Draft Waterloo South People and Place Plan | For feedback until 31 May 2024
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25 October 2005
In this Update
Draft Human Services Plan Consultations
Where to Find Information about the RWA’s Draft Human Services Plan
REDWatch Human Services Plan Speak Out Web Page – Add your Comments
Some initial comments on the Draft Human Services Plan
Early Intervention Background material
Support persons needed for Aboriginal persons in custody
There is also information about important coming events including this weekend:
Public Meeting on Redfern & Regent Street Upgrade - 6.00pm to 7.30pm Wednesday 2 November 2005
RED DUST Film Preview ANTaR Fundraiser - 9 November 2005 6.30 pm DENDY Newtown 261 King Street
Draft Human Services Plan Consultations
An information session was held on Monday for those involved in the earlier cluster meetings. It appears that the RWA did not have a full list of who was involved in the cluster meetings and so many people involved in the cluster meeting were not advised & therefore couldn’t attend.
It was apparent at the Monday meeting that there are no plans to call the clusters together to look at the areas covered by the cluster group in the Draft Human Services Plan. The RWA was reminded that cluster groups, who provided input into the drafting of the Plan, were told they would get together to look at the draft plan when it was available.
Aldo Pennini said they would consider this possibility, which, if it was to go ahead, would probably be next week. If anyone has a list of who was involved in any of the cluster groups can you please send it to the RWA so they know who they need to contact if they decide to bring them back together.
We are aware of agencies which have not been told about the agency briefing sessions being planned for this Thursday. There are two sessions on Thursday which have been broken up alphabetically. The meeting times are:
- Thursday 27 October 9.30am - 11.00am - Service provider meeting Redfern Town Hall
- Thursday 27 October 2.00pm - 3.30pm - Service provider meeting Redfern Town Hall
There is also a meeting for the public on Saturday if you are unable to come on Thursday. The Public Meeting has been set down for Redfern Town Hall on
- Saturday 29 October 1.30pm - 3.30pm – Public Meeting
There will also be a session next week for young people to talk about youth services although no meeting has been planned for the organisations that deliver youth services to meet and discuss the reorganisation that the RWA proposes to service youth.
Please note that all these meetings are planned as information meetings, rather than meetings at which people discuss the issues and then make detailed comments on the draft Human Service Plan.
Where to Find Information about the RWA’s Draft Human Services Plan
Information about the Draft Human Services Plan can be found on the RWA’s website.
The Draft Redfern-Waterloo Human Services Plan is available in printed form from the RWA office or a pdf file (288Kb) can be downloaded from http://www.redfernwaterloo.com.au/other/draft_human_services_plan.pdf .
The RWA also produced a “Redfern-Waterloo Update October 2005” which summaries some of the key elements of the Plan. This has been distributed throughout the area. It is available on the RWA site but as the file is very large there is also a smaller text version is on the REDWatch site at www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/humanservices/hsp051014/051014rwa
The RWA have posted what they think will be the Frequently Asked Questions at http://www.redfernwaterloo.com.au/faq/faq_human_services.htm .
The initial media release about the draft plan can be found at http://www.redfernwaterloo.com.au/other/media_human_services_plan.pdf
Comments to the RWA on the Draft Plan can be posted at http://www.redfernwaterloo.com.au/feedback/draft_hs_feedback.php
REDWatch Human Services Plan Speak Out Web Page – Add your Comments
REDWatch met with Aldo Pennini on Sunday 23rd October at its monthly meeting to discuss the Draft Human Services Plan. There was concern at the speed at which the consultation is being undertaken, especially as it is reporting season for many agencies. Again government takes extra time to work out their position resulting in community consultation being rushed to meet government’s timetable.
The process being used by the RWA sees a number of information meetings for groups with responses going back to the RWA as individual responses, rather than there being opportunities for community and service provider meetings to discuss the draft plan and make collaborative comments on it. This would be a far better way for consultations to take place; hence the call for cluster groups to be reconvened.
There is also a question of transparency. Under the current process people do not hear other’s concerns and no one knows what has been put to the RWA as needing to be changed. This was a process that people were very critical about when used two year’s ago by the Redfern Waterloo Partnership Project in the RED consultations.
In response to this earlier concern, REDWatch have set up a page on their website where people can share their thoughts and questions about the Draft Human Services Plan in public with others. The initial response from South Sydney Community Aid’s newsletter has also been posted there. The page can be found at http://www.redwatch.org.au/redw/speakout/051023hsp.
The REDWatch webpage is an attempt to provide an opportunity for people to share their thoughts with others if they wish.
Some initial comments on the Draft Human Services Plan
There seems to have been a good response to the focus in the Draft Plan shifting from the service delivery of NGOs to the responsibility of Government to provide core services at a level commensurate with local needs. Government has recognised that they need to do much more in the area to address the area’s human services needs. They need to implement policies in Redfern Waterloo that have been on departmental books for quite some time, but which have not yet been implemented in Redfern Waterloo. Yes, there are some new aspects to the plan, such as the commitment to greater integration of departmental programmes which seem not to have been tried elsewhere in NSW, but there are also existing policies which should have been rolled out into the area quite some time ago and which the Plan says now will be.
There is concern that there are no performance indicators and time frame for them to be delivered by. The rolling out of the Plan will require the relevant government departments committing the necessary funds within their existing budgets to implement the programs proposed. There is considerable unease that the resources may not flow quickly enough to implement the grand plan that the Government’s Human Service CEOs have signed up to.
This is not just the usual cynicism. On the day the Draft Plan was released DoCS was being strongly criticized by the NSW Ombudsman for not being able even to meet its obligations for following up at risk notifications statewide and yet DoCS will have a key roll in overseeing aspects of the Redfern Waterloo Human Services Plan’s implementation even though its Director General admits DoCS is grossly understaffed (see http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/one-in-ten-babies-reported-to-docs/2005/10/15/1128796715153.html ). A couple of days later the SMH ran the story “NSW in the sin bin on mental health” which said “NSW is one of the country's worst performers on mental health” http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/nsw-in-the-sin-bin-on-mental-health/2005/10/19/1129401317073.html . This was from an independent report which criticized the under resourcing of mental health programs around Australia including NSW. This health issue affects Redfern Waterloo more profoundly than in many other areas. The Department of Health will have to find significant extra resources if it is to adequately address this and other health issues in Redfern Waterloo as will the Department of Housing to deliver on its side of the Joint Guarantee of Service (JGOS) which remains the laughing stock of public tenants who have had cause to deal with it.
For education the Plan seeks to lift school retention rates and the level of literacy and numeracy to the state average. This is such a huge and necessary task that the RWA is considering asking the private sector to help fund literacy and numeracy programmes, as well as early intervention programmes such as subsidised child care places. This would appear to be an admission that not only are huge resources needed from the department of Education to address the problems in Redfern Waterloo but that the problem is such that this will need to be supplemented by new funds from outside government. This proposition has raised many eyebrows.
At least the Plan is getting to the heart of the problem. Government Policy and Government Departments have not been delivering for Redfern Waterloo for many years. If there is to be any real change they have to start addressing the needs of the area seriously. It is said that all the area has to show for the increased Government interest over the last few years is a new Police Station. The Government has to change this quickly by making sure the resources are available to make this plan work. Many are unconvinced that it will happen and suspect it is just another round of promises.
The initial focus of reforming NGOs, while still on the agenda, is at least in perspective now with government departments having to shoulder their responsibility as the lead agencies in lifting service delivery in the area. If history repeats itself, calls for increased government commitment and resources to address the problems of ingrained disadvantage will mean more government funding for the work NGOs do at the grass roots level.
Mind you NGOs are still very much in for reformation. Youth Services, which government have tended not to be good at and hence have left to NGOs, are to be the first lot of services to be reformed, co-located and turned into three one stop shops. However there has been no discussion within the youth cluster about the proposals or between the agencies to be combined. Many questions remain unanswered. How do you combine The Settlement, a community centre with its own act of Parliament, with The Redfern Community Centre? The community centre runs a wide range of programmes, not just for youth, as part of the City of Sydney’s services in the area.
Since the Draft Plan went to cabinet a decision has been made to disband the RWPP’s flagship Street Team. So what will happen to the services they provided? Will they go to South Sydney Youth Services with whom they were supposed to combine to provide support services or will this money go to provide the weekend and evening youth services proposed in the Plan? Even the proposal for a co-located Fact Tree and PCYC will not be straight forward as there will be a the need to find a new location for the combined service within 18 months when DoH resume the PCYC site as part of the Elizabeth Street Housing Redevelopment. There are many issues to be resolved in setting up the Plan’s new look youth services!
The draft Plan continues the push that integrating the back office functions of the handful of local NGOs can save a significant portion of the 20% allowed for overheads in the grants they receive. Coming up with cost effective OH&S and insurance arrangements for these agencies would probably contribute to more significant savings than integrating their back office functions. Agencies are also asking if they will get to keep any savings to cover other activities which are currently not adequately covered in their funding.
There is also growing concern about the RWA’s proposal to set up a trust to bring in private funds to the area. On one level agencies which already tap private funds feel that they will not be able to compete with the RWA’s program and that the RWA’s prospectus will only carry projects that suit the RWA’s priorities. In addition there is the concern that the projects that look sexy in an annual report will get funded, while others dealing with more complex issues like domestic violence will be difficult to fund.
It appears that the implications of RWA’s duel role as developer and service provider has not been considered in the administration of the proposed trust. The RWA will also be involved in approving development applications and deciding who gets what tenders. On the broader stage the Minister responsible for getting things done in Redfern Waterloo is also responsible, as Planning Minister, for approving major projects across the state. This opens up major probity questions which need also to be considered in setting up such a charitable fund raising venture. The last thing the RWA needs is any possible suspicion that developers are putting money into human service projects, in the absence of sufficient government funds, as a way of gaining consideration for their developments in Redfern Waterloo or in other parts of the state.
The myth that there were enough resources going into human services in Redfern Waterloo is at least dead. The Government programmes and the RWA’s proposed trust will both bring in new funds and hopefully better co-ordinated services to Redfern Waterloo. The fact that the funds do not come from a special budget allocation for Redfern Waterloo matters little – they confirm what many have said; that to solve the area’s problems there is a need for more resources and for the government to seriously implement their programmes.
We have heard little so far from the Aboriginal community about their reaction to the draft plan, other than that there is concern about how the information exchange procedures proposed between agencies will work. Ever since the colonisers arrived Aboriginal people have had their lives ruled by one government department or another. It is still DOCs with Police backup who turn up and take away kids, so there is real concern about how information supplied to one department might be used against people by another. This is an issue which will need to be handled carefully by the RWA. Another concern raised is that the wording of the Draft Plan makes it look like the RWA is planning to take over the local Blackout Violence program.
These are just a few of the issues that we have heard raised and we are sure there are many other concerns that we haven’t heard. Hopefully all these and other concerns will be taken up in peoples’ responses to the RWA. The question is will there will be time for the RWA to take such comments on board in the 11 days between when responses need to be in and when the RWA hopes that cabinet will be able to sign off on the final Human Services Plan?
Ideally we would like to have seen greater emphasis on cluster groups, agencies and the community discussing the issues and being able to make responses from these discussions as well as the individual responses. We would have liked the RWA to have the time to come back come back after submissions had been received and let the community know what the RWA was told and the way they propose altering the plan, but there is no time to allow this. Hopefully one day someone will listen – you have to allow time for the community to be involved in a number of different ways if you want them to own the outcome!
Early Intervention Background material
The Draft Human Services Plan has picked up the early intervention research and has made this a cornerstone of the draft redfern Waterloo Plan. We thought some people might be interested in the DoCs Prevention and Early Intervention Literature Review to get an idea of the basis that is being used for the Plan. You can find the document at http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/documents/PEI_literature_%20review.pdf . On the same theme Garth Alperstein had an article in the SMH recently which also raised the Perry Pre-School program model http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/playing-the-blame-game-no-solution-to-child-abuse/2005/10/16/1129401141542.html and pointed out that neither the Federal nor State Government had funded a similar programme in Australia. If the RWA Human Services Plan is going to head in this direction it seems that this could also provide the basis for such a longitudinal study. It might also provide additional motivation for the Government to make sure tangible outcomes are delivered from the Redfern Waterloo Plan. We especially liked Dr Alperstein’s last paragraph which we thought fitted Redfern Waterloo:
“Do we do something to stop the bodies falling into the river upstream, or do we merely continue to give more money to the Department of Community Services to attempt to pull out a never-ending stream of bodies further down the river and continue to use it as the scapegoat for failings that belong more to state and federal government policies, and how they choose to spend taxpayers' money?”
We omitted by accident in an earlier email about polling making reference to the City of Sydney polling over the future of Redfern Oval. We noticed earlier this week “Rabbitohs out of hat” (Spike in the SMH) that Tony Pooley had been polled and had some concerns about the way the questions were constructed http://www.smh.com.au/news/spike/a-few-early-runs/2005/10/23/1130006001378.html . Our understanding is that the poll showed support for the CoS position to open up the oval but that there was also a sentiment that some South’s games should be played there.
A proposal has also been presented to City of Sydney councilors from South Sydney Rabbitohs and PCYC for them to take a shared tenancy of a redeveloped stand office gym complex and management of the oval. Following the decision of the DoH to include the PCYC in the Elizabeth Street redevelopment to get developer interest, PCYC is looking for ways to remain in the area to undertake the recreation, sport and activities focus proposed for them in the RWA youth restructure.
Support persons needed for Aboriginal persons in custody
Redfern Local Area Command and the local ACLOs are looking for Aboriginal people in the community to act as support persons for Aboriginal persons in custody. The support persons would be needed for when we have an Aboriginal person/child in custody and the parents/guardians cannot be contacted. They would have to be prepared to sit in on interviews and just to protect the legal rights of the person/child. This would be on a volunteer basis. They would organise for the support person to be picked up and conveyed to Redfern Police Station and then returned home. If you can help please contact Lesley Townsend ACLO Redfern LAC PH: 02 8303 5361.
We have been advised that tenders for construction of the Waterloo Skate Park are being advertised and will close on November 16th 2005. Tenders are also out for the under grounding of power lines on Redfern and Regents Street and for the Hugo Street reserve http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Business/TendersEOIQuotes/CurrentListing.asp
Alexandria, Erskineville, St Peters and Waterloo City of Sydney Community Forum - Thursday 27th October
Alexandria, Erskineville, St Peters and Waterloo Community Forum will be held on Thursday 27 October, 6pm to 8.30pm at Alexandria Town Hall, 73 Garden Street, Alexandria
Reconciliation Council and ANTaR Community Forum – Redfern Community Centre 2-4pm Saturday 29th October 2005
NSW Reconciliation Council's is holding its Annual Conference at Darlington Public School on the weekend of 29th to 30th October 2005. As part of this there will be a joint Community Forum at the Redfern Community Centre, hosted by Redfern Residents for Reconciliation. The aim of the forum is to stimulate dialogue among members of grass roots community organisations and Indigenous thinkers around key issues in Indigenous Affairs, and to discuss ways to move forward.
Current speakers include: Robert Welsh - Chairperson, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, Ruth McCausland- Jumbunna, Professor Ken Wyatt - Director Aboriginal Health, NSW Department of Health, Geoff Scott - NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Charmaine Smith - PIAC, Diat Callope - Independent Education Union with many more to be confirmed.
Facilitated by Paulette Whitton from Koori Radio, the Forum will cover three broad areas: 1. Legislation, including the NSW Land Rights Act Review ; 2. Social Justice, including the Aboriginal Trust Funds issue ; 3. Partnerships & Community Development, including issues being faced in Redfern. RSVP to nswrc@daa.nsw.gov.au. Details of the NSW Reconciliation Council Annual Conference and the forum can be found at http://www.nswrecon.com/ .
Public Meeting on Redfern & Regent Street Upgrade - 6.00pm to 7.30pm Wednesday 2 November 2005
The City is holding a public meeting to review proposed designs for the renewal of Redfern and Regent Streets. 6.00pm to 7.30pm Wednesday 2 November 2005 at Redfern Town Hall, 73 Pitt Street, Redfern. Information: Project Manager Mukesh Malhotra, phone 9246 7768, email mmalhotra@cityofsydney.gov.au .
RED DUST Film Preview ANTaR Fundraiser - 9 November 2005 6.30 pm DENDY Newtown 261 King Street
Red Dust exposes the truth about the insults and crimes of racial discrimination in South Africa under apartheid. The film is based on the book by Gillian Slovo, daughter of Joe Slovo and Ruth First who were prominent white activists against apartheid in South Africa, working alongside Nelson Mandela. NSW ANTaR is using a preview screening of this film as a fund raiser Tickets are $20 full or $15 concession and bookings can be made by phone on 02 9555 6138. Further information can be found at http://www.antar.org.au/
TfNSW proposal to reverse Little Eveleigh Street - until Sept 10th 2023
