Voice your concerns stop the Baird Government Changing the suburb name of Millers Point to Barangaroo Point.

Voice your concerns stop the Baird Government Changing the suburb name of Millers Point to Barangaroo Point.

Support it or Object to it.

http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/…/current_proposals/your_comments…

Voice your concerns stop the Baird Government Changing the suburb name of Millers Point to Barangaroo Point.

Support it or Object to it.

http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/…/current_proposals/your_comments…

Naming proposal
Barangaroo Names
GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES ACT 1966
PURSUANT to the provisions of Section 8 of the Geographical Names Act, 1966, the Geographical Names Board hereby notifies that it proposes to assign the names:
Barangaroo Point for a point of land located in Sydney Harbour, south of Millers Point on the northern shoreline of Nawi Cove.
Barangaroo Point Reserve for a reserve in the northern extent of the suburb of Barangaroo, extending from Barangaroo Point to Millers Point.
Nawi Cove for a cove on the western shoreline of the suburb of Barangaroo, situated south of Barangaroo Point.
Watermans Cove for a cove on the western shoreline of the suburb of Barangaroo, adjacent to the intersection of Barangaroo Avenue and Watermans Quay.
Marrinawi Cove for a cove located at the northern extent of Barangaroo Point Reserve, adjacent to Moores Wharf.
Dukes Pier for a pier located within Nawi Cove.
Rowntrees Dock for a dock situated within Nawi Cove.
The position and extent for this feature is recorded and shown within the Geographical Names Register of New South Wales.
Any person wishing to make comment upon this proposal may within one (1) month of the date of this notice contact the Secretary of the Board with that comment.
In accordance with Section 9 of the Geographical Names Act 1966 all submissions lodged may be subject to a freedom of information application and may be viewed by a third party to assist the Board in considering this proposal.

Geographical Names Board
PO Box 143
BATHURST NSW 2795 Kevin Richards
Secretary

Would you like to comment on this proposal online?
‪#‎savemillerspoint‬ ‪#‎wheresgabby‬ ‪#‎nosurrender‬ ‪#‎MikeScared‬
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http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/…/current_propos…/naming_proposal…

PURSUANT to the provisions of Section 8 of the Geographical Names Act, 1966, the Geographical Names Board hereby notifies that it proposes to assign the names:


Barangaroo Point for a point of land located in Sydney Harbour, south of Millers Point on the northern shoreline of Nawi Cove.


Barangaroo Point Reserve for a reserve in the northern extent of the suburb of Barangaroo, extending from Barangaroo Point to Millers Point.


Nawi Cove for a cove on the western shoreline of the suburb of Barangaroo, situated south of Barangaroo Point.


Watermans Cove for a cove on the western shoreline of the suburb of Barangaroo, adjacent to the intersection of Barangaroo Avenue and Watermans Quay.


Marrinawi Cove for a cove located at the northern extent of Barangaroo Point Reserve, adjacent to Moores Wharf.


Dukes Pier for a pier located within Nawi Cove.


Rowntrees Dock for a dock situated within Nawi Cove.


The position and extent for this feature is recorded and shown within the Geographical Names Register of New South Wales.


Any person wishing to make comment upon this proposal may within one (1) month of the date of this notice contact the Secretary of the Board with that comment.


In accordance with Section 9 of the Geographical Names Act 1966 all submissions lodged may be subject to a freedom of information application and may be viewed by a third party to assist the Board in considering this proposal.



Geographical Names Board
PO Box 143
BATHURST NSW 2795 Kevin Richards
Secretary

Would you like to comment on this proposal online?
‪#‎savemillerspoint‬ ‪#‎wheresgabby‬ ‪#‎nosurrender‬ ‪#‎MikeScared‬
‪#‎ausunions‬ ‪#‎nswpol‬ ‪#‎housing‬ ‪#‎socialhousing‬ ‪#‎community‬ ‪#‎publichousing‬‪#‎humanrights‬ ‪#‎auspol‬ ‪#‎tenancytribunal‬ ‪#‎Sydney‬ #ausunions #nswpol


http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/…/current_propos…/naming_proposal…

The capital city for big developers

Peter Mac   February 11, 2015

 

The insatiable greed of big developers is nowhere more blatantly evident now than in Sydney, and the Baird government backs them all the way. In conjunction with its support for private vehicles as the primary means of transport, and its plan for piecemeal replacement and privatisation of Sydney’s rail network, the government plans to dictate land use zoning and override objections from local councils.

Protest against WestConnex motorway in Sydney earlier this year. (Photo: John Appleya)

Last year the government announced that hundreds of homes in Haberfield, Petersham and St Peters, three historic inner Sydney suburbs, were to be compulsorily acquired and demolished to facilitate construction of the portals (entry and exit points) for the massive, highly controversial WestConnex motorway. 

The construction would require the complete demolition of beautiful streets of 19th and early 20th-century houses. It would also necessitate the partial or entire destruction of two 19th-century parks at Ashfield and Petersham (where Don Bradman made his first century in first class cricket), and an inroad into Sydney Park, created over the last 40 years at huge public expense.

 

The proposal was accompanied by a state government announcement that in other streets adjacent to the Petersham portal it would change the current zoning to allow for demolition of the old dwellings and construction of 10 to 25 storey apartment blocks. Similar proposals were made for other areas.

 

The government has also announced that under the advice of its redevelopment agency Urban Growth (predominantly staffed by former employees of development corporations) it would permit construction of an extra 60,000 apartments on Parramatta Road in the inner city, replacing the old hotels, shops and dwellings that currently line this section of the historic highway.

 

The proposed takeover of local government decision-making would mean that all heritage protection would vanish and home owners could find themselves living in an area zoned for heavy industry, or surrounded and overshadowed by apartment monoliths.

 

The tip of the iceberg

 

Following the electoral defeat of the Victorian Liberal government which had supported construction of a new motorway, the Baird government suddenly decided to alter the route and construction of the Westconnex Motorway so it would no longer pass through Petersham.

 

That relieved the immediate pressure on north Petersham as far as the motorway portal was concerned, but the government could change its mind again, and rezoning inner city suburbs to permit construction of high rise apartments is still government policy.

 

Meanwhile, Haberfield and St Peters residents still face the loss of their homes, and Ashfield Park and Sydney Park would still suffer massive encroachment.

 

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg because the government’s interlocked relationship with the developers threatens the entire city.

 

The government is evicting historic family groups from Millers Point in order to hasten the sale of their homes to the highest bidders, with no exemptions for the elderly.

 

It plans to sell off the historic Eveleigh railway workshops, which contain the last still-functioning major blacksmithing workshop in Australia.

 

Road construction and residential redevelopment is threatening thousands of beautiful heritage properties in Sydney’s North Shore suburbs and many other areas, and the government is planning vast redevelopment of the picturesque old maritime industrial areas west of the Harbour Bridge.

A nightmare vision

 

The government is arguing that half a million people will want to move to Sydney in the next 20 years, that inner city residents must make way for them and that resistance is both selfish and futile.

 

But there will always be a demand for accommodation in Sydney, and developer greed knows no time limits. Carrying the government’s argument to its logical conclusion, Sydney suburbs, particularly the inner city which has ready access to services, transport, work, recreation and of course the beautiful harbour and beaches, should be redeveloped not just for 20 years but beyond.

 

In this scenario the existing buildings would be pulled down and replaced with ever-taller structures, until, presumably, the limits of human engineering were reached, most of the inner city was covered with massive Dubai-style skyscrapers, and the city’s wonderful character was destroyed.

 

It’s an absurd, nightmare vision that should have no place in Australian town planning.

Other cities do the opposite. London, for example, places severe limits on redevelopment, takes vigorous and determined action to preserve its historic buildings, and severely restricts the number of private vehicles that can enter or even approach the inner city.

 

Its transport needs are largely met by trains and buses rather than private vehicles, and its growth is largely accommodated by redevelopment in former industrial sites and outlying low-density suburbs, and by the construction of new suburbs and towns.

 

Challenges and backdowns

Last week the federal government distanced itself from an outrageous report it had commissioned concerning sale and development of Sydney’s last undeveloped headland, between Malabar and Maroubra beaches.

 

The report said that selling the site would generate “a significant return for the government” and private investments of “up to $1 billion” during the construction phase.

 

It noted disdainfully that converting the land into a National Park would do “little to improve the economic capital of the site” and provide “little opportunity for the private sector to contribute”.

 

But Federal Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, frightened by plummeting opinion polls, global criticism of its environment policies, and the results of the Victorian elections, dumped the proposal. He gushed “I am passionate about ensuring this magnificent headland is retained in public hands forever”.

 

The Baird government’s intentions are also being challenged by local councils and dozens of community organisations.

 

In Newcastle the government’s hell-for-leather plan to discard the city’s rail line and open up the shoreline for development has been challenged in court by local residents.

 

Sydney City Council has announced it will oppose proposals for major extensions or alterations to the historic Miller Point houses by their new owners.

 

And Sydneysiders have watched with great interest the opposition of Melbourne residents to construction of another mammoth motorway, in a campaign which made a major contribution to defeat of the Liberal government.

 

The clear lesson from that struggle is that if you want to beat the greedy developers you have to dump the governments that serve their interests.

 

RESOURCED: http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2015/1672/05-the-capital-city.html

New South Wales Government sells $1 billion worth of public assets in past two years

 

Also for sale is Peat Island and adjacent foreshore land at Mooney Mooney

The New South Wales Government is selling public assets on a massive scale, offloading $1 billion worth of property in the past two years alone.

Office blocks, hospitals, schools and even an island are all up for grabs.

Some economists argue the state should hold onto its valuable real estate, but the Government insists the money would be better spent on new infrastructure and housing.

In 2011-2012, the Government sold state-owned assets worth $5 million.

In late 2012, it established a new agency, Government Property NSW, to identify and manage the state's lucrative real estate portfolio.

Agency CEO Brett Newman told the ABC the portfolio comprised 200,000 properties worth almost $130 billion.

"What we do is identify assets that don't need to be owned or are underutilised and we sell them so that the money can be reinvested in capital and improved services right across government," Mr Newman said.

Since April 2013, Government Property NSW has sold properties worth $1 billion.

They have included seven office blocks worth $400 million, the Ausgrid building in Sydney's CBD for $151 million, and justice precinct buildings in Parramatta worth $170 million.

It has also sold nine terrace houses in Millers Point for $22 million, and plans to sell another 293 of the historic properties.

The Government said the proceeds would fund new accomodation for the 58,000 people on public housing waiting lists.

The historic Bidura House and surrounding grounds at Glebe Point went under the hammer in December, selling for $33 million. Chinese developers hope to build up to 100 apartments on the site.

Also for sale is Peat Island and adjacent foreshore land at Mooney Mooney, on the Hawkesbury River, to make way for a housing estate, marina and retail hub.

Government Property NSW also wants to sell 99-year leases for two heritage-listed sandstone buildings near Circular Quay, earmarked for redevelopment as international hotels.

Part of plan to shift public servants out of CBD, says Treasurer
NSW Treasurer Andrew Constance told the ABC the big sell-off was part of a plan to shift public servants out of the CBD and reinvest the money into new housing and infrastructure projects.

"There's no point in us hanging onto the ivory towers which sit half empty when they're not being utilised in the interests of the community," Mr Constance said.

"We're not into a fire sale here, we're strategically managing our portfolio assets, based on the needs of in terms of the public sector."
Mr Constance said the Government was reinvesting the money in projects like a $300 million housing acceleration fund.

"It's designed to get the growth centres in this state moving with better local infrastructures. We're not going to tie up millions of dollars in taxpayers' money into property which could be better managed," he said.

"We have to utilise our assets more effectively in the interest of the taxpayer and as a result we've got a great strategy in terms of devolving decision making into the regions by shifting public servants out of the centre of town."

But Emeritus Professor of Economics at Sydney University, Frank Stilwell, said it was bad economic management for the Government to sell increasingly valuable assets at a time when it could borrow the money so cheaply.

"As a citizen it makes me angry and as an economist it makes me very sad because there's no great economic logic at work here," Professor Stilwell said.

"This is short-term interest being pursued against long-term interest of the people and I think people are smart enough to see that this is not a good economic strategy."

Professor Stilwell said the Government should be leasing underutilised buildings, rather than selling them.

"I think privatisation is inherently unpopular with the people and certainly the recent election in Queensland shows that the sale of public assets was a major source of electoral damage for the incumbent government," he said.

"The problem is in this case that the sale of real estate assets tends to be done in dribs and drabs and isn't therefore quite visible as the sale of electricity poles and wires for example.

"So it tends to be done rather out of sight, but as soon as the people come to see what is happening then I think one can expect that they will see it as bad economics, substituting short-run revenues for long-term economic management."

#‎savemillerspoint‬ ‪#‎wheresgabby‬ ‪#‎nosurrender‬ ‪#‎MikeScared‬
‪#‎ausunions‬ ‪#‎nswpol‬ ‪#‎housing‬ ‪#‎socialhousing‬ ‪#‎community‬ ‪#‎publichousing‬ ‪#‎humanrights‬ ‪#‎auspol‬ ‪#‎tenancytribunal‬ ‪#‎Sydney

Resourcedhttps://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/26256745/new-south-wales-government-sells-1-billion-worth-of-public-assets-in-past-two-years/

MEDIA RELEASE - SECRET AUCTIONS AT MILLERS POINT RAISE COMMUNITY CONCERN

 

SOPHIE COTSIS MLC

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HOUSING

 

EDWINA LLOYD

LABOR CANDIDATE FOR SYDNEY

 

MEDIA RELEASE

Thursday, 21 August 2014

 

SECRET AUCTIONS AT MILLERS POINT RAISE COMMUNITY CONCERN

 

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.”

 

MEDIA CONTACT: SOPHIE COTSIS 0407 945 914

 

MEDIA RELEASE - O’FARRELL SELLS MILLERS POINT HOUSING IN BLATANT CASH GRAB

LINDA BURNEY MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

 

SOPHIE COTSIS MLC

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HOUSING

 

LINDA SCOTT

CITY OF SYDNEY COUNCILLOR

 

MEDIA RELEASE

 

O’FARRELL SELLS MILLERS POINT HOUSING IN BLATANT CASH GRAB

 

The NSW Opposition has condemned the Liberal Government’s decision to sell off 293 properties in Millers Point – accusing it of putting the big end of town before the lives of local residents.

 

Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services Linda Burney said today that the move was a blatant cash grab done with no consultation and Minister Pru Goward could not be trusted to reinvest any proceeds in public housing.

 

This is because over the past year alone, the Liberal Government has
 

·        Overseen an explosion in the public housing waiting list to 57,000 applicants - 2000 more than last year;

 

·        Cut $42 million from the budget for public housing maintenance;

 

·        Cut $22 million from the budget for building new housing stock;

 

·        Built 1,000 fewer new properties than in the previous year;

 

·       Sought to throw residents out of their properties by proposing a cruel new “bedroom tax” straight out of the UK Conservative playbook.

 

In addition, a report by the NSW Land and Housing Corporation shows that the O’Farrell Government has cut more than 1300 public housing properties from its books.

 

“This is an appalling decision by the O’Farrell Government - throwing people out of their properties just so it can grab another city tower,” Ms Burney said.

 

“Minister Pru Goward is selling more public housing than she is building – the reality is that she is not leaving anywhere for residents to go.

 

“This is a Minister who cannot be trusted to reinvest the proceeds of this sell off into public housing – not when she’s cut maintenance, cut new building stock and overseen an explosion in the waiting list.

 

“You’d want any such claim by Pru Goward written in triplicate.

 

“It’s probably best not to believe it at all.”

 

Shadow Minister for Housing Sophie Cotsis said: “Some of the residents of Millers Point have lived in this area all their lives and have a deep connection to the community. Many of them trace their ancestry to the pioneers of Sydney – the people who built this city. Has the Liberal Party given any thought to where they will be housed and where they will go?”

  

“The message of today is very clear – if you live in inner Sydney watch out.

 

“This Government has its eyes on your property – and it’s not building anywhere else for you to move either.

 

“Public housing residents face being banished from the inner city because Barry O’Farrell doesn’t consider them good enough to live here.”

 

City of Sydney Councillor Linda Scott said: My grandmother spent her formative years in Millers Point after leaving her family's country property to make a living in the City. The stories of this area are the stories of Sydney – and Mr O'Farrell's announcement today will be devastating not only for the residents, but for all who care about Sydney's heritage.” 

 

“On Monday night, I moved an amendment calling on the City of Sydney to categorically oppose the sale of public housing in Millers Point and Dawes Point. The Lord Mayor and her supporters joined with the Liberal Councillors to defeat this motion.

 

“Only Labor is standing with this community to fight the sale of all public housing in the inner city.”

 

MEDIA CONTACT: SOPHIE COTSIS 0407 945 914

 

Gentrification, the death of Sydney and the Parisian solution

Edwina Lloyd reckons the rapid gentrification of inner Sydney means the loss of its je ne sais quoi, however, there may be a French solution…if only the State would say oui oui… 

Gentrification, rejuvenation, revitalisation, urban renewal.
Whatever you call it, it’s hard to ignore the profound changes taking place in inner-city Sydney neighbourhoods.
Balmain, for example, used to be a place where boys didn’t cry. Now Balmain boys drive BMWs, and the old Ship, Painters and Dockers Union Hall has become a fashionable “warehouse conversion”.

Gentrification by Decree

The latest Sydney suburb to face the onslaught of gentrification is Millers Point.
Unlike the process that has affected other parts of Sydney, however, the gentrification of Millers Point is not being driven by the inexorable hand of market forces, but by design.  It is gentrification by official decree.
The Baird Liberal Government has come to the conclusion that the historic working class neighborhoods of Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks would be much better if they didn’t contain any actual working class residents.
Around 300 public housing tenants are thus being shipped off to less fashionable parts of Greater Sydney and beyond.
The rationale is simple: we only have so much money that we’re willing to spend on social housing and we need to get the best bang for our buck, so that means concentrating social housing in areas where land is cheaper.
So as long as inner city real estate is in demand, public housing tenants will simply have to get used to being forcibly separated from their friends, neighbours and support networks.
To the Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton, the logic of this argument is apparently irrefutable.
What sort of city does Ms Upton want Sydney to become?  A gated community?  An extension of Vaucluse?
The Sydney I love is an eclectic, challenging, beautiful, intimate and crazy place.  Its beauty comes not only from the Harbour and the Opera House, but from the spectacular diversity of its people.
Gentrification, however, has no respect for diversity.  It judges people purely by their financial capacity to pay high rents or to buy expensive property.  Sanitised, segregated and polarised, a gentrified city loses its soul, and loses its social cohesion.

How Gentrification Works

Researchers have discovered that gentrification happens when a shabby, run-down, inner city working class area comes into contact with a coffee machine from a neighbouring suburb.*
The coffee machine lodges into the suburb’s spinal cord, and like a virus, the gentrification starts to spread – slowly, house by house, street by street.
The aroma of roasted coffee beans then starts to attract bargain hunting home renovators.
At first it’s a trickle, then suddenly an army of cashed up 30-somethings is swarming over the place like locusts, and the median house price increases exponentially.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good episode of Grand Designs as much as the next person.
I, too, dream of buying a small abandoned weatherboard church, adding a suspended mezzanine and turning it into a funky entertainer.
Basic physics tells us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  As home renovators colonise one innocent working class suburb after the next, the reaction lies in the displacement of families who can no longer afford to live in the suburb they have called home for generations.

The Parisian Solution

It doesn’t have to be this way.  Paris, for example, is fighting back against the forces of gentrification.  It is inoculating itself against homogeneity and protecting its precious social mix.
The Conseil de Paris (Council of Paris) has initiated a radical plan to buy properties in inner city areas to ensure they remain available for social housing.
(It’s worth noting that the Conseil de Paris operates under a rare hybrid model of government – it is effectively a city state, with the equivalent powers of both an Australian state government and a city council.)
Not only has money been set aside (some €850 million), but the Conseil De Paris has targeted around 8,000 apartments at 257 addresses as potential purchases.
The most controversial aspect of the plan is that Paris has given itself the power of first right of refusal over those properties should they become available for sale.
The apartments have to be sold at market price, but owners cannot sell to another purchaser if the Conseil de Paris chooses to exercise its option over the property.
This bold strategy will ensure that some subsidised social housing will remain in gentrified areas of Paris like Menilmontant, Montmartre and the Bastille.

Save Our Social Mix

Our political leaders in NSW should take note.  Paris understands that retaining a social mix in the inner city is a desirable thing.
Segregating people according to their socio-economic status not only destroys diversity, it undermines social cohesion.
The Baird Liberal Government, however, clearly doesn’t get it.  It wants to see social housing tenants moved out of the city and away from their much-vaunted and much-resented “harbour views”.
It wants to make sure the gentrified inner city becomes an exclusive enclave for the wealthy.
Meanwhile, Lord Mayor Clover Moore says the City of Sydney values diversity and social mix, but the Council needs to walk the walk – not just talk the talk.
The City of Sydney could, and should, purchase at least some of the Millers Point properties, or the Sirius building, so they can continue to be part of the city’s affordable housing assets.
The Paris model shows exactly what can be done when governments – be they regional or municipal – make social housing a priority.
All Gabrielle Upton and Clover Moore have to do is say oui oui.

*Not really, I’m making this bit up

RESOURCED: http://thebigsmoke.com.au/2015/02/03/gentrification-death-sydney-parisian-solution/
 

Australian Technology Park sale: Concerns land needed for community will end up in developers hand

James Gorman  February 04, 2015



Prime real estate: Australian Technology Park is in the process of being sold by the State Government.

THE PLANNED sell-off of the Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh is raising red flags for residents who fear a potential community asset could be lost to privatisation. 
              
Part of the State Government’s ongoing multi-million dollar sale of public property, expressions of interest were quietly called for the 13.2ha inner city precinct in December last year and closed on Friday.

REDWatch community group spokesman Geoffrey Turnbull said the sale would have serious implications for the area as development planned along the rail corridor from Central to Redfern will significantly increase population density.

“You need to make sure you have places set aside for amenities like schools, preschools, outdoor spaces and other facilities which benefit a community,” Mr Turnbull said.

“The State Government is letting go of a very valuable asset which could be used to meet those needs.

The 13.2ha site currently houses a diverse mix of tenants including commercial and government organisations.

REDWatch community group spokesman Geoffrey Turnbull says the ATP sale will rob the community of valuable future land

Once you sell that site off you lose the ability to control whether you place a new high school there or a performance space.

“It is just a trade-off to make some quick money.”

POWER PRIVATISATION PLAN PROTESTS IN COOGEE

The sell-off, being managed by Urban Growth NSW, follows a string of revenue-raising sales including the Millers Point public housing and the Glebe Bidura Children’s Court Complex.

Mr Turnbull said there were also concerns for the future of the Eveleigh Locomotive Workshop and its collection of industrial machinery, which is open to the public.



Head blacksmith Guido Gouverneur at the anvil at Wrought Artworks in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh

“One of the things the community want to see but don’t think the government can guarantee, is access to the collection after the sale.

“It is all well and good for the new owners to say the collection has been preserved but that’s not good enough if it can never be seen again.”

An UrbanGrowth NSW spokeswoman said existing protections for the historical buildings, items and public access would remain in place if the site were sold to a new owner.

“Any proposal to change existing access would be subject to gaining relevant development approval,” she said

RESOURCED: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/australian-technology-park-sale-concerns-land-needed-for-community-will-end-up-in-developers-hand/story-fngr8h22-1227207855672 

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?