REDWatch, a
group of community residents from Redfern, Waterloo,
Eveleigh and Darlington, is lobbying the RWA
for “sustainable, responsible economic and social development” in stage one of
its Redfern Waterloo Plan. Comprising the Employment and Enterprise Plan, the
Human Services Plan and the contentious Draft Built Environment Plan, the
Redfern Waterloo Plan is the primary focus for the RWA concerning the
development of the region over the next 10 years.
Gary Moore was co-chair of an advisory committee to the RWA on
the Human Services Plan and expressed concern that the RWA was a “top down”
appointed corporation whose Board did not adequately represent the broad
community and business interests of the Redfern-Waterloo area. Of the eight RWA
board members, five are State Government representatives, one runs a CBD based
property consultancy business, one is an architect from the UNSW, and another
is an employee of an ASX listed multinational company.
A
spokesperson for the Minister for Planning Frank Sartor said in response, “The
Minister appointed a high-level, professional board to the RWA, including the
head of the Premiers Department, Col Gellatly, the Premier’s adviser for the
Infrastructure Implementation group, David Richmond and the former Lord Mayor
of Sydney, Lucy Turnbull.”
Mr Moore
also criticised the RWA’ s alleged suppression of social and community
interests which are represented within the RWA by advisory committees. “Rather
than directly advising the Minister or even the Board, the (advisory
committees’) views are filtered by senior management groups whose culture and
motivations govern the ultimate messages received,” explained Gary.
REDWatch
spokesperson Geoff Turnbull supports this view. “The RWA needs to get closer to
the coal face rather than filter community views and opinions. They will get
there in the end but (the current structure in place) draws out the process and
wastes RWA time and money,” said Mr Turnbull.
Of this
criticism, Frank Sartor’s spokesperson said, “The Ministerial Advisory
Committees are providing significant input to the formulation and
implementation of the Redfern-Waterloo Plan.”
REDWatch’s
Geoff Turnbull suggested the RWA should appoint one community representative
body to advise them on community concerns and issues – a palatable suggestion,
given all three plans seek to benefit the residents of Redfern-Waterloo and are
therefore not independent from each other.
Sartor’s
spokesperson chose not to directly respond to this strategic suggestion
stating, “The Minister and his office receive extensive briefings on community
views and submissions, but if there are members of any committees who feel
their voices have not been heard then they are also free to approach him
directly.”
[South
Sydney Herald August 2006]