REDWatch was set up in 2004 jointly by the Greens and the ALP
and Ross has been one of the active ALP participants over this time. His
passing leaves a significant hole in many places including in REDWatch.
Ross was very committed to people organising themselves and
working together to protect their communities, especially public housing
communities, not just in Waterloo but across the country. It was one of the
reasons he liked the stories of communities standing up to Government and why
one of Ross’s favourite films was Tom Zubrycki’s Waterloo – it showed that communities
could take on Housing and win. Another documentary in this category was the Russ
Hermann 2002 Saving Erko Estate in which Ross and the song we are about to hear
both appear.
The song Across the
Western Suburbs, or Concrete and
Grass as it is sometimes known, was written by Seamus Gill and Denis Kevans
in 1973 to highlight the plight of the evicted working class tenants of
Victoria Street in Kings Cross.
The song is applicable to many resident battles across the
inner city and it resonates today as people still get pushed out of the inner
city by gentrification, new development and skyrocketing property prices and
rents.
We need those, like Ross, who see the importance of
challenging the bureaucrats and “checking the developers” least we, or those we
care about, are banished from inner Sydney and “across the Western Suburbs must
wander”.
Link to the song – http://unionsong.com/u118.mp3