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7 March 2007

In this Update: Redfern Waterloo Candidate’s Forums – 6.00 – 8.30pm 14th & 15th March 2007 / Heffron Electorate – Redfern Waterloo Forum - Wednesday 14th March 6pm for 6.30 – 8.30pm The Factory Community Centre, 67 Raglan St Waterloo / Marrickville Electorate – Darlington Forum - [includes The Block and Redfern West of Redfern Railway Station] Thursday 15th March 6pm for 6.30 - 8.30pm Redfern Community Centre, Hugo St Redfern / REDWatch releases its “Wish List” for Redfern Waterloo / REDWatch March Meeting – 6pm Wednesday 7th March 2007 / RWA Re-exhibition of Amended Draft’s of Contributions Plan and Affordable Housing Contributions Plan – Until 5 April 2007 / Council unhappy with RWA Contributions Plan / RWA’s February 2007 Update / Federal Funding for Urban Aboriginal Housing Under threat / Green Square Town Centre to Start Moving and a new website / Redfern Waterloo Urban Design Study Finalised / Information from ILC Open Day on Redfern Public school Site / CoS Redfern One Stop Shop set to move to Redfern Town Hall – DA Exhibition until 15th March 2007 / No Alcohol Free Zones for The Block / Eveleigh Railyards / More Light on Community and Business Leaders Meeting / Plans to Redevelop South’s Leagues Club Announced / Part 3A and the Public Interest – Public Seminar – 6-8pm Wednesday 7th March 2007 / Heritage Festival 2007 - 3 – 18 March 2007 / Have your say – Summary of Current Consultations

In this Update:

Redfern Waterloo Candidate’s Forums – 6.00 – 8.30pm 14th & 15th March 2007

·       Heffron Electorate – Redfern Waterloo Forum - Wednesday 14th March 6pm for 6.30 – 8.30pm The Factory Community Centre, 67 Raglan St Waterloo

·       Marrickville Electorate – Darlington Forum - [includes The Block and Redfern West of Redfern Railway Station] Thursday 15th March 6pm for 6.30 - 8.30pm Redfern Community Centre, Hugo St Redfern

REDWatch releases its “Wish List” for Redfern Waterloo

REDWatch March Meeting – 6pm Wednesday 7th March 2007

RWA Re-exhibition of Amended Draft’s of Contributions Plan and Affordable Housing Contributions Plan – Until 5 April 2007

Council unhappy with RWA Contributions Plan

RWA’s February 2007 Update

Federal Funding for Urban Aboriginal Housing Under threat

Green Square Town Centre to Start Moving and a new website

Redfern Waterloo Urban Design Study Finalised

Information from ILC Open Day on Redfern Public school Site

CoS Redfern One Stop Shop set to move to Redfern Town Hall – DA Exhibition until 15th March 2007

No Alcohol Free Zones for The Block

Eveleigh Railyards

More Light on Community and Business Leaders Meeting

Plans to Redevelop South’s Leagues Club Announced

Part 3A and the Public Interest – Public Seminar – 6-8pm Wednesday 7th March 2007

Heritage Festival 2007 - 3 – 18 March 2007

Have your say – Summary of Current Consultations

Coming Events (look at the new local events entered on the REDWatch website that are not covered here)

Redfern Waterloo Candidate’s Forums – 6.00 – 8.30pm 14th & 15th March 2007

REDWatch has organised a forum for each of the Heffron and Marrickville electorates so that people can listen to the local candidates and ask them their questions. The evenings will start at 6pm with an opportunity to pick up materials supplied by the various parties, to formulate any questions you would like to put to the candidates and get a quick cup of tea. The Forums will start at 6.30 prompt with an address from each of the candidates, followed by around 50 minutes of questions with closing comments from candidates to finish at 8.30. For parts of Redfern and Darlington that have been removed from Bligh to either Heffron or Marrickville this will be an important opportunity to meet the candidates and find out about them and their party’s proposals for our area. The details of the forums are below:

·        Heffron Electorate – Redfern Waterloo Forum - Wednesday 14th March 6pm for 6.30 – 8.30pm The Factory Community Centre, 67 Raglan St Waterloo


·        Marrickville Electorate – Darlington Forum - [includes The Block and Redfern West of Redfern Railway Station] Thursday 15th March 6pm for 6.30 - 8.30pm Redfern Community Centre, Hugo St Redfern


REDWatch has prepared a series of questions about Redfern Waterloo Issues and circulated these to candidates. The questions are posted on the Election 2007 section of the REDWatch website and the responses will be posted as they are received. The website contains details of the candidates standing in each electorate and any statements they have made about Redfern Waterloo issues.

REDWatch does not support any political party. REDWatch does encourage residents to be actively involved in all aspects of their community life including politics. REDWatch wants to see policies from all political parties that seriously address the needs, concerns and aspirations of those who live and work in Redfern, Eveleigh, Darlington and Waterloo - the suburbs generally referred to as Redfern-Waterloo. Ideally REDWatch would like to see a non-partisan approach by political parties to work with the communities that live in Redfern Waterloo to find lasting solutions to the area’s issues. REDWatch supports no party or candidate and seeks to generate community discussion about what happens in our area.

An electronic flyer for the forums can be downloaded from the REDWatch website for Heffron Candidate's Forum - Wednesday 14th March 2007  and Marrickville Candidate's Forum - Thursday 15th March 2007.

REDWatch releases its “Wish List” for Redfern Waterloo

With the election imminent and a new post-election cabinet not far away, REDWatch has released its two year report card on the RWA and the state government’s involvement in Redfern Waterloo. In An Agenda for Redfern Waterloo Changes in 2007 - State Election Issues REDWatch covers issues including the need for the government to adequately fund programmes in Redfern Waterloo if there is to be any lasting change as a result of the RWA’s published plans and the need for proper integration between the different parts of the three plans. REDWatch points out that under the RWA Act much of what happens in the RWA is determined by the Minister for Redfern Waterloo and that many of the community’s concerns about specific elements of the plans are able to be changed at the discretion of the current or future Minister. REDWatch has renewed its call for the government to work in partnership with the community in line with the recommendations of the Legislative Council’s 2005 Social Issues Committee’s Inquiry into Redfern Waterloo. REDWatch has also renewed its call for a Community Council to act as a community reference group to the RWA across the broad range of the RWA and government’s activities in Redfern Waterloo. This proposal was rejected by the minister when he decided instead that he would hold four meetings a year with the community. Other than a meeting specifically called for public housing tenants the minister has never attended a Community Forum. The ten page REDWatch report covers a number of other issues and can be downloaded from the here (PDF 76 KB).

The REDWatch Agenda also provides the basis of many of the Questions for Candidates for March 24th 2007 NSW Election that REDWatch has supplied to candidates in the seats of Marrickville and Heffron and upper house parties. The questions can also be downloaded in PDF format here (PDF100Kb). The Agenda and Questions were adopted by the REDWatch meeting of 14th February 2007.

REDWatch March Meeting – 6pm Wednesday 7th March 2007

The next REDWatch meeting will finalise organisation of the two community forums and discuss recent Redfern Waterloo events. REDWatch meetings are open to all the community so if you want to get involved with other local residents then come along. REDWatch meets downstairs at The Factory, 67 Raglan Street Waterloo on the first Wednesday of each month.

RWA Re-exhibition of Amended Draft’s of Contributions Plan and Affordable Housing Contributions Plan – Until 5 April 2007

The RWA website has announced that the Minister for Redfern-Waterloo, Frank Sartor MP, has considered the issues raised in submissions to the draft Contributions Plans and as a result, the Minister has determined that the amended draft Affordable Housing Contributions Plan and the Draft RWA Contributions Plan be re-exhibited to 5 April 2007. According to the RWA website:

The key amendments to the Amended Draft RWA Contributions Plan 2006 (pdf ~271kb) are:

  • inclusion of a reference to a map indicating land to which the Plan applies;
  • inclusion of an exemption clause to allow the Minister for Planning to exempt certain types of development from having to pay a development levy;
  • review and amendment to the estimated cost of certain road and transport works;
  • clarification on when the Crown is required to pay the development levy; and
  • clarification of offer to enter into a voluntary planning agreement.

The key amendments to Amended Draft RWA Affordable Housing Contributions Plan 2006 (pdf 366 kb) are:

  • inclusion of a reference to a map indicating land to which the Plan applies;
  • inclusion of an exemption clause to allow the Minister to exempt certain types of development from having to pay the contribution; and
  • clarification on when the Crown is required to pay the contributions rate.

A quick check over the amended Plans shows that there has been no change in the amounts that each of the plans proposes to raise or how they are proposed to be spent. It appears as if the Minister is not of a mind to take on board the question of adequacy of the levies to address the areas needs. It is looking very much like the RWA is trying to speed up developments in its area by offering lower levy’s that that proposed by the City of Sydney knowing that at the end of the RWA’s life when the area reverts to local council that they will then need to address the short fall in open space, public amenity and affordable housing without the benefit of the income from the newly developed areas.

Council unhappy with RWA Contributions Plan

The City of Sydney has just gone through the public exhibition of their Section 94 Contributions Plan and there is concern within council about the contrast between what the council is proposing and what has been proposed by the RWA. In a media statement Fear for the Future of Southern Sydney on 19 February 2007 the “Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP has called on the State Government and the Redfern Waterloo Authority (RWA) to guarantee that more than $1.8 billion worth of expected development will include provision for essential community facilities and open space.  “The RWA’s draft contributions plan proposes a developer levy of just two per cent or $36.7 million to provide community infrastructure such as parks, childcare centres, pools and community facilities,” Ms Moore said. “In contrast, the City of Sydney has undertaken rigorous research for its contribution plan in the southern suburbs which concluded that a developer levy of about seven per cent is needed to just maintain existing open space and community facility ratios. The NSW Property Council described the City’s levy as sensible.”

The Officers Report to the City of Sydney Planning Sub-committee on 5th March City Of Sydney Section 94 Development Contributions Plan 2006 – Review Of Public Exhibition | PDF 117Kb highlights the following issues that the City sees in the RWA Contributions Plan:

“In its submission on the Draft Redfern Waterloo Authority Contributions Plan 2006 the City of Sydney supports the aim of revitalising the Redfern-Waterloo area. In summary, the City of Sydney’s key issues and recommendations are:

(a) Open Space provision: The Redfern-Waterloo Authority has not made a commitment to maintain the current per capita rates of open space and the relatively low 2% contribution rate cannot provide enough open space to maintain current rates. It is recommended that a detailed public domain and an open space strategy be prepared to ensure a sufficient quantity of additional high quality, safe, accessible public spaces;

(b) Financial Risk: The works program is general in nature and there is uncertainty as to the scope of cost estimates for these works. It is recommended that the Redfern-Waterloo Authority identify infrastructure standards and outcomes, and ensure adequate funding to achieve them;

(c) Adequacy: The City questions whether the proposed rate will be sufficient to provide the required infrastructure for the future of the area. It is recommended that the Redfern-Waterloo Authority investigate an increase in the proposed 2% levy in the range of up to 7% to ensure adequate open space and infrastructure are provided; and

(d) Infrastructure Working Group: The City strongly supports the establishment of a working group of the Redfern Waterloo Authority, the Roads and Traffic Authority, Ministry of Transport, State Transit, State Rail Authority and the City of Sydney to coordinate infrastructure and asset planning.”

RWA’s February 2007 Update

The RWA distributed a Redfern Waterloo Update February 2007 (pdf 156kb) around the area on 22nd February 2007. As we had previously covered most of the items in the RWA Update in our emails we did not rush out a new email. The RWA Update cover story was the approval by Planning and Redfern-Waterloo Minister Frank Sartor of the Channel 7 concept plan with a nice pre-election photo of the NSW Premier and the Member for Heffron at the initial announcement of the Channel 7 project in June 2006. Page two covered the Yaama Dhinawan graduation last year at which the Minister for Education and Marrickville MP was present and photographed with Aunty Beryl and the graduates. The RWA update also carried details of the ILC’s National Indigenous Development Centre Community Consultation on March 1st. While it is good for the RWA to tell the good stories, the linking of local members to the stories in the lead up to the election did upset some of the sitting member’s rival candidates.

On the last page of the update there was a piece on “Progress on Redfern Station upgrade” which was of particular interest as it announced that “NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, released the Government’s Urban Transport Statement in November last year which lists the Redfern Station upgrade as a Capacity and Service Improvement Initiative to be implemented by 2011.” We had obviously missed this in the Urban Transport statement. A search of the PDF document only turns up 3 general references to the word Redfern, but when we went back over the document sure enough the “Capacity and Service Improvement Initiatives 2011 Map has both the Redfern Station Upgrade and the Newtown Easy Access upgrade marked. We have put the non text searchable map up on the REDWatch website at "Capacity and service improvements Initiatives 2011*" (PDF 250Kb) so you can see the mention. There was no mention in the RWA Update of when the community might see the Redfern Station options that are being worked on which the Draft RWA Built Environment Plan expected to be available around the end of 2006.

The RWA Update also advised that NSW Health has lodged a preliminary application with the Department of Planning for its Director General’s Requirements (DGRs) and that, subject to public exhibition and approval, work is scheduled to commence later this year. To date the Department of Planning has not placed the Department of Health preliminary application on their major project website so we can not see what has been submitted. We understand that the preliminary application has been circulated to government departments and council, as City of Sydney Council received a copy a day or so before the RWA Update came out and had only 10 days to advise the Department of Planning of what they thought should be in the DGRs. It is likely that the community will not get any details of what is being proposed for the former court house and police station until after the Department of Health receive the DGRs.

Finally the RWA Update did the sums for the as yet unreleased RWA Affordable Housing Programme and announced that “the NSW Government will be able to invest about 60 million in the provision of affordable housing in Redfern-Waterloo over the next 10-12 years”. This figure is a combination of an estimated $23million from the CUB site, $35 million from the proposed RWA Affordable Housing Contributions Plan and the $1 million the RWA will contribute as part of the $16 million that will go towards affordable housing for Aboriginal residents. While this sounds like a lot of money it is worthwhile doing some calculations. If the RWA took the same percentage levy for affordable housing from the RWA state significant sites as it will from the CUB site, then the figure the “state government would invest” would be around $106 million. If the state government put in a similar contribution to affordable housing from the state significant sites as it did in Pyrmont Ultimo the state contribution would be of the order of $123 million which is the same as the expected cost of the Chanel 7 ATP development. This is more than double the figure mentioned in the RWA Update. If, as was the case in Pyrmont Ultimo, the state government could get the federal government to match the state’s contribution, then the RWA could end up with close to $250 million for affordable housing in Redfern Waterloo. Now that would be a target to get excited about in an RWA Update!

Federal Funding for Urban Aboriginal Housing Under threat

The Australian of 22nd February 2007 ran the story Indigenous city housing scrapped in which the Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs Mal Brough said that he was taking a proposal to cabinet to abolish funding of Aboriginal-specific public housing in cities and to redirect the money to Aboriginal housing in remote areas instead. The RWA announced in mid 2006 that they were looking for matching federal funds for the $16 million that they have earmarked for Aboriginal affordable housing in Redfern Waterloo. It is to be hoped that the RWA can use its ‘Redfern Waterloo Partnership Agreement June 2006” which is “An initiative of the Commonwealth and NSW Governments to co-operate on enhancing the economic and social revitalisation of Redfern-Waterloo in relation to the Indigenous community” to deliver funding for their proposed Aboriginal housing and that it will not be caught up in this policy change. The RWA have a map Index of Disadvantage - Socio-economic profile for the Redfern-Waterloo Operational Area, 1996 and 2001 (Jpg 83Kb) in their draft Affordable Housing Contributions Plan. This shows the change in the level of disadvantage in the area in the five years prior to 2001 and the trend can only be expected to have continued since then. The pushing out of those with high disadvantage from areas other than public housing shows the desperate need for affordable housing in Redfern Waterloo and this especially impacts on the Aboriginal communities. The maps seem to make a good case for continued housing assistance from the Federal Government for Aboriginal families associated with the Redfern Waterloo area; hopefully the RWA can persuade the federal government of this.

Green Square Town Centre to Start Moving and a new website

The City of Sydney Lord Mayor and the Minister for Planning have jointly announced that the Green Square Town Centre Project is moving to tender. The Landcom media release states: “This is a significant milestone for the 14-hectare Town Centre which will be at the heart of the 278 hectare renewal area,” Mr Sartor said. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create 7,000 new jobs close to the city and homes for 5,500 residents. “The project will generate an estimated $1.7 billion in direct investment for NSW. It will also help the NSW Government to achieve key priorities in the State Plan – including more jobs closer to home for hard-working families. “Sydney is a global city and I am confident this development will be world-class.” In the first stage of tenders, Landcom will call for Expressions of Interest for a package of sites covering just under half of the total Town Centre area, or more than 200,000 square metres of floor space.” The Lord Mayor’s media release City of Sydney puts the Green back into Green Square and the Lord Mayor’s speech are on the REDWatch website.

A new website has been established for Green Square Town Centre and for the Waterloo Incinerator Site at http://www.gstc.com.au/.

Redfern Waterloo Urban Design Study Finalised

The City of Sydney Council has posted the Final Waterloo and Redfern Urban Design Study Report and the Recommended Draft Planning Controls for Waterloo and Redfern on the Council’s website at http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Development/CityPlan/SiteSpecificPlanning/Redfern.asp. For those familiar with the drafts the council has also posted “marked up” versions so that it is easy to identify the changes made. The map of Department of Housing land in Appendix E (PDF 114Kb) is now in the same format as the other maps within the design study and can hence be more easily compared with building types and proposed control maps.

Information from ILC Open Day on Redfern Public school Site

The ILC held an Open Day at Redfern Public School on 1st March 2007 to talk to local people about what is proposed for the site. The REDWatch site has the text of the information sheet given out on the day - A National Indigenous Development Centre is planned for the Redfern Public School Site. The sheet supplies a timeframe for the development and expected community consultation. REDWatch has also put up some updated graphics from the display at the open day on the REDWatch site including ILC NIDC Master Plan at March 1st 2007 (PDF 2.2MB) and Aerial Photo montage of the NIDC from the West (JPG 128Kb). George Street looking North (238 Kb Jpg) and George Street looking South (159Kb Jpg). Two other display boards were the same as those shown at the 2006 ILC NIDC announcement and are already on the REDWatch site with other materials from the announcement at http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/redfernps/060711ilc .

The ILC expects their application to be submitted to the Department of Planning in March and for it to be on public exhibition in April 2007. Negotiations are still ongoing with PCYC about moving on to the site. While the PCYC has been offered a 50 year lease on their present site a lot of money needs to be spent to remedy the present building’s problems, so the PCYC is still considering the move to the ILC’s NIDC. While the former school was purchased by the ILC, it is still unclear how the site will be managed and who will own and administer it in the long term. Unlike many sites where the ILC has bought it for an existing Aboriginal organisation, the project at the Redfern School site is for a national venture and could have been placed in a number of different locations. While there will be space for local organisations to run programmes the issue of how the local Aboriginal community will be involved is yet to be worked through. Further information about the project can be obtained from Stuart Waters at Twyford Consulting, P.O. Box 6004, Wollongong NSW. Phone: 1800 11 00 55 Email: Twyford@twyford.com.au .

CoS Redfern One Stop Shop set to move to Redfern Town Hall – DA Exhibition until 15th March 2007

The current round of City of Sydney DAs includes a DA for work that would allow the CoS Redfern One Stop to move from the old TNT towers into council owned premises at Redfern Town Hall. The City proposes to share the space with the current tenant - Redfern Legal Centre. To be able to accommodate both tenants, the war memorial feature in the back upstairs meeting room will need to be relocated to the main meeting hall. The details of the DA including the proposed memorial move can be found on the council’s web site at http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Development/DAsOnExhibition/details.asp?tpk=824217

No Alcohol Free Zones for The Block

The City of Sydney Council is set to knock back the eight AFZ in the Redfern Local Area Command that were proposed for the area around the Block by the Aboriginal Housing Company and Redfern Waterloo Authority. The council report on the Proposal to establish alcohol free zones | PDF 29Kb says:

The Redfern Police Local Area Command’s submission does not support establishment of AFZ in Eveleigh Street, Louise Street, Vine Street, Caroline Street, Holden Street, Eveleigh Lane, Caroline Lane and Lawson Street, Redfern. The Redfern Police Command has stated that the proposed AFZ would be difficult to enforce due to the large areas of open space that surround these streets. This space contains Council’s Redfern Community Centre and private land. AFZ can only apply to public streets and footpaths. Council staff have had discussions with the Redfern Police Commander, Redfern Waterloo Authority and Aboriginal Housing Company who agree to participate in the development of an alcohol management plan for the local area in consultation with all stakeholders and local residents.

The City of Sydney has just placed on exhibition their Draft Drug and Alcohol Strategy - Until Monday 9 April 2007 which will also need to address these problems around The Block and other areas of Redfern Waterloo.

Eveleigh Railyards

The latest 3801 Ltd newsletter provides a bit of an overview as to What is Happening at Eveleigh and 3801 Ltd . In addition the Friends of Eveleigh have provided FOE Supporters Update on latest Large Carriage removals - 25th February 2007 and a graphic The Carriages that Moved from the Large to Thirlmere which details the carriages which the Office of Rail Heritage has had removed to the Rail Transport Museum (most recently two on 14th February 2007). With so much volunteer and 3801 Ltd staff time going out the “Large” door to stand in the open at Thirlmere it is probably not much of a surprise to hear that many heritage volunteers are reluctant at the moment to put their energy into renovating RailCorp rolling stock. This is exactly the opposite of what the O’Rourke Committee was trying to encourage. The Friends of Eveleigh have also recently made an analysis of O’Rourke Committee report as it pertains to the Large. This can be found in FOE on The O'Rourke Committee Findings and also in the Friends of Eveleigh Newsletter - Edition 2 February 2007 (PDF 2.2MB).

More Light on Community and Business Leaders Meeting

In the last update we asked people to let us know about the meeting referred to in the article Shot in the arm for inner south. We have since learnt that the first meeting was held in December last year at Fratelli Fresh with the guest speaker being the City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone who spoke on Sydney's grand vision and council's 2030 plan for the city including ideas on transport, population growth, efficient water and energy use. The next meeting will be held in March with the RWA CEO as guest speaker. We have been told that representatives from the local Chamber of Commerce were also not invited to the last meeting. Geoff Turnbull has been invited to the next meeting and it will be interesting to see who else is invited. The meetings are an initiative of Peter Holmes a Court and are based on quarterly meetings he was involved with in the re-development of one of the Hollywood precincts that brought together large and small developers, artists, chefs, thinkers, architects and City & State officials.

Plans to Redevelop South’s Leagues Club Announced

As part of one of the Souths’ jumper deals the media has reported that Pauper Bunnies now NRL princes. Trivest which is involved in the away jersey sponsorship will also be involved in the re-development of the Leagues Club in Redfern according to AAP. Regarding the development the report said:

‘The $35 million re-development proposal includes acquisition costs, a $3 million fit out for the leagues club plus new football club headquarters and 10,000 square metres of commercial space to be leased. Albert Bertini, director of Trivest, said the planned development would be complete by March 2008 - matching the scheduled finish of upgrades to Redfern Oval. Bertini said the plans would give Redfern a huge facelift and help improve the image of the area. "The leagues club will be one of the best leagues clubs," he said. "We are talking to major tenants now (commercial space), we are talking price and let me just say it will be profitable. "It is confidential but anything we do is fairly substantial. "We are looking at more projects around the area. It will have a big impact. "(Property prices) will go up, the commercial property around the area still has a long way to go for its values to go up but it's going to go up very strongly in the next five years and people will wake up to that."’

Part 3A and the Public Interest – Public Seminar – 6-8pm Wednesday 7th March 2007

The NSW Government recently amended the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 by introducing a new Part 3A that deals with major projects. The amendments have been widely criticised by community and environment groups for their concentration of decision-making power with the Minister for Planning and their impact on public participation in planning decisions. The government and industry groups claim that the changes were necessary to streamline development processes in NSW and will not negatively impact on community amenity or the environment. Who is right? Come along and hear both sides of the story in this topical 2-hour free seminar hosted by the Environmental Defender’s Office at DLA Phillips Fox, 201 Elizabeth St Sydney (entry via door on corner of Park and Elizabeth Street). RSVP to Tisha Dejmanee at tisha.dejmanee@edo.org.au  or 9262-6989. The audience will be invited to put questions to the panel. The seminar will be chaired by Jeff Smith, CEO, Environmental Defender’s Office and Speakers include: Cate Faehrmann from the Nature Conservation Council, Ken Morrison, from the Property Council of Australia and Cr Sam Byrne from the Local Government and Shires Associations. Those with an interest in this topic might also like to read the Sydney Morning Herald article Let Sydney grow or lose $6b: developers about NSW Urban Taskforce pre-election push and their report, Imagine NSW Without Development and the online opinion piece by Brad Rutting on Developing Democratic town planning.

Heritage Festival 2007 - 3 – 18 March 2007

Heritage Festival Activities that might be of interest to residents of Redfern Waterloo include:

Mapping Aboriginal Sydney, 1770 – 1850 - Sydney Heritage Festival Lecture: 10 March 2007 2pm - 4pm Redfern Town Hall, 73 Pitt Street

Keith Vincent Smith has spent 15 years researching Sydney’s original peoples and their cultural landscape. Eora: Mapping Aboriginal Sydney 1770 - 1850, a groundbreaking exhibition mounted at the State Library in 2006, has been one of the fruits of his labours. In this illustrated talk, Keith Vincent Smith shares the stories of some of the Aboriginal families and places that are documented through the European records of colonisation: paintings, watercolours, maps, newspapers, diaries, and letters. There will also be a discussion and demonstration of Virtual Warrane, an interactive tour of the Aboriginal heritage of Warrane (Sydney Cove). You too can personally experience the cultural landscape and people of Sydney in 1788 through Virtual Warrane at Customs House, 31 Alfred Street Circular Quay, throughout March and April. The Sydney Heritage Festival Lecture is co-hosted by the City of Sydney council and the City of Sydney Historical Association. Wheelchair access, refreshments provided. Free Enquiries 9518 8730 120 max

Waterways of Waterloo - Exhibition: 1 - 31 March 2007 10am - 6pm (Mon - Thur), 10am - 5pm (Fri), 11am - 4pm (Sat). Waterloo Library, 770 Elizabeth Street

Waterloo’s landscape was once dominated by a series of swamps and creeks that drained to Botany Bay. View a pictorial display of early images and maps of the area that show these natural assets that transformed the natural and cultural landscape. Wheelchair access. Free Enquiries 9288 5688

Have your say – Summary of Current Consultations

Below we have listed consultations currently open for community input and provided a link for further information: