04 February 2005

Premier’s Department RWPP Job Vacancies

The RWPP web site www.redfernwaterloo.nsw.gov.au/ is currently advertising seven positions for staff to work for the Premiers Department in Redfern Waterloo. I have reproduced the detail of the positions below for those of our readers who may be interested in applying. The list also provides the community with an indication of how the RWPP will be staffed. For further information on these positions, contact Sharmane.mannix@premiers.nsw.gov.au or go to https://jobs.nsw.gov.au .

Communications Manager

Create a cooperative and coordinated environment amongst Redfern-Waterloo Partnership Project (RWPP) partners to foster the collaborative development of strategic communications policies and plans, resulting in a unified and positive approach to media, public messages, and community engagement strategies.

Principal Project Manager and Assistant Director

Provide high level support for the Director to ensure effective and efficient resource, project and performance management for the project to support the achievement of its strategic objectives.

Project Manager Human Services Implementation

Undertake a range of human service implementation projects to facilitate the restructuring of the human service delivery system in Redfern and Waterloo.

Project Manager, Strategic Directions

Undertake a range of strategic projects to contribute to the redevelopment of the social and economic infrastructure of the Redfern-Waterloo area.

Project Officer Communications

Assist the Communications Manager in achieving the objectives of the communications function, to facilitate the generation of the substantial community support, input and ownership necessary to achieve the redevelopment of Redfern-Waterloo.

Senior Project Manager Capacity Building Aboriginal Community

Plan, direct and manage projects to address issues affecting the Aboriginal community in Redfern-Waterloo and build within the community to resolve future issues and achieve sustainable outcomes.

Senior Project Officer, Strategic Directions

Develop and implement initiatives and strategies to address the multiplicity of issues facing local communities and increase the community’s capacity to resolve future issues when they arise.

The RWPP website now describes the RWPP in the following terms:

The Redfern-Waterloo Partnership Project is a whole-of-government, whole of community approach. The focus of its work is on community safety, crime prevention, reshaping the human services system and cross agency coordination. It will continue to work closely with the new Redfern Waterloo Authority.

No information is available on the composition of the Human Services Implementation Working Group after the first meeting was delayed from earlier this week due to problems in finalizing the mix of people on the committee.

Aboriginal Housing Company seeks comments on Pemulwuy Project

The AHC have posted, on their website www.ahc.org.au under the “Development” tab, the exhibition panels of the Pemulwuy Project. Little information about the Pemulwuy Project was able to be made available to the community, as it was worked on jointly by the AHC and the Government, through the RWPP, with a view to it going to NSW cabinet with all the other material that became government announcements with the RWA. The documents sighted by the SMH contained material that indicated the Pemulwuy Project was part of the Governments plan for Redfern, but the project never made it to the final announcement.

Minister Sartor’s initial comments after his appointment indicated that, contrary to the earlier joint work, he did he did not want The Block to be all housing. The Minister and governments comments provoked a statement from a broad range of Aboriginal organisations under the Redfern Organisation of Aboriginal Unity in support of the AHC’s position that the land, granted by the Whitlam Federal Government in 1973, should be used for its originally intended purpose of providing housing for Aboriginal people. The AHC are continuing to try and convince the Minister that the Pemulwuy Project should not be scrapped and that it should be supported by Government. They are also making available to the community the work that has already been done so that people can see what is at stake.

The new exhibition panels featuring the latest concept designs for The Block are available to view in PDF form. The AHC is seeking feedback on the designs from all the community, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal.

Award for “Blackout Violence” Campaign to Stamp out Violence in Aboriginal Communities

Premier Bob Carr recently presented the campaign, “Blackout Violence,” with a 2004 Violence Against Women Prevention Award at NSW Parliament House. Blackout Violence was developed by the Inner City Domestic Violence Action Group, Redfern Legal Centre and Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council and was run in conjunction with the NSW Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout held last October long weekend to promote an anti violence message to players and spectators. Attached is a media statement produced by the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council about the award.

People wanting to run the Blackout Violence campaign in their communities can contact Dixie Gordon at the Redfern Legal Centre on 02 9698 7277.

RWA News

The inaugural board meeting of the RWA is scheduled for February 9th at 9.30am in the TNT towers according to the concluding aside in a recent article in the SMH by Elizabeth Farrelly.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Elizabeth-Farrelly/Boats-yes-but-lets-not-miss-the-bus/2005/01/31/1107020327381.html
The February South Sydney Herald reports Local Member Kristina Keneally as saying she will not only resign but also chain herself to the front door of Matavi (one of the public housing high rises) if there was any attempt to move people out. In the same edition Tony Pooley shares his thoughts about the RWA in “Will it be more than a glorified real estate agent?” and Ross Smith compares his experience going through the papers delivered to the upper house with a mushroom farm. The South Sydney Herald on its Editorial page has taken up the issue of the need for the Minister to release the earlier government work on Redfern Waterloo which Minister Sartor has described as “working documents that which outline a number of options” so the community has the information to be able to make informed contributions to the Redfern Waterloo Plan and the RWA’s activities.

Will Redfern and Waterloo be like Manhattan?

Central Courier (3rd February 2005, page 4) has an article looking behind some of the projected population figures for inner Sydney. The article raises some interesting issues about the demographic trends in the inner city that will shape its future. The RWA will need to plan very carefully to ensure that the area maintains its public and affordable housing against these kinds of demographic trends! I have reproduced the article below for those who do not see the Central Courier as it is not available on the Web. Today’s (February 4th 2005) SMH articles on the two housing developments one in the city for the Patricks Terminal (Dozen skyscrapers could cram Darling Harbour) and the other about the public private partnership redevelopment of public housing at Bonnyrigg (Tripodi starts with $500m project) also add to the picture of what pressures are ahead for Redfern-Waterloo.

Taking a bite out of the Big Apple

Inner City Sydney may become Manhattan down under.
REPORT KIRSTEN CRAZE & ALEXANDRA WALKER

Sydney's population is expected to grow to more than 5 million by 2031, according to a recent report from the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources.

The northern CBD, classed under the statistical division Sydney (Inner), is expected to double its population from 5270 in 2001 to 11,920 in 2031. Suburbs including Ultimo and Pyrmont, referred to separately in the report as Sydney (remainder), are slated to experience a similar increase growing from 67,570 to 121,590.

According to the report the median age in Sydney (inner) will rise from 36 to 40, while Sydney (remainder) is projected to experience a smaller age increase from 32 to 33. In both areas the percentage of children under 14 is expected to decrease. Demographer and social trends analyst Bernard Salt said the projected increase was consistent with recent trends.

"People increasingly want to live as a single or in a couple," Mr Salt said.

"The Inner City will be an area dominated by the childless. Without children people can afford to live down town, they have time that isn't spent mowing lawns or taking kids to schools so they become more involved in the cultural life of the city."

Mr Salt said he envisaged a New York-style city centre where people lived in high-rise buildings, were career-oriented, didn't drive often or leave the Inner City.

"They live exactly the same way that you have people living, working and mating on Manhattan Island and the only reason they leave is to go to JFK Airport or the Hamptons," he said. "We're looking at 30,000 people per square kilometre; in New York City it can be double that. It is possible to live a very affluent lifestyle in such a crowded space."

Having a vibrant New York-style area in the Inner City will help to stem the brain drain and will attract the brightest minds in Australia, he said.

"If we don't follow this path you'll have bright young graduates saying, `I don't want to live here it's too boring'," he said.

"I think it's a great thing.

"We need high-rise living, we don't need it all up and down the coast. But this is a unique precinct and living that way is as legitimate as a quarter acre block in Penrith."

Karen Allan, from the Real Estate Institute of NSW, agreed the Inner City was likely to be populated by childless couples and singles living in units or townhouses, but said she expected the property market to remain strong.

"The Inner City area has always been a strong market, for the last 20 years, and will continue to be a strong market as more people want to live close to the CBD," she said. "There's no doubt that the last three or four years the price scope in Sydney has been strong. What we're having now' is a slow down, rather than a bubble bursting.

"If you look at the long-term, over the past 50 years, there's never been a crash in the property market in Sydney."