Last month State
Cabinet met at Ashfield
Town Hall and, before the
meeting, local Councillors and residents addressed Cabinet on some of the
issues of importance to people in the Inner West. A delegation of
Redfern-Waterloo residents was at the Town Hall to deliver an invitation to the
Premier to bring Cabinet into their area so that they can see and hear for
themselves what’s happening.
Local activists, Ben Spiers, Joe Correy
and Lyn Turnbull handed the Premier an invitation from Vladimir
Korotkov, the Managing Editor of the South Sydney Herald and
the Minister of the local Uniting church, who was writing on behalf of a
coalition of community groups. The letter read: “We are very grateful that you
have initiated a process of consultation between your cabinet and the citizens
of New South Wales.
We believe that this is a commendable expression of your leadership at this
time and that it will enhance the work and decisions of your government. We respectfully
request that, as part of this process of consultation, you include a meeting
with the residents of Redfern and Waterloo.
Even though some of the areas of conflict between your
government and the citizens of Redfern are related to the development of The
Block in Redfern, we suggest that this meeting be in the Redfern Town Hall
as the issues which people wish to raise are wider than those surrounding The Block.”
Geoff Turnbull, spokesperson for REDWatch, supported the invitation.
He said that Redfern-Waterloo is the only area in the state to have its own
authority, its own Act and Minister. Cabinet has signed-off on draft plans for
the area, but many Cabinet members have never spoken to the people of Redfern
Waterloo.