Barangaroo Point or Millers Point: new name sparks messy debate

February 3, 2015
Leesha McKenny
 

Landmark location: Barangaroo headland taking shape. Photo: Peter Rae

Months after its grand naming ceremony, Barangaroo's headland has become Sydney's most prominent moot point.

Despite being "officially named" Barangaroo Point by Premier Mike Baird in November, the name cannot be finalised until after the public has its say this month.

In the meantime, the process has sparked a boycott by the local Aboriginal land council, a dispute with Millers Point residents, and led the City of Sydney to directly contradict Mr Baird's office.





Official name not so official: The proposed names in the area.

Any further opposition during this month's compulsory public consultation period has the potential to embarrass the state government, which also went ahead with the naming without first securing a formal recommendation from the NSW Geographical Names Board.

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A board spokeswoman said it received the submission on November 18, just 10 days before "Barangaroo Point" was unveiled on a sandstone block by Mr Baird and former Prime Minister Paul Keating.

"There have been some reports in the media that the naming proposal has been finalised. This is not the case," the spokeswoman said.

The month-long public consultation period, which will inform the board's recommendation to the Planning Minister, only begins on February 11.

But Mr Baird's office said it planned to press ahead with the name, even if this was in the face of strong public opposition.

Last year's announcement followed formal approval by the Premier and Barangaroo Delivery Authority (BDA) and "in-principle" approval from the names board, Mr Baird's spokesman said.

"It followed consultation with local Aboriginal groups and the City of Sydney," he said.
However, a council spokesman said: "The City of Sydney was not consulted over the NSW Government's naming of Barangaroo Point".

Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council chief executive Nathan Moran said his organisation boycotted the naming ceremony because of the "total lack of respect" shown when organisers enlisted someone from the state's central west to perform the "Welcome to Country".

"It didn't go down real well with us," said Mr Moran, who would discuss the issue at a meeting with the BDA later this week.

"It left a very bad stain on our relations with them."

The names board has also confirmed itreceived a secondary naming proposal for "Barangaroo Point Reserve" on January 27, despite the Premier's November 28 media release: "Barangaroo Point: New Harbourside Park officially named".

Nearby resident Chris Hinkley accused the government of "jumping the gun", adding the area already had a point: Millers Point.

"If all the government literature says 'Barangaroo Point' ... it's eventually going to default to Barangaroo Point and the name Millers Point will just be … something people look up in history books," he said.

Associate Professor Michael Darcy, the director of the urban research centre at the University of Western Sydney, said Millers Point residents who opposed the new name "have an argument".
Dr Darcy said the board must consider factors like historical continuity and possible confusion when making its recommendation to Planning Minister Pru Goward, who has the final say.

The designation "point" in the new name "is the centre of contention and possible confusion," he said.
"There are alternatives. You don't have to call it Barangaroo Point," Dr Darcy said.

A BDA spokesman said neither Millers Point the suburb nor the geographical feature were being replaced.

"We have created a new harbour headland and harbour coves and in doing so have also created a new point," the spokesman said.

Names of other Barangaroo landmarks selected through a public competition – Rowntrees Dock, Barton Street, Scotch Row and Exchange Place – will also be open to public comment from February 11.
RESOURCED: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/barangaroo-point-or-millers-point-new-name-sparks-messy-debate-20150203-12z3um.html 

Sydney's oldest Catholic church dismisses closure speculation

Published 14 January 2015  John Robertson


Inside St Brigid's Church, Sydney.

Father Ray Chapman, parish priest of Sydney's St Brigid's Church, confirmed on Tuesday that Australia's oldest Catholic place of worship will remain open and services will continue.


The reassurance was in response to parishioners who raised concerns over falling attendance at Sunday Mass.


"There are no plans to close the church and there are no plans to stop Masses ... There has been a decline because people have moved but to indicate that the church is going to close or Masses will be reduced is totally incorrect," Fr Chapman told reporters.


The mass relocation is part of the outcome of the Baird government's decision to sell public housing in the area after an assessment found that maintenance costs were too high. Family and Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton explained on Tuesday that "For every house sold in Millers Point, you could build three houses in many other suburbs in Sydney."


According to the state government, the $500 million revenue from the sale of the 293 properties at Millers Point, as well as the Rocks, will be reinvested back into the New South Wales public housing system to assist the 58,000 applicants currently on the social housing waiting list. The Sydney Morning Herald noted that the exact nature of this reinvestment has not been made clear.


The media spoke with longtime St Brigid's Church worshippers who recalled a time when the congregation numbers were healthier. Parishioner and Miller's Point homeowner Kelli Haynes has been an active parishioner for over 10 years, and said that she has seen the attendance at Sunday mass drop from 50 people to less than 20.


In terms of the effect of the public housing sale, Father Chapman said that "maybe ten people have left." The parish priest explained that St Brigid's Church "is a small congregation but has been for a number of years." About 600 public housing tenants from the Miller's Point suburb where the church is located will be transferred to other suburbs.


RESOURCED: http://www.christiantoday.com.au/article/priest.of.oldest.catholic.church.dismisses.closure.speculation/19317.htm

Facebook swap shakes up public housing

BY Joe Bourke
January 15, 2015


Source: skyscrapercity.com

 A Facebook community where people can swap their housing commission residences has emerged amid State Government public housing sell-offs, giving tenant their choice of accommodation.

‘Housing commission swap Sydney’ was established by Sameer Sayadi in December 2014 and in its first five weeks has gained almost 3,000 Facebook followers.

 As a former housing commission resident Mr Sayadi said that he understands what the tenants go through and that the page was established to give everybody an opportunity to find the most suitable home.

“My Mum still lives in housing commission and so I sort of understand and know what people go through – they don’t really have the option of picking their houses, it’s all up to the authority.

“Where my Mum is now, she’s not happy. She’d love to move out to another place on ground level because she currently lives on the top level. I want to create something where I can connect the two parties, and that’s all it is.” Mr Sayadi said.

 Greens Councillor Irene Doutney is a public housing tenant and said the page was a positive step for many who would otherwise have to wait many years for a change of location.

“We had one person in my building who waited for ten years to get a transfer, so I think anything where people take power in their own hands and form a community and try and co-operate within that community is a good thing.”

 “If you can work something out with another tenant then that’s a good ting because if you wait for the system to do it then you’re waiting forever.” Clr Doutney said.

 Mr Sayadi said that he hopes the community on the page will grow to a much bigger number so as to make the process easier for more people.

“3000 likes is nothing when there are hundreds of thousands of people in housing commission. It’d be good if I could get some sort of exposure so that more people could see it and connect.”

 “You can imagine, 50 000 likes and it’d be really busy. The housing commission authorities get bombarded by people wanting to swap and it gets very hard for them to deal with.”

 “If a page like this gets really successful then it takes a lot off the housing commission authority’s shoulder.” Mr Sayadi said

 Housing commission in Sydney has been a hot topic ever since the announcement of the planned Government sell off of the Millers Point housing estate and release of a controversial white paper released last year by the NSW Department of Family and community Services.

 Clr Doutney has been vocal on public housing, and said that it is essential in Sydney in order to keep the city diverse and take care of those in need.

“Most people in public housing won’t be able to survive in the private market and yet they’re diminishing the stock and not replacing it.

“[The Millers point sale] just makes the city even more monocultural for the rich. It just takes away the diversity and social justice aspect of having a community that’s got everybody in it, and those houses certainly will be sold to the rich and to corporations and international buyers and then that whole area has just been socially cleansed.” Clr Doutney said.

 With his Facebook page, Mr Sayadi hopes to make finding the right public housing easier for more people.

“The housing prices and living costs are really expensive and without housing commission, many more people would be living on the streets.”

 “It’s really hard, and housing commission is very important,” he said.


RESOURCED: http://www.altmedia.net.au/facebook-swap-shakes-up-public-housing/101884 

Millers Point: Australia's oldest Catholic church under threat, worshippers say

January 11, 2015
Nicole Hasham


St Brigid's was completed in 1835, and is the oldest surviving place of Catholic worship in Australasia. Photo: Dean Sewell

Millers Point: a community under the hammer

Remembering Millers Point

NSW government rejects option allowing Millers Point residents to stay

The bubonic plague threatened the congregation of Australia's oldest Catholic church a century ago but, in the end, bureaucratic indifference may be its downfall, churchgoers say.


Millers Point residents fear that their diminishing community may force the closure of the church. Photo: Dean Sewell

    
Worshippers at the historic St Brigid's church at Millers Point say the Baird government's decision to relocate about 600 public housing tenants and sell their homes has decimated numbers at Sunday morning mass. They fear for the future of the 180-year-old institution.

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"I've been a parishioner there for 45 years. Our numbers have depleted … it's very sad," said Dawn Caruana, a Millers Point public housing tenant.

The sandstone church in Kent Street has hosted Caruana family christenings, confirmations and weddings, and the funerals of Ms Caruana's husband and young son who were killed in a car accident in 1979.

Ms Caruana, 69, said the church community kept her afloat after the tragedy.

"They rallied around and babysat, did the cooking, washing and cleaning on a roster – it was like one big family. And it went on for months," she said.

"I would be devastated [to move away from the church]. I don't know how I'd cope."

St Brigid's was completed in 1835, and is the oldest surviving place of Catholic worship in Australasia.

When the plague broke out at Millers Point in 1900, the government resumed and demolished much of the suburb, but St Brigid's survived.

Parishioner Kelli Haynes owns a home in the area and has attended the church for more than a decade. She said up to 50 people once attended Sunday mass, but it now attracts fewer than 20.

When contacted by Fairfax Media last month, the church rejected suggestions it might close its doors.

 However Ms Haynes feared the closure was inevitable, or that services would become less frequent.
A broader decline in church attendance may have contributed to falling numbers, but the drop had been most marked since relocations began, Ms Haynes said, adding that even if new residents joined the church, the congregation was losing "its relationships, its history".

The government says proceeds from the sale of 293 properties at Millers Point and the Rocks will be reinvested into the social housing system. But it has failed to explain exactly how the money, expected to top $500 million, will be spent.

The Department of Family and Community Services did not respond when asked how many Millers Point residents have been relocated so far.

Meanwhile, the NSW Ombudsman has asked the department to improve its dealings with Millers Point residents after an investigation found its relocation practices wanting.

The Redfern Legal Centre had complained that NSW Housing was not properly informing tenants of their right to an appeal in the event that alternative housing offers were rejected and their tenancy was being terminated.

Some residents have refused department requests for relocation interviews. The centre alleged Housing NSW was coercing tenants by arranging property inspections – which tenants cannot legally refuse – then conducting relocation interviews during the inspection.

The Ombudsman told Housing NSW to include appeal rights information in its statements to tenants, and to cease attempts to combine relocation interviews with inspections.

A department spokesman said the Ombudsman noted there was no implication of wrongdoing by the agency or its staff. He said a leaflet explaining tenants' right of review was sent in the same envelope as relocation statements.

Redfern Legal Centre tenant advocate Martin Barker said many Millers Point residents were ill or elderly, and to "try and force your way into their house isn't a reasonable way of approaching [a discussion about] their housing needs."

RESOURCED: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nsw/millers-point-australias-oldest-catholic-church-under-threat-worshippers-say-20150111-12k03f.html

Happy New Year, Brown Couch readers

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

And we're back... well, almost. The Brown Couch will be running at holiday pace until the end of January.

The most intriguing news from the holiday period was the story of the tenants and their houses at Welfare Street, Homebush West.

 
The 12 properties were built in the inter-war years to house local abattoir workers and later passed into the hands of the Sydney Olympic Park Authority – along with some long-standing tenancies. Last year SOPA sold all the properties, by tender, to HBW No 1 Pty Ltd, part of the Centennial Property Group, which quickly arranged for each property to be on-sold individually – for almost double what it paid for them.

There were angry scenes at the auctions and some of the tenants are digging in – it appears that they may be protected tenants under the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1948, which affords greater protection against evictions (and rent increases) for the relatively few tenancies to which the Act still applies. Proceedings to determine the legal status of the tenants is on foot: the tenants are assisted by our colleagues at the Inner West Tenants Advice and Advocacy at Marrickville Legal Centre, which has a strong record in protected tenancy matters – read more about their work here. The other party is represented by Sevag Chalabian of Lands Legal – read more about his recent work here.

John Birmingham has written a comment on the story so far, and has captured nicely the disparity of the forces involved; he also ties in the other big news of the holiday period, which was the Federal Government's decision to defund the peak housing NGOs National Shelter, Homelessness Australia and the Community Housing Federation of Australia. Read the joint statement of those organisations here.

The decision to defund the housing NGOs comes as the Federal Government prepares White Papers both on the tax system and on the Australian Federation – with specific reference to government responsibilities for housing and homelessness services. The defunding is a rotten decision: bad for housing policy, bad for the millions of people who need housing policy to work better, and bad for our democracy.

2014: The year Sydney built a city without a foundation.

source:

By Elliott Brennan

Premier Mike Baird came good on two of his longest standing promises last year. In 2011 as Treasurer of NSW he announced that the state was ‘open for business’, and whilst Barangaroo was certainly symptomatic of this Liberal drive, 2014 was the year that the effort went into hyper drive. How did Barry O’Farrell, Mr Baird and their government open the state for business? By opening the city of Sydney to a redevelopment frenzy, thus almost fulfilling his second promise to make Syndey “a city under construction.”

The wheels have been set into motion for a raft of massive development projects that will have huge implications for Sydney. The Bays Precinct will potentially house 16,000 new dwellings, putting Leichhardt’s housing density quite literally through the roof.

Parramatta Road is set to receive 60,000 new dwellings, or a potential 156,000 new residents. It is prophesied WestConnex will ease the congestion that the housing development would cause, but budget holes suggest that the exorbitant tolls needed to pay for the project will drive people by the masses back to the toll-free Parramatta Road.

Harold Park in Glebe will bring another 2,500 people to the inner west. The Central to Eveleigh developments will create a population boom along a narrow corridor of the inner city, adjacent to that Green Square will bring 53,000 new residents of its own.

All of these developments in combination may prove to be pie in the sky. But bearing in mind the harrowing prediction that Sydney will need 600,000 new homes for 1.6 million extra people in the next two decades, all of these new residents look set to rely on Sydney’s antiquated and failing amenities.

It took the State Government and the City of Sydney a full year to negotiate the relocation of Ultimo Public School, which is already bursting at the seams. Bickering between two levels of government has pushed the whole project back a year and edged the inner city closer to exceeding the complete capacity of its education institutions. The stage is now set for the development of a new inner city high school with predictions that the higher education will reach capacity in the inner city by 2018 if nothing is done.

Demand for social housing is already well over capacity with a waiting list of over 55,000 people that will only grow as the price of property increases. In response to this overflow, the State Government has slashed support for the sector in a harsh White Paper released at the end of last year. Under the new proposal, individuals with prior drug convictions will be banned from certain estates. And most controversially, the State Government has begun selling off the social housing at Millers Point.
A world class city needs to provide shelter, healthcare, education, and transport for its citizenry.

When Sydney grows beyond its capacity, none of these will be adequately provided. As the Government works quickly to sell off every last parcel of free land remaining in the city to those who will pay top dollar, the pockets of developers are lined and profits are maximised. But Sydney’s standing as a global city, or even humanitarian city is diminishing rapidly.

In 2014 we set about developing a city. In 2015 we need to set about building the foundation for a city.

RESOURCED: http://www.altmedia.net.au/2014-the-year-sydney-built-a-city-without-a-foundation/101708

Elderly Welfare St tenant to fight off eviction tribunal hearing

John Higgins, a long time resident of Welfare Street, Homebush, is fighting against plans to evict him. Photo: Sahlan Hayes


John Higgins has lived in his house since he was a baby and has no plans to leave.
Mr Higgins, 67, is one of the tenants refusing to vacate five homes in Welfare Street and Flemington Road in Homebush after wealthy property investors took over their previously state government-owned homes in June.
"I'm not moving out. I'm in a big battle alongside my neighbours. We're standing together on this as protected tenants," Mr Higgins told Fairfax Media.
Protected tenants have continuing leases and pay below-market rent, in this case about  $550 a month. They cannot be evicted except on certain specific grounds.

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Mr Higgins said he was offered $10,000 to move out in early December. He is the only remaining tenant to be offered cash, and to receive a notice to attend the tribunal for eviction proceedings.
"I didn't take the money because I'm sticking by my neighbours. And we know our rights," he said.
The five families were listed as protected tenants in the sales contract when their homes were among 12 purchased from the Sydney Olympic Park Authority for $5.8 million in June.
The selling agent acting for the first buyer, HBW1 and the Centennial Property Group, served all tenants with negotiable termination notices in November. Seven of the families moved out within the 30 days specified. CPG sold the 12 houses to individual buyers a few weeks later for a total of $10.5 million.
On the day of the sale, the property group's selling agents, Strathfield Partners, said they had no intention to evict anyone.
However, a legal letter obtained by Fairfax Media reveals the new owners informed Mr Higgins of their plans to evict him just three days before Christmas.
In the letter, Sevag Chalabian of Lands Legal argued Mr Higgins ceased to be a protected tenant when the Sydney Olympic Park Authority bought the site in 1989 because this constituted a new residential agreement.
Mr Higgins and his lawyers at the Inner West Tenants' Advice & Advocacy Service disagreed and were scheduled to defend his tenancy status at the the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in the first week of January.
"We're still on our lease from 1948. It's the only one my dad or me ever signed," Mr Higgins said.
Advocate Martin Baker told Fairfax Media they believe Mr Higgins is a protected tenant under the 1948 act as a child of the original lease owner.
"Our client is a protected tenant and is entitled to remain in his home. The eviction proceedings commenced were misconceived and would have been vigorously defended," Mr Baker said.
But within the final days of 2014 or  the first few days of the new year, the tribunal hearing was adjourned and is yet to be rescheduled.
Strathfield Partners managing director Robert Pignataro declined to explain why they had adjourned their actions to evict Mr Higgins.
"We're not evicting anyone like we said at the auction," Mr Pignataro told Fairfax Media.
"But if the so-called protected tenants want to leave their tenancy, the old owner, Centennial Property Group, is happy to come to an agreement [for financial compensation] with them."
If and when the case is rescheduled, the first hearing would focus on whether Mr Higgins was a protected tenant. If it is proved that Mr Higgins is a protected tenant, his eviction would require court action rather than tribunal proceedings.

Remembering Millers Point

January 3, 2015   Drew Rooke




Six generations of history: Colin and Terry Tooher at their home in Millers Point earlier this year. Photo: Tamara Dean

                                "C'mon mate. I'll show ya round," says Colin Tooher while chewing the last mouthful of a sausage and onion roll. He is wearing blue work shorts, a loose sky-blue T-shirt, and stained runners with a pair of Sydney Roosters football socks pulled to his knees. Locals know him as the Millers Point Mayor. He has lived in the same house in Windmill Street since he was born in 1950.

We've just attended a community meeting in the Abraham Mott Hall on Argyle Place to discuss what action will be taken in response to the NSW Coalition government's recent announcement that 293 public housing dwellings in the prized harbourside suburbs of Millers Point and The Rocks will be sold off. Col's house is among them.

The meeting saw impassioned speeches from the independent Member for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, the City of Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore, and numerous locals, who accused the government of transforming Sydney into an enclave for the rich. The speakers argued the need to protect this state heritage area, which in 2007 was described as "a priceless asset of the people of New South Wales and Australia" in Housing NSW's Conservation Management Guidelines. It's a "priceless asset" because of the extraordinary range of intact architecture that dates from the 1830s, when Millers Point was established as one of Australia's first residential suburbs by dockworkers, seaman, merchants and labourers.




Encroaching city: Skyscrapers loom at the edge of Millers Point. Photo: Lisa Maree Williams

Sense of history: Millers Point was one of Australia's first residential suburbs, home to by dockworkers, seaman, merchants and labourers. Photo: Brett Hemmings

 The local community also has a unique degree of ancestral continuity with colonial Sydney.

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"See this black asphalt here?"

"Well, it wasn't always like this," says Col, walking along Argyle Place. He points over to a recently filled hole in the road. "Come have a look 'ere." He stands over it, inspecting it like a jeweller would a diamond and then throws his hands in the air. "They've covered them all up now, you see. These roads used to be made of wooden bricks for the horse and cart to bring the goods off the wharves up into town. You wouldn't 'av known that, would ya?' Col laughs.

We continue on through the Kent Street intersection, stopping on the corner of Argyle Lane. Rising in the distance like an urban monolith is a multistorey apartment block – the entrance to Sydney's skyscraper forest.

Col turns around and faces the row of shops between Argyle Lane and  High Street. "I'll tell you something about these," he says. "On the corner there was Mrs Smith's pies. And mate, absolutely tip-top. Who knows how many of them they'd sell a day." Next to that was the newspaper shop, then the bootmaker and, at the end, the deli. Across the road was the barber and the butcher. Pants were the only thing Col had to go into town for. "It was like a kid from the bush goin' into the big smoke," he says.

Col admits that the place is different nowadays. "But it's still like an ol' country town – one of the only places of its sort left in Sydney."

Col leads the way down the narrow footpath that passes their front doors. The houses face south and are blocked from sunlight; the air here is chilly. Like most others in the area, these houses have posters reading "Save Our Homes" and "Save Our Community" stuck to the walls and windows.

Col stops at the end of the block of houses, next to the staircase that leads down to the empty Munn Street Reserve below. In the distance, at the bottom of the sandstone hill, are the restaurants and bars of Cockle Bay Wharf and the southern edge of the Barangaroo construction site, soon to be home to James Packer's new $1.3 billion casino and resort hotel, a development the state government has insisted has nothing to do with the Millers Point sell-off. "We used to get on our billy carts 'ere and race 'em all the way down there," Col says.

A barbed wire-topped fence lines Merriman Street. Col presses his head against it and wraps his fingers tightly around the links, as if he is about to rip the fence free. From here it's a 20-metre drop down into a craterlike concrete hole that is to be the car park for Barangaroo. "What a nice bloody view," Col laughs.

This is where Millers Point ends and Barangaroo begins. Across the harbour, waterfront mansions on the tip of the Balmain peninsula shimmer in the afternoon sun.

The fence rattles as Col pushes himself away from it. We walk north to the cul-de-sac at the end of  Merriman Street, past the ghost of the Sydney Ports Harbour control tower, through Clyne Reserve with its lone slippery slide and ship-shaped play equipment, and follow the pathway around the headland to Dalgety Road.

Standing outside her home is Paddi O'Leary. She's been a resident here for 14 years and worked as a counsellor for the Salvation Army before a serious accident left her unable to work.
"How are ya, Paddi?" Col yells out.

Paddi gives a smile and a wave back. "Still fightin', Col. Still fightin'."

The public housing units on this street are made of the same brown brick as most others in the area. They're double storey – two units on ground level, two units above –   with white-washed wooden railings on their verandahs. There is one unit that stands out though, number 33. The front window and door are boarded up. On the plywood boards is written: "Empty three years. Take 1 week to fix?" Chalked onto the bricks is another message for those in Parliament House: "This is not a dump. Some family could live here."

It is the same story for more than 40 properties in Millers Point.

"That's the government for you," says Col, taking a hard draw of his cigarette. "They say they need to sell off our homes to speed up the public housing waitin' list. What've they been doin' with all these empties, though?"

Locals say the area's slide began in 1985 when control of the public houses was transferred from the Maritime Services Board to the NSW Housing Commission (now known as Housing NSW). The houses, locals lament, were no longer maintained to the same standards and many became neglected and derelict.

Since then, there has been interest by successive state governments in selling off the public housing at Millers Point. In 2008 the Labor government sold 29 heritage-listed homes on 99-year leases to private tenants, which Col saw as the beginning of the end of Millers Point as a working-class heartland in the middle of Sydney.

The most recent sell-off announced by the Coalition government is only an acceleration of this process.

The Department of Family and Community Services says that maintenance on the Millers Point properties in just the past two years has cost the government $7 million. That is $7 million that could be added to the revenue raised by the sell-off, which, the government says, will result in several hundred million dollars to reinvest in the social housing system to help clear the backlog of families waiting for affordable housing.

"But there's been no guarantee made by anyone that this will really happen," says Col. "It's all just pollie chatter." And, Col asks, even if it does save the government money, what about the uprooting of a community of mostly elderly people, who rely on each other to survive and who feel a deep sense of belonging to the place in which they live?

The afternoon storm rolls in and the smell of fresh rain fills the air. "Comin' from the west," Col says. He walks across to Windmill Street, the street his family has lived in for six generations.

"Before I go, I'll tell you one thing," Col says to me. "My wife Terry and I got a calculator out last week and figured out that with everyone living in this community now, there's over 2500 years of combined history." That only includes, he adds, the people he and Terry could count off the top of their heads.

Despite the community's ongoing fight, the government's plan is going ahead and the first houses have already been sold for upwards of $1.9 million at secret auctions that were closed to the public. Once the remaining properties are sold, who'll be left to tell the next visitor that hidden beneath the layers of modern asphalt they're walking on are wooden bricks, laid by the ancestors of people who once called this place home?

This is an edited extract from Meanjin Volume 73, Number 4.

RESOURCED: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/remembering-millers-point-20150102-12cp8k.html
 

ROCKING THE FOUNDATIONS - A HISTORY OF THE GREEN BANS MOVEMENT

Published on Jul 14, 2013

An outstanding historical account of the Green Bans first introduced by the New South Wales Builders Labourers Federation in the 1970s in response to community demand to preserve inner-city parkland and historic buildings. One of the first women to be accepted as a builders labourer, filmmaker Pat Fiske traces the development of a quite singular union whose social and political activities challenged the notion of what a union should be.

"Who built Thebes of the seven gates? In the books you will find the names of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?

How the top end of town muscled in on Welfare Street

Rose Powell, Jacob Saulwick

December 27, 2014 



Gerald Donnelly, a former abbatoir worker, and wife Grace in the house in Homebush they have rented for 33 years. Photo: Nic Walker

Some of Australia's wealthiest and best-connected business people are behind the company that issued elderly tenants with negotiable termination notices  for 12 previously government-owned houses in Homebush. The company sold the houses within months of acquiring them, almost doubling its investment.

Centennial Property Group offered cash settlements and asked the tenants to leave the properties on Welfare Street and Flemington Road in Homebush shortly after buying the properties from the state government's Sydney Olympic Park Authority in June.

Seven families moved out but five are fighting to stay, including Gerald and Grace Donnelly. The five families armed with sales documents that specify they are protected tenants. They also have letters from the previous owners, the state government's Sydney Olympic Park Authority, which say there was no intention to end their tenancies.

Alex Waislitz, part-owner of Centennial Property Group. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui

CPG's owners include Alex Waislitz, a long-standing adviser to the Pratt family and worth hundreds of millions of dollars in his own right. The other owners are Deborah Clarke, and Michael and Clive Baskin through their company Baskin Clarke, which is described on their website as an "ethical financial advisory firm".

One of the directors of the company is Lance Rosenberg, the former head of stockbroking house Tricom. Mr Rosenberg successfully overturned a ban on acting as a company director in the wake of the near-collapse of his stockbroking company Tricom during the global financial crisis. On its website, CPG lists its executive team as Lyle Hammerschlag, Jonathan Wolf and Kim Kitchen. Mr Hammerschlag is the son of former Freedom Furniture boss Ivan Hammerschlag.

The Homebush deal is a spectacular outcome for the publicity-shy Centennial Property Group. The group won the state government tender for the property in June, and added $4.7 million to the property price tag in just six months. 

Lance Rosenberg.

The company purchased the single-title block from the state government's Sydney Olympic Park Authority for $5.8 million. After subdividing the block and having seven of the 12 families leave, the company sold the houses separately to investors at auction last Saturday for a total of $10.5 million.

Selling agent Robert Pignataro, of Strathfield Partners, told Fairfax Media last week that it had not been difficult to find buyers.

"We gave one a coat of paint and polished the floors and put some furniture in there – that was the extent of what we did," Mr Pignataro said.

They asked the existing tenants to move out in 30 days.

"We are not looking at kicking any of them out – they can either stay [at the same rent] or opt to negotiate with us to receive a lump-sum cash settlement, which will be attractive," Mr Pignataro said.

But as the families who are refusing to move are protected tenants, the new owners will face a lengthy legal battle if they try to coerce the residents to leave or raise their rent.

Senior policy officer at the Tenants Union of NSW Chris Martin said it would be much harder for the new owners to dislodge the remaining tenants if they were protected.

"Unlike mainstream tenancies, you can't have your lease terminated without grounds. So new owners would need to be able to prove the tenant needed to go, and they won't be able to raise rents to the market value," Dr Martin said.

One of the families fighting for their home are Bruce and Lyn Begnell. 

"We were meant to vacate the house on December 13. But the five of us are protected tenants and we sought legal advice and were advised we didn't need to leave," Mrs Begnell said.

Mr Begnell is 80, legally blind and unwell. Mrs Begnell says she has letters from his doctors and cardiologists about the stress moving would cause.

"The whole thing is so dodgy. The Sydney Olympic Park has to be held to account."

The team behind CPG was contacted for comment but remain tight-lipped on who made the decision to request the tenants leave or how they got the property so cheaply given their exit value.

A spokeswoman for Mr Waislitz confirmed he was one of the shareholders of CPG, but said he was not involved in the day-to-day running of the company.

 

RESOURCED: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/how-the-top-end-of-town-muscled-in-on-welfare-street-20141226-12ddlw.html

 

Millers Point government sell-off hits a snag

December 17, 2014
 
Toby Johnstone 

Three state-owned terraces on Kent Street, Millers Point, passed in at auction on Monday night

The state-government's sell-off of public housing at Millers Point hit a snag on Tuesday night when all three properties on offer passed in at auction.

There were 11 potential buyers gathered in the Ray White auction room in Double Bay to compete for three heritage-listed terraces on Kent Street

Up until last night the government had no issue finding buyers for other Millers Point properties, some of which were so popular they sold for more than $1 million above the price guides.
 

Even with views of the harbour the terraces struggled to rouse buyer interest.

The first property up for grabs on Tuesday evening was a three-bedroom terrace at 47 Kent Street. The three-level property with harbour views listed with Di Jones was previously scheduled for auction on Monday night but was postponed due to the siege in Martin Place.
 
After 10 minutes of silence an opening bid of $1.35 million was begrudgingly accepted by the auctioneer, followed by a $1.4 million bid, which was still $100,000 shy of the $1.5 million price guide. No vendor bid was exercised and the property passed in at $1.4 million.

When the next property at 43 Kent Street came up for auction one punter tried for a low-ball bid of $1.32 million, which was not accepted by the auctioneer. The terrace was recorded as passing in with no bids. 

It is understood that the properties were being sold with an unregistered plan of subdivision.

 The terrace next door at 41 Kent Street faired no better - the auctioneer called three times for an opening bid of $1.4 million but buyers kept their hands down.
 
It is understood that the properties were being sold with an unregistered plan of subdivision, which effectively means buyers were bidding for a land title that did not exist yet.
 
Buyers were advised that "the Plan of Subdivision will be lodged for registration in the very near future and the Contract for Sale will most likely be a 42 day completion".
 
A spokesman for Government Property NSW said that the sellings agents were continuing to negotiate with interested parties and added that he did "not believe the amended subdivision plan was a material influencer on the sale".

Buyers will not be able to settle on the property until the subdivision is registered with Land and Property Information NSW.

The last three properties to be sold by the state government in Argyle Place also required subdivision. However, the state government managed to register those titles just days before the auction.
 
 Millers Point: a community under the hammer
 
Following those successful auctions the Minister for Family and Community Services, Gabrielle Upton, put out a statement announcing the sale.

"There's been a strong market response to the release of the government-owned properties in Millers Point with a total of $21.9 million raised so far from nine sales," read the statement.

"The NSW Government is preceding with plans to sell the remaining 284 properties so funds can be reinvested back into the public housing system."

No such statement was sent out following the unsuccessful auctions on Monday night.

RESOURCED: http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/millers-point-government-selloff-hits-a-snag-20141217-128pvj.html  

The Urban Taskforce has released a statement saying that the 40-year-old Sydney Harbour Control Tower is out of place in Sydney’s low-rise Millers Point, and that heritage laws put forward by community groups are a bid to compromise new developments.

The Urban Taskforce has released a statement saying that the 40-year-old Sydney Harbour Control Tower is out of place in Sydney’s low-rise Millers Point, and that heritage laws put forward by community groups are a bid to compromise new developments.


This follows from the National Trust’s bid to save the 87-metre historic tower when its owner, the Barangaroo Delivery Authority, sought planning approval to demolish the structure as it was not in keeping with its vision for a naturalistic headland park in Barangaroo north, designed by renowned landscape architect Peter Walker.









“Some heritage bodies see the tall concrete control tower as a romantic connector to the days when Sydney Harbour was a bustling port,” says the organisation’s CEO, Chris Johnson. “But the tower represents the worst period of shipping use when the beautiful finger wharves were bulldozed to create vast concrete flat tarmacs for the growing use of containers that led to semitrailers clogging the city streets.


“The extensive container wharves were never listed as being of state heritage significance and neither should the concrete surveillance tower that looked into the back gardens of local residents. Technology has replaced physical surveillance with radar based systems and the heavy container port activity has been moved to Botany Bay.


“The calls for heritage listing seem to be a throwback to the calls to keep the container wharf shapes rather than support the re-shaping of the original headland that is now in place. The essential character of Millers Point is of low- rise buildings that relate to the waterfront and this end of the Barangaroo project must respect this.”


Originally established to give maritime controllers a vantage point of the harbour and wharves, the National Trust notes that the tower continues to play a “pre-eminent role in the history and maritime operation of the Port of Sydney – the primary commercial port of Australia”.


A report, recently obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald and commissioned by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, show some of the plans the Heritage Council has for the structure.
Options for re-use include an adventure tower with a pop-out platform offering bungee jumping, abseiling or a "vertigo experience", a viewing tower with panoramas over the harbour, and a restaurant.







Source: SMH
However Johnson, along with other detractors such as Paul Keating, believes the tower has no heritage value and is not deserving of a heritage-listing.


Johnson adds that the Heritage Council’s Statement of Significance struggles to address the aesthetic significance of the Control tower by referring to it simply as an engineering structure, and that referencing and recognising the architects’ designs in Canberra is inadequate.


“The much taller and visually prominent Sydney Tower in the middle of Sydney’s CBD is not listed as state significant and neither is the control tower at Sydney Airport,” he observes.


“The Urban Taskforce would normally be very supportive of tall structures in the right locations. In this instance the tall buildings are appropriately located at the southern end of Barangaroo with the northern end being mid and low-rise buildings that relate to the historic setting of terrace houses and warehouses. It is a misuse of heritage legislation to now support an intervention that the heritage organisations 40 years ago should have been fighting against.


“It seems that some community groups who are against new development are keen to use the heritage laws to compromise the new development. Heritage significance must be assessed on its merits rather than becoming another tool to attack new development.”


The tower was bought for $2.6 million by the Authority, who has proposed a heritage interpretation strategy for the precinct’s new cultural area. This will take the form of a circular roof opening integrated into the park’s new green roof, which would create a shaft of light in the same shape and size as the Harbour Tower’s column.


RESOURCED: http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/sydney-s-concrete-mushroom-in-millers-point-should

Public housing at what price?

December 13, 2014
Peter Manning

Proposals to sell off public housing in The Rocks area are controversial.

                     
On Monday and Tuesday the Baird government will auction off three more houses in Kent Street from the public housing estate at The Rocks.

Families that have lived there for three and five generations or more – some paying rent for more than 100 years – will compulsorily lose their homes, their friends and their community.

The 293 families involved can thank Pru Goward, now the NSW Minister for Planning, for she was the minister who replaced the disgraced Greg Pearce when Barry O'Farrell sacked him over a perceived conflict of interest more than a year ago.

When the Housing Corporation that deals with public housing – and The Rocks has been Australia's first and oldest such project – was transferred to Goward as then Minister for Community Services, Goward took the opportunity to ignore its recommendations to build a new facility to avoid evicting the elderly tenants.

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Goward made the decision to evict the lot from Millers Point. Her office ignored the fact that the public housing was protected under the NSW Heritage Act, which included its residents not just the buildings, and failed to consult the Heritage office.

Sydney historian Shirley Fitzgerald described Goward's actions as "appalling" and "rapacious".
When O'Farrell fell on his sword in April this year following an ICAC hearing, the new Premier lifted Goward to Planning Minister and Gabrielle Upton was given Community Services and responsibility to see Goward's project through.

Upton has yet to produce a business plan for the Millers Point sell-off but last week rejected a report to her from a leading economics consultancy (commissioned by the residents) stating that the original idea of Pearce – purpose-built accommodation to house the elderly long-term residents – would be the cheapest solution.

Upton at first said she would consider the report and then changed her mind and rejected it outright. It seems there is simply too much money at stake for investors, and the Baird government, for putting residents before investors and developers.

This is not the first time there has been a battle for The Rocks. Labor and Liberal governments have came up with reports in 1930, 1953, 1960 and 1970 to develop the area and move the residents out. But every time the community housing argument won the day.

The Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority met its match in 1970 with a spirited resistance from the Rocks Resident Action Group led by feisty local resident Nita McRae. She called on Jack Mundey's Builders' Labourers' Federation to stop the bulldozers.

I interviewed Nita in 1974 and she told me she rang Jack and said: "Is it the policy of your union to have members pull down other unionists' houses?". It was a rhetorical question. The BLF slammed a "green ban" on this working-class area, full of maritime workers and their families, and the project was dropped. Nita died 12 years later.

The success of the BLF action – one of more than 40 "green bans" around Sydney halting projects worth more than $3000 million – may well explain the excessive secrecy with which the Baird government has gone about selling off its Rocks properties.

Reporters have been told that real estate agents have been gagged from speaking to the media and that all information must come from government spokespeople. Under instruction from the government, McGrath Real Estate also refused to reveal the location of the first auctions in August.
But Labor's upcoming candidate for the local seat of Sydney, Edwina Lloyd, has had a field day firing up not just Rocks residents but any believers in public or mixed housing. Lloyd described actions towards the evicted residents as "disgusting" and "bullying".

The fight for the Rocks – there are still 280 homes to go — comes at an awkward time for the government. The battle for the Sydney Harbour Park headland, following the cave-in to shooters in National Parks, questions the government's environmental credentials. The historic Callan Park hospital site in Rozelle is now also under review by the government. More importantly, the Rocks hardline stance taken by Goward and Baird, putting profits before people, threatens not only the notion of heritage and mixed housing but also the perception that developers have won over the Liberals just as they did Labor in their worst period.

Peter Manning, a journalist and academic, wrote the book Green Bans with Marion Hardman for the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1974.

RESOURCED: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/public-housing-at-what-price-20141213-125uxj.html

Sydney MP Alex Greenwich and Labor hopeful Edwina Lloyd square up over Millers Point sell-off

James Gorman 
December 08, 2014


Public housing in historic Millers Point is being sold-off by the State Government. Source: Supplied

                 
The gloves are off in the state seat of Sydney as sitting MP Alex Greenwich and his Labor opposition Edwina “Eddie” Lloyd do battle over the Millers Point public housing community.         

Ms Lloyd is demanding an explanation from the independent Mr Greenwich over an email he sent to the embattled Millers Point community accusing her of political point scoring.

But Mr Greenwich said he had been responding to accusations levelled against him by Ms Lloyd that he had failed to commit to the retention of public housing in the historic precinct.

Mr Greenwich said Labor was to blame for initiating the Millers Point sell-off while it was still in power and insists they should apologise for their past actions.  



Labor candidate Edwina Lloyd. Source: Supplied

     

Sydney independent state MP Alex Greenwich. Source: News Corp Australia

     

Ms Lloyd said she was deeply concerned by the comments and was still awaiting an explanation as to why they were made.

“Residents at Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks received an extraordinary emailed letter from Alex Greenwich,” she said.

“The emailed outburst attacked the Labor Party and attacked me.

“In his email to residents, Mr Greenwich says, ‘I ask that you don’t allow that Labor candidate for Sydney to use your community for deceptive political point-scoring.’

“It is completely improper for Mr Greenwich to tell the people of Millers Point that they can only deal with him.
“The people of Millers Point have a choice and they should be talking to everyone.”  



The sell-off of public housing terraces has already begun. Source: Supplied

 Mr Greenwich dismissed Ms Lloyd’s comments and kept up his attack on Labor.

“It is important to remember that the Labor Party really needs to apologise to the community of Millers Point for getting them to where they are now,” he said.

“Over 16 years the Labor Party engaged in a process of eviction by neglect, failing to provide the maintenance they were responsible for.

TENANTS MARCH ON PARLIAMENT HOUSE

APARTMENT DWELLERS SET FOR UNWANTED EXODUS

“Labor started the sale process in Millers Point.

“I will work with anyone – I will work with Fred Nile if it means we can retain public housing.”
By Wednesday, Ms Lloyd had switched her Millers Point attack to Family and Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton.  

Family and Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton. Source: News Corp Australia

    “Minister Upton has been missing in action and asleep at the wheel - and she has made a complete mess of the Millers Point sell-off,” Ms Lloyd said in a statement.

“The whole thing has been done in a mad rush, without even trying to find suitable alternatives to retain public housing in the inner city.

“As a result of her botched ‘relocation’ process, the State Government will fail to get full value for the sale of its housing assets, the city will lose much-needed social and affordable housing, and many elderly and vulnerable people are being put under unnecessary pressure and stress.

“It’s time Minister Upton was ‘relocated’ – straight to the backbench.”

RESOURCED: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/sydney-mp-alex-greenwich-and-labor-hopeful-edwina-lloyd-square-up-over-millers-point-sell-off/story-fngr8h22-1227151247240?nk=d95f33bf4d2a1238bf5c2368ac733afd