“This was an unfair position to place local social/public
housing residents in. The BEP2 is complex, as is the policy reasoning behind
its formation, and there is no way you can expect a community to comprehend its
significance, complexities and likely impact on the future of this community in
that time frame”, said Michael Shreenan, Executive Officer of the Factory
Community Centre. “Unless a community renewal plan is understood, owned and
supported by the local community from beginning to end, it is likely to lead to
disastrous results.”
Following the high
level of frustration this short consultation process provoked, several local
community workers and activists have decided to create the Groundswell
Coalition, an association of several local community groups and non-government
agencies, such as REDWatch and the Factory Community Centre, as well as individual
residents who feel their concerns on safety, housing, health and transport are
too often being ignored by the relevant services. Their aim is “to ensure the
community has the necessary tools and resources to make informed input to local
decision-making and do so from a point of view which is as independent as
possible.”
“In the current political climate and with local residents’
frustrations reaching a new high, Groundswell Coalition couldn’t have arrived
at a better time! We believe it provides a real opportunity for tenants to gain
a voice and affect change,” said Laura Kelly, a Community Development Worker,
at the group meeting a couple of weeks ago.
Irene Doutney, Greens Councillor for City of Sydney, says:
“Currently, although Housing NSW have been doing a lot of ‘consultation’, their
sessions are information sessions only and residents do not realise the full
implications of what such redevelopment will mean for their security and their
communities. I believe Groundswell will try and fill this gap in residents’
knowledge of what redevelopment means for them including how it will affect
their current lifestyles.”
Even though Groundswell is aimed at non-government
organisations, the Redfern-Waterloo Authority has expressed an interest in
working with the group in a positive manner. Natalie Tikken from the RWA says
that they “welcome all community involvement in the planning for the future of
the Redfern-Waterloo area”. She also says about the BEP 2 draft that “there
will be further rounds of consultation and RWA and SMDA (A/N: Sydney
Metropolitan Development Authority) are looking forward to working with
Groundswell in the future to ensure successful and effective outcomes”.
“Groundswell wants to be part of the solution and not part
of the problem,” says Michael Shreenan. “Our concerns are about ensuring the
community is heard on whatever issue they want to raise, either now or in the
future, and that the members of the community have the skills and access to
resources to do so in an effective manner. We want to see the development of
collectively agreed standards in community involvement and engagement and
ensure government sign up to these standards and prove that they are meeting
[them] and not just ticking the box.”
Geoff Turnbull from REDWatch says that “the major challenge
facing Groundswell is finding ways to get 4,200 public tenants talking about
the proposed changes, asking questions, getting information and understanding
what is proposed”. One way the group has found helped to encourage discussion was
to organise “Film Nights” and show documentaries such as Waterloo (1981) by Tom Zubrycki, an historical account of the 1970s
battle by residents to save the area from slum clearance and redevelopment by
public housing authorities, as well as Saving
Erko Estate, a film about the successful 2002 campaign to save Erskineville
Housing Estate from a similar re-development to that now planned for Redfern
and Waterloo. The group then gave a list of questions to the audience about how
the stories told in the films can be compared to their current situation.
Geoff Turnbull says: “The videos are seen as being useful
tools in getting people to start talking about the issues and to realise that
they can make a difference. One person said after seeing Saving Erko Estate that they did not realise anyone had ‘won
against Housing NSW’. Again, it is about how people can change a Government’s
mind.”
For more information, please contact Geoff Turnbull: www.redwatch.org.au or Michael Shreenan: www.the-factory.org.au
[For more information on Groundswell visit www.redwatch.org.au/redw/gs or www.facebook.com/pages/GroundSwell-Redfern-Waterloo/166269223427768
or email groundswell.coalition@gmail.com]