30 March 2005

Follow the links below to go direct to the story of interest

Human Services Plan Community Workshop – Monday 4^th April 10am-1pm or 6pm – 9pm PCYC, 638 Elizabeth Street, Redfern

REDWatch Meeting Sunday 3^rd April – Redfern Community Centre 2pm – Guest Speaker Gary Moore, Director, NCOSS who is also co-chair of the RWA Human Services Advisory Committee

REDWatch Fundraiser – The Waterloo Story - Tom Zabrinski’s film “Waterloo” about the battle to save Waterloo in the 1970s will be accompanied by guest speakers Tom Uren, Jack Mundy and Tom Zabrinski - 2pm Sunday 16^th  April Skybar Hotel George Street Redfern.

Aboriginal Housing Company convenes Pemulwuy Vision Taskforce

Responses to Minister Sartor’s Comments on The Block

Indigenous Housing In Sydney - Public Forum 7^th April 2005 7 for 7.30 pm Herb Greedy Hall Petersham Rd Marrickville

Redfern Community Centre Friday Night Speaker – Tom Calma Friday 1^st April 2005

Recent News impacting on the RWA?

Redfern Police Move into New Premises near Redfern Station

Leaving Minto: A Study of the Social and Economic Impacts of Public Housing Estate Redevelopment – Report now Available

Callan Park – Save Rozelle Psychiatric Hospital - Wednesday, 30^th March 2005 at 7pm Balmain Town Hall

Human Services Plan Community Workshop – Monday 4^th April 10am-1pm or 6pm – 9pm PCYC, 638 Elizabeth Street, Redfern

The RWPP website has posted details of a community meeting being held by the Interim Human Services Advisory Committee which invites residents of Redfern–Waterloo to become involved in the development of the Human Services Plan for the area click here to download the PDF (45.4 kb). Workshop is being held on Monday, 4^th April 2005 at 10 am and 6pm to identify community outcomes and quality of life indicators for the Redfern-Waterloo Human Services Plan.

Questions to be canvassed include: What do you want for families, children and young people in Redfern-Waterloo? What do local services need to do to get us there?

Refreshments will be provided at each workshop. If you require assistance with transport or child care, please telephone Sharmane Mannix, at the Redfern-Waterloo Partnership Project on 9698-0911.

When the Human Services Advisory Committee was set up its members were advised that there would be e-news emails sent out to agencies and other interested parties to keep everyone advised as to what was happening with the HSAC and with the implementation of the Morgan Disney recommendations. To date we have not seen such an email and have only picked the information of this meeting up when it was posted on the RWPP web site late last week. It is imperative that the RWPP and the HSAC get their communication mechanisms in place so that adequate notice and publicity is given for all public meetings concerning the putting together of the Human Services plan for Redfern Waterloo. It is not enough to just be able to say a public meeting was held and a few people turned up! The objective has to be to let all residents in Redfern Waterloo who may be interested know that a meeting is being held and to give them enough notice to be able to get to the meeting! Please spread the word about Monday’s Meeting so as many people as possible find out about it!

REDWatch Meeting Sunday 3^rd April – Redfern Community Centre 2pm – Guest Speaker Gary Moore, Director, NCOSS who is also co-chair of the RWA Human Services Advisory Committee.

The next REDWatch meeting will be held on Sunday April 3^rd at 2pm at the Redfern Community Centre. Gary Moore from the NSW Council of Social Services (NCOSS) will attend the meeting and speak about NCOSS’s concerns about the RWA and about the Human Services Advisory Committee of which he is co-chair. NCOSS has been active in making representations concerning the RWA from its inception and is engaged in the Human Services Plan process.

At the last REDWatch meeting it was decided to set up working groups to concentrate on particular aspects of the RWA’s agenda. The five initial working groups that were established are Redfern-Waterloo Plan (to also initially include Infrastructure), Human Services, Public Housing, The Block and Communications. If there is interest other working groups may also be set up on Employment, Heritage, Transport and Redfern Railway Station. If you would be interested in being involved in any of these working groups please contact Geoff Turnbull at turnbullfamily@stassen.com.au .

The second part of Sunday’s REDWatch meeting will deal with reports back from any of the working groups that have met, as well as dealing with group nuts and bolts like incorporation, fundraising etc. Everyone is welcome to come and to hear Gary Moore whether or not you decide to stay on for the nuts and bolts part of the REDWatch meeting.

REDWatch Fundraiser – The Waterloo Story - Tom Zabrinski’s film “Waterloo” about the battle to save Waterloo in the 1970s will be accompanied by guest speakers Tom Uren, Jack Mundy and Tom Zabrinski - 2pm Sunday 16^th  April Skybar Hotel George Street Redfern.

The Darlington ALP has organised this special fundraiser about the days of the “Green Bans” and the battle to save Waterloo in the 1970s when the Government wanted to demolish inner city terraces (slums) to build the public housing estates of the future which they now want to redevelop! The film looks at Waterloo’s working class history and the way the government went about resuming property to further their grand plan for the area.

The Waterloo Story will be screened at 2pm on Saturday the 16th April at the Skybar hotel in George Street Redfern. Donations of $10 and $5 suggested. Further information from Trevor on 0400 00 8338.

Food is available at the Guinya lounge upstairs at the Skybar which is famous for its wonderful Indigenous cuisine - if you want to book lunch before or dinner after ring 9690 0610 and speak to Phillip.

Aboriginal Housing Company convenes Pemulwuy Vision Taskforce

On Wednesday night 16th March 2005 the Aboriginal Housing Company convened the inaugural meeting of the Pemulwuy Vision Taskforce. The taskforce is chaired by Tom Uren. The role of the taskforce will be to provide an independent and professional assessment of the Pemulwuy Project’s plan for 62 new affordable Aboriginal homes on The Block in Redfern, with specific consideration to the economic, social, environmental and cultural sustainability of the proposal. Further information Peter Vallilis – AHC Project Director 104 Lawson Street Redfern Tel: 96989249 or 0400804022 email: projectmanager@ahc.org.au

The taskforce members are:

Tom Uren AO – former Housing, Urban and Regional Development Minister with the Whitlam government.

Professor Ed Blakely – Chair of Sydney University’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning & Chair of the Sydney Metropolitan Strategy.

Professor Peter Webber – Emeritus Professor of Urban and Regional Planning Sydney University.

Dr Vivienne Milligan – Director of AHURI Sydney Research Centre and founder of City West Housing Company & NSW Aboriginal Housing Office.

Colin James AM – M.Arch (Harvard) & Director of the IB Fell Housing Research Centre.

Associate Professor Peter Phibbs – Head of the School of Architecture at Sydney University.

Dr David Leifer – Coordinator of the Graduate Programme in Facilities Management at Sydney University and former Chair of the International Facility Management Association, Chair of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.

Martin Butterworth – Managing Director of Space Syntax Australia, B.Des.St, B.Arch, M.Sc, RAIA, specialist in designing Urban Economies.

Angela Pitts – Sydney University PhD candidate & author of the award winning Redfern Community Social Plan & the Redfern Safety Plan.

Paul Knight – Dharawal man, Director of Tranby College, specialist in Aboriginal Business Enterprise.

Tony Larkings – President of the Redfern Chamber of Commerce and Redfern resident.

Geoff Turnbull – Spokesperson for REDWatch and Redfern resident.

The Pemulwuy Vision Taskforce brings together people with a broad range of skills and experience to go over the existing proposal to see if there are any areas in which the work done to date can be improved. Minister Sartor still has not made available any explanation as to why the NSW Government, which was involved in the development of the AHC’s Pemulwuy project up until late last year, is now opposed to the development. The task force will be well placed to investigate any issues that the Minister may identify as being of concern to the NSW Government.

Responses to Minister Sartor’s Comments on The Block

In the adjournment debate in the Senate on March 8 Aden Ridgeway took the opportunity to respond to Minister Sartor’s comments in the article “Hardly a Black face on the Block in Redfern”. The text of the speech can be viewed at http://www.democrats.org.au/speeches/index.htm?speech_id=1552&display=1

Elizabeth Farrelly’s speech to The Independent Scholars Association of Australia (NSW Chapter) dialogue “What 'Other Eden?': The Redfern/Waterloo Project” on Thursday 17th March State Library of NSW also responded to the Minister’s comments. Elizabeth has kindly consented to the text for her address being circulated and we have attached it to this email for those who were unable to attend. Linda Burney and Tony Vinson were also involved in the dialogue.

One of Elizabeth’s recent opinion pieces in the SMH also looked at the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Sydney Harbour Foreshores Authority (SHFA) Management. SHFA is the model for the RWA and the ATP was previously administered by SHFA. If you did see it at the time it is also worth a read and can be viewed on the SMH website at http://www.smh.com.au/news/Elizabeth-Farrelly/Psst-Sydneys-future-is-on-the-line/2005/03/14/1110649124778.html .

We have also seen letters from the AWD Aboriginal Justice Support Group and the Surry Hills ALP Branch responding to the Minister’s comments about The Block and we understand that many other groups have also made responses to the Minister’s comments.

Indigenous Housing In Sydney - Public Forum 7^th April 2005 7 for 7.30 pm Herb Greedy Hall Petersham Rd Marrickville

Marrickville Residents for Reconciliation is organising a Public Forum on Indigenous Housing in Sydney - What are the issues? How available is it? Does it meet the demand? Is the housing provided adequate and appropriate for the families concerned? What will be the impact of the new Redfern Waterloo Authority? Does the housing provided help to promote community and extended family networks? Is it close to employment opportunities and support services? What can be done to improve the current housing situation?

Speakers are from - Aboriginal Housing Company (Redfern) - MACH (Marrickville Association for Community Housing) - IWACC (Inner Western Aboriginal Community Company) – Department of Housing – City of Sydney and Marrickville Councils. For further information contact Peter Dixon 9558 5762; petergdixon@bigpond.com

Redfern Community Centre Friday Night Speaker – Tom Calma Friday 1^st April 2005

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner Mr Tom Calma will be the fourth speaker at the Redfern Community Centre Friday Night Speakers. He will talk on “Social Justice” at 6pm Friday 1^st April 2005. For further details about these sessions contact the Centre on 9288 5713.

Recent News impacting on the RWA?

Two recent developments outside Redfern Waterloo highlight how the RWA’s self funded plans for Redfern may unfold. Firstly the Australand pull out of the CUB development (for analysis see Elizabeth Farrelly’s Under lock and key) will potentially delay the CUB development and delay the affordable housing levy to which the NSW Government laid claim when the RWA was established. As the RWA has been established to be self funding, the CUB affordable housing levy was to be one of the early “non government” sources of funds. We understand that the AHC, in their discussions with Minister Sartor, were told that even if they were to agree immediately to his proposal for The Block to have only 19 housing units, they would not see any funds for the development for two years. Is this because the funding for this part of Minister Sartor’s vision for The Block is to be funded from the CUB levy, rather than by the NSW Government providing the budgetary funding that seemed likely when the Government was involved in developing the AHC’s proposal last year?

The second development was Michael Costa’s decision to keep the possibility of the Southern Distributor (F6) alive Scully buried it, now Costa resurrects F6. While this is nowhere near imminent, it does raise again the question of what should happen with the north - south traffic that flows through Redfern. The old F6 plan still has traffic disappearing magically at Alexandria The proposed route rather than it continuing to the southern side of the city through Redfern and Waterloo as is currently the case. Cox Richardson in their RED consultation for the RWPP put a lot of emphasis on the importance of the north - south traffic problem being solved if there was to be a viable town centre developed around Redfern Station. According to the SMH articles last year the preferred solution is now to put walkways over this traffic rather than do anything with the through traffic itself. The tunneling option initially pushed by Cox Richardson was too expensive at $200 million and as the tunnel was not long enough to be covered by a toll then the cost of building it could not be recovered. With the establishment of the RWA as a self funding Authority, the option of the NSW Government paying to address the problems caused by increasing levels of through traffic from outside the area seems to have disappeared. The solution will be limited to what the RWA can self fund. With the Station / Town Centre an early RWA starter it looks like the community will have to live with a development built around footbridges over the 8 lanes of traffic that run past the station rather than any consideration of the initial Cox Richardson under-grounding proposal being paid for by the State Government.

The SMH articles on the cabinet papers clearly made the point that the success of the Railway development was dependent on what happened around it. While Minister Sartor seems to be focusing on what is happening on The Block side, the other key determinants of the success for the station redevelopment have to be how the effect of the traffic through the area is minimized, how the stalled Redfern Street Upgrade can be completed and how the ATP can be turned around to become an employment centre that businesses are attracted to. The Block is not the only factor affecting developers’ preparedness to invest in the Redfern Station development. Any analysis that suggests this misses these other issues in the immediate area that affect the attractiveness of the station development.

Redfern Police Move into New Premises near Redfern Station

Redfern Local Area Command moved into their new premises overlooking the railway station and The Block on 14 March 2005, following the $6 million refurbishment of seven floors in the former TNT building at Lawson Square next to the Redfern Railway Station. The new contact telephone number for Redfern Police Station is 8303 5199.

Leaving Minto: A Study of the Social and Economic Impacts of Public Housing Estate Redevelopment – Report now Available

"Leaving Minto" is now available through the Minto Resident Action Group.  The cost of the report is $25 plus $5 postage & handling. To order a copy, or for more information, contact Julie Foreman - Community Animation Project, St Vincent de Paul Society -  on (02) 4627 9018, Fax: (02) 4627 9155 or email julie@svdpwgong.org.au

This much anticipated report on the social and economic impacts of urban redevelopment on the community of Minto, is the first part of an ongoing participatory evaluation of public housing estate redevelopment, which will be extended to other NSW public housing estates undergoing similar transformations. A second stage report, which picks up the evaluative social and economic framework, set out in Section 9 of the report, will be prepared in late 2005. This research aims to fill a number of gaps in understanding the public housing urban renewal process in NSW. The report aims are to: Bring the voices of those most affected by the urban renewal process to the centre  of policy considerations; Provide a more detailed review of the immediate and longer-term social and economic impacts on residents in public housing estates undergoing urban redevelopment, of which Minto is the first major example in NSW; Provide a more detailed understanding of the decisions and processes that affect urban renewal as it is currently being played out in estates such as Minto; Make a contribution to reflections on the future sustainability  of the public housing sector in NSW, including the net costs or benefits to the immediate and wider community of these policies.

Thanks to Garry Mallard at the Tenants Support Network for the above Information. If you have an interest in Tennant Issues and Public Housing and are not getting TIDBITS and TSN Notify you should subscribe to the TSN emails and check out this useful service which circulates media reports and other news about tenant issues from around Australia and New Zealand. To subscribe send an email to: TSN1@bigpond.com indicating you wish to "Subscribe"

Callan Park – Save Rozelle Psychiatric Hospital - Wednesday, 30^th March 2005 at 7pm Balmain Town Hall

While at first glance the activities of The Friends of Callan Park seem to have little to do with Redfern Waterloo other than that they too are struggling for a say in the development of their area. The Friends of Callan Park are also putting some emphasis on Mental Health Issues which is one of the areas identified in the Morgan Disney Human Services Review as needing greater attention within Redfern Waterloo. People from Redfern-Waterloo who have had mental health issues have often ended up at Callan Park. In addition to the meeting on the 30^th March a tour of Callan park is being organized for 17^th April followed by a forum on The Future of Callan Park. More information can be obtained from Hall Greenland or Jean Lennane at Friends of Callan Park 17 North Avenue, Leichhardt, NSW 2040 focp@tpg.com.au Phone: 9810 2511 or 9564 3113.