Hello,

There has been a serious alligation made by the Minister for Planning Frank Sartor that the AHC has been slow to lodge an application for the Pemulwuy Project. I would like to set the record straight. Minister Frank Sartor on 08/09/06 gave evidence to the Budget Estimate Committee that the AHC had not yet lodged an application for the Pemulwuy Project. This is profoundly untrue. Although, I can not say if the Minister has deliberately misled the committee or genuinely has no idea what is happening in Redfern. For those interested in the actual progress of the Pemulwuy Project I can report that the AHC lodged its application with the Department of Planning in March 2006 and has met with the Dept’s representatives and stakeholders. The AHC is now waiting for the Director General’s Requirements. The AHC has made several formal requests for the requirements, with little success. Below is an excerpt from the most recent REDWatch email update that I feel explains the dilemma and frustration the AHC is experiencing.       

Regards,

Michael Mundine.

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The AHC – When is a Major Project Application “Lodged”?

Having recently reported on some of the projects appearing on the Department of Planning’s Major Projects website it makes us wonder what kind of application triggers a Major Project Listing on http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/asp/register2006.asp#gma. The two recent Major Project applications from Redfern (the School and on Cleveland Street) have been submitted to obtain the Director General’s requirements for these project. The AHC formally submitted its project description to the department of Planning back in March 2006 to obtain the Director General’s (DG) requirements for their project. This resulted in Government Departments and the local Council being advised about the AHC project proposal and them being requested to submit their input for the formation of the DG’s requirements for the project. At no point however has the AHC been given an application number or has the documentation they submitted been listed on the Major Projects site. The AHC, at the Department of Planning’s request in mid September submitted a project application form even though they are not yet at this part of the process.

This would not matter greatly except that Minister Sartor has inferred in evidence to a Budget Estimates Committee that the AHC has not lodged an application. The transcript reports him as saying “If the Aboriginal Housing Company ever gets its act together it can lodge an application and it will be considered on its merits.” Transcript 08/09/2006 Planning, Redfern and Waterloo, Science and Medical Research. The statement infers the AHC does not have “its act together” and is potentially evocative of the aboriginal laziness stereotype inferred in Minister Sartor’s infamous “black arse” jibe last year. From the AHC perspective they have done what they were asked to do by the Department of Planning but after seven months the application still has no Major Project number, no Major Project Listing and no public Ministerial recognition that it formally exists, even though government departments have made their submissions to the Department of Planning for the DG’s requirements!

[Extract from Redfern Waterloo Issues Update 5th October 2006]

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