CENTRAL TO EVELEIGH CORRIDOR RENEWAL PROJECT
Planning and Infrastructure. What steps will the Government take to
ensure that the Central to Eveleigh corridor renewal project provides
public open space, child care, high schools and primary schools, and
safe cycling paths for new and existing adjacent residents and workers?
Mr BRAD HAZZARD: I thank the member for Sydney for his question
and commend him for his interest in the Central to Eveleigh corridor
renewal project. This is a vital area as in a sense the area forms
almost the southern boundary to the city. It is time the Government took
on this challenge and led the way. The former Labor Government
announced a number of projects for that area that really did not get off
the ground.
Mr Ray Williams: Typical.
Mr BRAD HAZZARD: Very typical. The problem is that those
opportunities presented at a time when the State needed opportunities.
If Labor had delivered on the various promises it made some years ago,
the projects would have been well advanced by now. As the member for
Sydney will recall, there was the North Eveleigh Concept Plan and the
Redfern-Waterloo Master Plan.
[Interruption]
The SPEAKER: Order! I remind members that interjections are disorderly at all times. The Minister has the call.
Mr BRAD HAZZARD: The North Everleigh Concept Plan was one of
those famous part 3A projects. Do we remember part 3A? If Eddie Obeid
was around, it would be rock’n’roll. There would be a coalmine there and
there would be money out of it heading to Labor. The bottom line is
that, contrary to what the Labor Party has to say, those particular
projects were absolutely correctly focused on that area, but Labor
failed to examine the opportunities and engage the private sector. It
was very much a Government-led proposal. Community groups in the area
and the member for Sydney should well understand that the issues that
were highlighted during consideration of the North Eveleigh Concept Plan
and the Redfern-Waterloo Master Plan will be very much on the agenda as
we move forward.
We are keen to see development in the area. We are keen to examine the
economic opportunities involved in residential and commercial
developments that will create jobs for residents in the area. In
relation to the other issues raised by the member for Sydney, such as
bike paths, community spaces and educational facilities, they are well
and truly in the mix. It is a matter of what we as a Government can
deliver and what we can afford as a community. I recollect that in the
North Eveleigh Concept Plan there was a proposal for some consideration
to be given to constructing commercial and educational facilities. It
was unclear precisely how it would be done, but it was certainly
mentioned. The most recent announcement by the Government indicated that
there is also capacity to consider tertiary-level educational
facilities.
As the planning Minister, I can say that if we get residential and
employment opportunities in that area and create new communities,
particularly across the rail line, there is every reason to include
examination of the possibility of new educational facilities. Obviously
that has consequences in terms of capital and recurrent expenditure for
my colleague the Minister for Education to consider, but it is critical.
Of course, there are innovative methods that I am sure the Minister for
Education knows about whereby schools can be developed in the
higher-density areas of major cities. It is interesting that in
Vancouver, British Columbia, they found that the communities welcomed
intensification of density, particularly around the port areas. They
found that young families moved in and, despite expectations that they
would move later to the outer suburbs, they stayed. They raised their
children in accommodation that was right in the thick of things with
necessary infrastructure. The British Columbia Government and Vancouver
City Hall are examining how to provide additional educational facilities
as well as the public parks and open spaces already provided. That is
the type of thing that we can do.
Involving the private sector is of course crucial. What we saw from the
former Labor Government was that, unless those opposite were doing a
deal for themselves, not much happened. This Government is eager to have
the private sector involved. We know from the Sydney International
Convention Centre’s exhibition space redevelopment that getting the
private sector involved and laying down some clear parameters about open
space and opportunities for its use by the public are critical. After
securing those parameters, let us listen to what the private sector can
do. The Government and the private sector are very keen to provide a new
opportunity to develop the southern part of the city, get rid of that
Berlin Wall effect of the railway and consider the possibility of
construction across the rail line. The Government will work with the
Lord Mayor of Sydney. I have met with the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, and
the council’s director of development, Graham Jahn. We are constantly
communicating in relation to these issues. I give the member for Sydney
an undertaking that we will continue to do so and discuss the issues
raised by him.
Source: www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA20130822029?open&refNavID=HA8_1