheap enough to allow existing public housing tenants to live there, he said.
Resourced: http://www.smh.Heritage rules scrapped for Millers Point buyerscom.au/nsw/lend-lease-baulking-at-providing-affordable-homes-in-barangaroo-20140815-1049rr.html
Lend Lease eyes Millers Point: report
Lend Lease could fill its requirements for low-cost housing associated with its Barangaroo project by buying a nearby row of terrace houses, according to The Australian Financial Review.
According to the paper, Lend Lease is considering a $50 million purchase of terrace houses at Sydney's Miller Point, with sources saying discussion over a deal has been ongoing for several months.
Current plans require Lend Lease to set aside at least 10 per cent of its Barangaroo apartments to be sold at affordable prices to lower income earners.
A deal, which could see the developer pass on administration of the properties to a community housing provider, would enable it to shift lower priced properties away from its main Barangaroo site, the AFR reports.
Resoured: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2014/8/15/dataroom/lend-lease-eyes-millers-point-report
Thursday, 14 August 2014
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]
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
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
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.
|
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
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
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)
RESOURCED: http://www.newsmaker.com.au/news/31689/governments-callous-coverup-in-millers-point-revealed#.VAaPsBqKCUk
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
Tuesday, 12 August 2014
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.
“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. |
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 |
“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. |
“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 |
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. |
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
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
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.
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
 |
| Great history: John Arnold at work on a Millers Point house. Photo: Tamara Dean |
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.
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
“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.”
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