20 November 2004

Redfern Waterloo Authority Bill 2004

The Bill passed through the Legislative Assembly on Friday with the Government accepting some of Clover Moore’s amendments. The debate is useful reading as it sets out Clovers and the Governments positions on a number of the areas of disagreement. The Bill will now pass to the Legislative Council which does not sit until 7^th December where the position of the Liberals and the cross benches will be crucial if there is to be any further amendments.

Hopefully the upper house will also look at strengthening some of the other areas not covered in Clover’s amendments such as ensuring a mandated community consultative committee and limiting the number of government employees on the board.

The link to Friday’s debate is www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA20041119006

For those that do not see Clovers eNEWS we have reproduced an extract from Clover about the debate and the Bill:

WHO? WHAT? HOW? —BUT WE KNOW WHY! -  From CLOVER'S eNEWS - Friday 19 November 2004 - No. 223

The Government has rushed through legislation that gives extraordinary, extensive and expansive powers to the Minister of the new Redfern Waterloo Authority. In Parliament I said that this is the worst bill I have ever seen in my twenty years as an elected representative.

The Government agreed to some of my amendments, in the Lower House. However, it did not accept my major amendments that addressed the unfettered powers of the Minister.

My amendments, rejected by the Government would have prevented the ability of the new Redfern Waterloo Authority to: override existing heritage controls; allow the creation of special officers with unspecified powers; the ability to take developer contributions from the CUB site and; allow the Minister to extend and annexe other lands outside the designated area.

This Bill sets a frightening and arrogant precedent, where the Minister and the Authority not only act as developer but override all the usual planning instruments and become the consent authority! The Minister's powers may extend to both public and private land in the defined area, which can be extended anyway.

The Bill sets up a Board, the composition of which is not defined (except for one Aboriginal person). The Bill talks of a Plan, but nobody knows what it will look like yet and the process for the Plan involves very little consultation, which is no surprise given the Bill itself was rushed through the Lower House.

The Government has attempted to disguise this Bill as a means of addressing the social needs of Redfern Waterloo but it is apparent that this is a grab for cash and has nothing to do with the community renewal of Redfern Waterloo which is to continue to be the responsibility of the Premier's Partnership Project.

The Bill will be debated in the Upper House and I encourage you to lobby the Opposition and the Cross Bench so that we can put a stop to this draconian exercise.

RWPP Community Council and Other Meetings

I have been advised by the RWPP that the Community Council meeting scheduled for Friday was not cancelled until after the RWA Bill is through Parliament but rather it was deferred until Thursday 25^th November as over half the Community Council members were unable to attend.

We have also heard from some Redfern Waterloo groups that Minister Sartor has scheduled meetings with a few people from some key groups in the area. The information drought seems to be breaking so hopefully we might see a larger community meeting soon where the community can get their questions answered.

Redfern Oval Consultation & Public Forum on Wednesday 24^th November 6.30pm

The City of Sydney Consultation which is currently underway on Redfern Oval has its Public Forum at Redfern Town Hall, 73 Pitt Street, Redfern on Wednesday 24th November at 6.30pm to 8.00pm. The consultation is looking at three options however what the Club wants if different from what the council is consulting on. In CLOVER'S eNEWS this week (Friday 19 November 2004 - No. 223) she has advised that:

South Sydney Leagues Club has also asked to put its alternative proposal for Redfern Oval to the public meeting next week. The proposal, prepared by Southern Cross Developments, includes a 16,000 seat stadium with 800 car spaces, community facilities, retail on Chalmers Street, commercial areas, Aboriginal Cultural Centre and the football club.

You can get more details about the consultation on the council’s website on www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/catz_ope_redfern_oval.asp. There is also a large PDF file you can download and see the three plans in the consultation. You can find out about OUR Park who want the village green option at http://www.ourpark.org.au/ and turn up on Wednesday and hear the Leagues Club proposal. You may need to turn up early to get a seat if George Piggins turns up with some of the 80,000 people he has threatened to organize to push the clubs plan!

Submissions on the exhibition about Redfern Oval should be submitted to City of Sydney Council 10 December 2004 contact Laurie Johnson at the City of Sydney Tel: 02 9246 7579 Fax: 02 9265 9116 Email: ljohnson@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

How to find what the said in NSW Parliament

If you are looking to find out what was said in NSW Parliament about any subject then you can use the search field on the Hansard and Papers Page of the NSW Parliament site at http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/web/common.nsf/V3HHBHome

Apart from the Redfern Waterloo Authority Bill the other main reference to Redfern Waterloo in the last two days was Clover Moore’s 17/11/2004PRIVDepartment of Housing Russian-speaking Tenants