Below is an extract from the uncorrected transcript where
references were made to Redfern Waterloo. The full copy of the transcript can
be found at – Full
Uncorrected transcript (PDF 318 Kb)
PP15-16
The Hon. LYNDA VOLTZ: Could you update the Committee on progress in the
Redfern-Waterloo
area?
Mr FRANK SARTOR: Yes. Just last week we approved the Indigenous Land
Corporation’s $30.6 million sports education
and community centre located at Redfern
Public School. It will be
called the National Indigenous Development Centre and will provide local
families with learning, recreational and employment opportunities. It includes
a 25-metre swimming pool and a gymnasium. The
National Aboriginal Sports Corporation of Australia will be based there, as
will the Lloyd McDermott Rugby
Development Team, the Murraweena Child Care
Centre, and the Exodus Foundation,
which is run by Reverend Bill Crews
and provides intensive literacy and numeracy training for kids between
10 years and 14 years who are struggling at school. The corporation will
deliver also about 20 construction jobs out of this proposal for Aboriginal
people.
We have approved
also a concept plan for the redevelopment of the former Rachel Forster
Hospital. The development value is about $70 million, and
is estimated on completion to have 150 new residences and a thousand
square metres of open space. The concept plan protects heritage items such as the surgery building and colonnade structures.
We still have to lodge a project application but, in essence, this is
used to fund the new $10 million community health centre at the courthouse and
police station. Not only do we have the Indigenous Land Corporation investing a
lot of money in Redfern Public School at a total investment about $45
Million, of which $30 million is in buildings, but also we are redeveloping Rachel Forster
Hospital while preserving
heritage buildings, selling it for residential housing. That money will be used
in a deal with the area health service to provide this new multipurpose
comprehensive health care facility at the courthouse and police station.
That is part of the
brokerage role the Redfern-Waterloo Authority is providing in this area. In the
Built Environment Plan the blueprint provides 444,000 square metres for new
employment space, 2,000 new homes, a new town centre and better urban design.
An affordable housing contribution plan will
deliver some 75 new affordable housing developments in Redfern in the next 10
years. We released also the affordable housing planning agreement for
Carlton United Breweries, which will provide
23 million traditional affordable houses over the next decade. We released a
contributions plan to provide another $37 million in the future for
important public works and community facilities. More than 180 jobs
commissioned for indigenous people have been provided since the creation of the
Redfern-Waterloo Authority. It has
negotiated more than 75 jobs for Aboriginal people on construction sites, and another 100 jobs will be
created in the next 18 months. The number will increase as more projects come
on line at the new Australian
Technology Park,
including north headland and so on.
The authority’s
employment and enterprise plan foreshadows opportunities for 18,000 jobs over
the next 10 years. The authority established the Yamma Dhiyaan
Training College.
Upstairs you can receive a certificate in hospitality in the Yamma Dhiyaan
hospitality training and function centre, while
downstairs an eight-week Koori Job
Ready Course in Construction is being conducted. The college also
provides catering and function services that are creating employment
opportunities for graduates. The authority is expecting soon to commence
operating a commercial cafe at the Yamma Dhiyaan, thus providing further
employment opportunities. That is not all. The Redfern-Waterloo Authority has
achieved a lot in its very short life: a $47 million research building at the Australian Technology Park housing federal agencies is due for completion by
the end of this year and will provide about 600 new jobs in the
facilities. There has been $7.2 million in roads and infrastructure development
at Australian Technology Park
for completion in the next month or so to facilitate commercial growth over the
coming years.
Early works start
this month on a $123 million media hub, which is the Channel 7 and Pacific
Magazines establishment. It is probably the largest single private sector
investment in Redfern that we have seen for a very long time. It will bring
2,000 jobs to the area, with 600 jobs during construction and 60 jobs earmarked for unemployed Aboriginal
people. This project is due for completion by the end of 2009. The
Redfern-Waterloo Authority and the Australia
Technology Park
have jointly funded a $6 million Eveleigh
heritage walk, a pedestrian cycle bridge linking Australian
Technology Park
and North Eveleigh with suburbs
beyond, and a further $3 million is being committed to convert the heritage
blacksmith workshop at North Eveleigh
primarily for use as community markets. It is due to open in the middle of next year. That is situated right near the
carriage works. We are seeing a flowering of that part of Redfern through jobs
and investment. We are making sure on the way through that there are plenty of opportunities for Aboriginal people. I
believe it has been an outstanding success and with the available
resources has done a terrific job.
P25
The Hon. DON HARWIN: Earlier we were talking about the application of
levies to brownfield sites and the fact that that was already taking place. I
would like to explore with you and Mr Haddad in some more detail exactly to
what degree they are already being applied. Over the last year or two, how many
brownfield sites in total have had levies applied to them? What proportion of the
total applications does that represent?
Mr FRANK SARTOR: You are asking for details that I do not have with me. For example, the
Yamba Blue Dolphin voluntary planning agreement was negotiated between the
Clarence Valley Council and a developer. It provided for certain requirements.
We had Carlton United Breweries with two voluntary planning agreements, with
the Redfern-Waterloo Authority and the Minister for Planning, and it secured
certain types of benefits. From time to time a lot of sites come up, not in the
growth centres. The ones I have dealt with in Western
Sydney have voluntary planning agreements, some that are in
brownfield areas and some that are not. They are negotiated case by case. The important
thing for us is to set out a coherent and consistent philosophy across the
State which will inform voluntary planning agreements—
PP30-31
Ms LEE RHIANNON: Are there any plans
to sell or lease land or air space as part of the redevelopment of Redfern
railway station? If so, what is being considered?
Mr FRANK SARTOR: I will ask the
chief executive officer to answer that question.
Mr
DOMM: RailCorp and the Redfern-Waterloo Authority have
participated in a joint concept study and that is as far as the work has
reached on Redfern station. A number of options have come out of that study
that need to be considered by Cabinet. Two of those options would involve a
degree of private development alongside the railway station.
Ms LEE RHIANNON: When do you
anticipate those plans will be made public?
Mr DOMM: After they have
been to Cabinet and there is a Cabinet decision that allows that to be done.
Ms LEE RHIANNON: How is the
redevelopment of the public housing plan in stage two of the Built Environment
Plan to be funded?
Mr DOMM: At this stage we
are operating on the premise that there is no new government funding. We are
looking at opportunities for upgrading existing high-rise buildings and looking
at low-rise estates to see what development potential there is to be retained.
Ms LEE RHIANNON: Would you be
looking to sell or lease land currently occupied by public housing to fund the
development?
Mr FRANK SARTOR: No. We are
committed also to allocating funds for up to 25 new dwellings arising from the levy on Carlton United Breweries. At this
stage there is no intention at all to reduce the amount of public
housing in Redfern-Waterloo.
Ms LEE RHIANNON: With regard to the
development and Department of Housing tenants, will those tenants who are moved
during any redevelopment of public housing retain the same type of tenure or
will they have to sign new fixed-term leases on relocation?
Mr FRANK SARTOR: At this stage we
have no plans to move anyone. So that question is academic. At this stage we are looking at using funds we get from the
Carlton United Breweries levy to provide some investment in public
housing.
Ms LEE RHIANNON: So you are actually
saying nobody will have to be relocated during the development phase?
Mr
FRANK SARTOR: At the moment there is no plan to do any
redevelopment phase other than the work the Department of Housing is doing down near the
oval. It has an arrangement in place for
which I am not responsible, and I direct your questions to the department. At
this stage we do not have other redevelopment plans so, therefore, the
question is academic.
Ms
LEE RHIANNON: What money has been outlaid on direct service
provision through the human services plan?
Mr
FRANK SARTOR: There is some $30 million to $40 million spent
annually in the precinct. I would prefer that you get a more detailed answer from the
chief executive officer.
Mr DOMM: Is your question
directed towards the global spend?
Ms
LEE RHIANNON: I am particularly interested in the
spending-client ratio of the programs that are funded?
Mr DOMM: The
Redfern-Waterloo Authority is not a service provider, therefore, those
community services are provided by other government agencies. I cannot answer
that question.
Ms LEE RHIANNON: So if I ask how is
it proposed in future to coordinate human services and employment of the human
services plan when the funds are exhausted—because I understand that you do
have some funds for that—you are saying that there is no further role for you?
Mr FRANK SARTOR: There is a bit of transitionary money. My
understanding is that the issue was to do with research. The issue really is to
make sure that the targeting of the $30 million to $40 million per annum spend of funds by existing government agencies is
improved. That was the only issue I am aware of there.
Pp42-43
Ms LEE RHIANNON: Back to Redfern
Waterloo: What is the per capita funding spent on local Aboriginal people in
the Redfern Waterloo Authority programs?
Mr FRANK SARTOR: We provide
opportunities, rather than spend money, which we do. The $45 million investment
in the Indigenous Land Corporation proposal at Redfern public school is quite
significant. Robert Domm might have
something to add to that.
Ms
LEE RHIANNON: I was interested in the per capita funding spent
on Aboriginal people.
Mr
FRANK SARTOR: Our main emphasis in Redfern is opportunities
for people, rather than cash handouts. We do not do cash handouts.
Ms LEE RHIANNON: I am not talking
about cash handouts. I am talking about programs with funds spent on people so
that they will have jobs.
Mr FRANK SARTOR: If you provide 100
jobs in construction for Aboriginal people, how would you measure that under
your model?
Ms
LEE RHIANNON: I do not have the resources that you do,
Minister, and that is why I am interested in your answer.
Mr FRANK SARTOR: I am just trying to
think how one would work out what is spent.
Ms LEE RHIANNON: That is why I am
interested in your answer, because you have the resources and I do not. If you
cannot answer it, fair enough.
Mr FRANK SARTOR: I do not think you
can answer that sort of question, but Mr Domm will do so if he can.
Mr
DOMM: I cannot answer the question because the funding comes
from a range of sources, including the Redfern Waterloo Authority. I think the important
point to note is that, despite popular
perception, the Aboriginal residential population of Redfern Waterloo is
numerically very small. Therefore, on a per capita basis, spending that
goes into that area is quite high by comparison, because you are talking about 800 or so people comprising that population.
Of course, there is a transient population, so it is very hard to
quantify the figures, but from the 2001 census figures the residential
population is just under 4 per cent of the total of Redfern Waterloo.
Ms LEE RHIANNON: Minister, how will
issues of work readiness be catered for with the demise of the Redfern
Aboriginal Corporation and the axing of CDEP?
Mr FRANK SARTOR: Which corporation?
Ms LEE RHIANNON: The Redfern
Aboriginal Corporation.
Mr FRANK SARTOR: I am sorry. I do
not understand the question.
Mr DOMM: The CDEP is a
Commonwealth Government funded project, and the Redfern Aboriginal Corporation
derives a lot of its funding from that project. So it seems to have fallen over
as a result of that program being closed
down. It has got nothing to do with Redfern Waterloo or the State
Government.
Ms LEE RHIANNON: Surely you will be
taking into consideration—considering that the Minister has said so many
times—the commitment to providing more opportunities for Aboriginal people
within the context of the Redfern Waterloo Authority’s work.
Mr FRANK SARTOR: Sorry?
Ms
LEE RHIANNON: It has just been explained that the Federal
programs have fallen over. Considering they have had some significance for
work for Aboriginal people, surely given the context
of the Redfern Waterloo Authority’s work, you would take into consideration a
response to that, because you have
always addressed the issue of benefits for the Aboriginal communities when you
have spoken of the Redfern Waterloo Authority’s benefits to this area.
Mr FRANK SARTOR: I have read the list of things we have done for the
Aboriginal community in Redfern, and it is
quite an impressive list of things—jobs, training, and various programs.
But, not only that, we have brokered with the Commonwealth a $45 million
investment in the national indigenous
development centre, which will have huge benefits for Aboriginal people. It will
bring Aboriginal people to Redfern, and it helps to develop skills, and so on.
So I think it is fair to say that you need to look at what we are doing, and
what we are doing is very positive and quite substantial. The fact that the
Federal Government may have discontinued one program is a matter for that
Government. What we are doing is providing a lot of real opportunities. But we
are also bringing prosperity and jobs to the
area and, with that, we hope there will be even more opportunities. There will
definitely be more opportunities for Aboriginal people. So ours is about giving
people choices to pursue independence, rather than a question of starting to
focus on one specific sub-program.
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