Tomorrow state cabinet will
meet at Ashfield and prior to the meeting local councillors and residents will
be able to address cabinet on some of the issues in the Inner West.
Geoff Turnbull, spokesperson
for the Redfern based residents’ group REDWatch, welcomed the community cabinet
meeting but urged them to also hear from Redfern Waterloo residents. “While it
is to be applauded that cabinet is getting out and about to speak to a local
community, we would like to see cabinet coming to the inner city to historic
Redfern town hall and hear the concerns of residents about changes proposed in
the Redfern Waterloo Plan.
We are the only area in the
state to have our own authority, our own act of parliament and our own
Minister. Cabinet has recently signed off on the draft Built Environment Plan
for the area, which is the final part of the Redfern Waterloo Plan to be
released, but many cabinet members have never spoken to the people of Redfern
Waterloo” said Mr Turnbull.
Cabinet has taken the power
to handle decisions about us away from local government and has set up a state
level authority to handle the area, but the minister continues to avoid
fronting up and hearing local reaction. The plan uses land use zoning changes
to oppose 62 homes being built for Aboriginal people on The Block. We have
invited premier to visit Redfern and talk to people on previous occasions but
so far he has not come.
Tomorrow a delegation of
Redfern Waterloo residents will be at Ashfield town hall to deliver an
invitation to the Premier to bring cabinet, and the often absentee Minister for
Redfern Waterloo Frank Sartor, to Redfern so they can meet and hear from local
residents directly.
Media comment Trevor Davies
Ben Spies-Butcher
Monday, 20 March 2006