From spokesperson at redwatch.org.au Mon Jul 31 13:12:43 2023 From: spokesperson at redwatch.org.au (REDWatch Spokesperson) Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2023 03:12:43 +0000 Subject: [REDWatch Heritage] On-Street Charging, Redfern Station, Bridge, Heritage, Voice and Homes NSW Message-ID: Dear REDWatch members, supporters and agencies, REDWatch Meeting August 3 - On-street car charging Barrier free access at Redfern's new Southern Concourse North Eveleigh and Bridge Update South Eveleigh Heritage Concerns Heritage events as part of ICOMOS General Assembly in Australia The Voice to Parliament - If you don't know - you can find out! Homes NSW Consultation Please note - this email contains hyperlinks. This means that if you see a blue underlined word or phrase that you can click on it and go directly to a document or to get more information. REDWatch Meeting August 3 - On-street car charging There has been lots of conversation about the move to electric cars but what does this look like in parts of the inner city where people only have access to on street parking? This REDWatch meeting is going to hear from Ausgrid about its proposal to use existing power poles as charging stations. The meeting will be held at 6pm at the Factory Community Centre, 67 Raglan Street, Waterloo. It will also be on Zoom via https://tinyurl.com/RedwatchZoomMeeting. Everyone with a potential interest in this topic is welcome to attend. The City of Sydney held a consultation in March - April this year in which it looked at a strategy and action plan to reduce transport-related emissions by electrifying transport in the city. In addition to improving opportunities for walking, cycling and public transport, the study looked at prioritising the electrification of Council's fleet, public transport, service vehicles, car-share, point to point and taxi fleets. Council also looked at the charging needs for off-street charging in new and existing buildings and "support publicly accessible vehicle charging in ways that assist the transition to electric vehicles while limiting the impact on streets and public space". In February 2023 a charging point was placed at St Johns Road, Glebe and consultations have just finished for an on street charging site for each of Millers Point, Dawes Point, Pyrmont, Newtown, Camperdown, Darlinghurst, Glebe, Alexandria and Rosebery. You can get an idea of what is proposed in this post from Team Clover on expanding our pole-mounted electric vehicle charger trial. Barrier free access at Redfern's new Southern Concourse Over the last week REDWatch have received reports of barriers being installed on the new Southern Concourse. As a result REDWatch posted a photo of the barriers on FaceBook and asked - So is this what barrier free access looks like? Before the election, in the March newsletter from Transport for NSW on North Eveleigh's Rezoning, TfNSW said there would be "barrier-free access across the new southern concourse at Redfern Station". This was reiterated in a recent SMH article about the station. The community felt it had won the battle for barrier free community access across the new concourse and then the barriers appeared. The monthly TfNSW newsletters about the project have made no mention of barriers. Following an email to the TfNSW projects contact email, REDWatch received a phone call to clarify how TfNSW is keeping the barrier free undertaking while installing barriers - TfNSW says it is providing a barrier free option. Yes barriers are being installed on the Redfern Southern Concourse, because TfNSW say all major railway stations have to have barriers rather than tap on and tap off for revenue protection reasons. So people travelling to and from Redfern Station on the trains are expected to pass through the barriers. The barriers also include the standard wide barrier. These are what the photo shows being installed. We have been advised however that there will also be a non-barrier entrance and exit that locals can use to cross the Southern Concourse without going through barriers and without tapping on and off to cross the Concourse. The Southern Concourse will carry a mix of people who have gone through barriers and locals who have not. REDWatch is still of the view that the REDWatch proposal for a model that kept a public concourse separate from a paid concourse was a better solution. REDWatch worries that in the future the barrier free access for locals might be closed for "revenue protection" reasons. The other consequence of the common Southern Concourse is that TfNSW has confirmed that the Southern Concourse will be closed off to the community when the trains are not running. So between 1.30am and 4.30am the public will have to walk the long way to get across the railway line. A public concourse would not have had this problem. On Friday 28 July Redfern Station Upgrade - New Southern Concourse webpage was updated with this information following REDWatch's inquiry about the barriers. North Eveleigh and Bridge Update We have still not heard back from the Redfern North Eveleigh team in TfNSW about when it will come back to talk to the community about North Eveleigh. REDWatch understands that the new controls will now not come into effect until the end of this year, presumably to allow time for Council and TfNSW more time to try and reach the Voluntary Planning Agreement they were unable to reach by the end of June. REDWatch has earlier noted that the North Eveleigh planning controls determination made reference to movable heritage being moved to the Chullora Heritage Hub. Our concern is that unlike South Eveleigh where the equipment has been retained with a view to interpret the sight, the equipment at the Large Erecting Shop and North Eveleigh is in the process of being removed just leaving the buildings with little to interpret the site other than the buildings. You can find out more the TfNSW Chullora Heritage Hub project on this webpage. This page makes special reference to equipment being removed and only the buildings remaining at Eveleigh. The website says: "Although relocation of these assets means the moveable heritage collection will no longer have a presence at Eveleigh and Broadmeadow sites, the NSW Government is committed to preservation of important structures at these locations." On the Bridge Campaign, the only news REDWatch has is from an email that was sent to a member of Friends of Erskineville in response to the Build the Bridge petition that says: "As you may be aware, Transport for NSW has commissioned a number of studies to investigate the feasibility of an active transport link between South and North Eveleigh. These investigations have considered a range of bridge and tunnel options, finding no suitable crossing site that is financially feasible or appropriate to address the topography of the site as well as the width, height and depth of existing rail infrastructure". This is in line with Redfern North Eveleigh newsletter in March that said "These investigations have found that the Redfern North Eveleigh Bridge will be a very challenging and expensive bridge to build and does not provide time saving opportunities or convenience for users at this location." We are keen to see these studies and for Transport for NSW to talk to the community about them. REDWatch knows this is not an easy project, but believes that it should be funded by Government and not just be a TfNSW responsibility. This bridge was to be a key element of what the community would get from the NSW Government redeveloping the third of Redfern Waterloo that it owned. The community benefit has been whittled away and a bridge between North and South Eveleigh at Carriageworks is the line in the sand. Maybe the Government is trying to create more NIMBYs to blame for the lack support for its projects rather than deliver real community benefit from such projects. South Eveleigh Heritage Concerns With the completion of the Mirvac South Eveleigh build there are concerns about a number of heritage undertakings that are yet to be delivered. An example is that each piece of the heritage equipment is supposed to have a QR code on it that would allow visitors to find out more about the equipment, its role on the production process and its place in Eveleigh. There was also supposed to be a kiosk that would allow people to look up their relatives on a database. The Bays 1 and 2 North pub is supposed to have separation between the furniture and the heritage items to allow access. Mirvac is currently checking that it has delivered what it had to under the DAs, but it also needs to check what undertakings were given to residents, heritage people and ex-workers as part of the now disbanded Community Liaison Group (CLG). The establishment of the CLG was a requirement of one of the first DAs for the precinct. It convened regularly and consulted as part of the build and the development of the heritage interpretation but now it has been disbanded there is not a broad community voice meeting with Mirvac to follow up such issues. Potentially the post-build heritage obligations and that which was promised but not delivered, pass to the operations side of Mirvac which is running the South Eveleigh site. These people however were not involved in the CLG discussions and there is concern that heritage undertakings will be lost and not delivered. Mirvac has an obligation to deliver what it said it would to the community through the CLG and not just what it was obliged to do under the conditions of the DAs. The Mirvac team responsible for the redevelopment of the Large Erecting Shop has earlier indicated that it wanted to reactivate the CLG, but so far no meeting has been called. Heritage events as part of ICOMOS General Assembly in Australia The 21st General Assembly of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), is being held for the first time in Australia, bringing hundreds of heritage practitioners from around the world to Sydney. As part of the assembly there some public events listed below: * Heritage Exposition at Darling Harbour - from Tuesday 5 September - Saturday 9 September 2023, 8.30am - 5.30pm daily at International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney). This is a fascinating showcase of cultural heritage featuring an impressive array of 40 exhibitors, three themed discussion spaces that highlight different facets of Australia's heritage, and displays providing a unique insight into pressing heritage issues. * Traditional Heritage Trades Fair - Thursday 7th - Saturday 9th September 8.30am-5pm daily) at ICC Sydney. This will promote traditional heritage trades and showcase trade skills rarely seen today, but essential to the repair of heritage buildings. * Heritage Lecture at Sydney Town Hall on Aboriginal heritage in Southeast Australia - Monday 4 September 2023, 6-8pm at Centennial Hall, Sydney Town Hall. Hear Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones talk with Traditional Owners, about living cultural knowledge held in sites, objects, language, plants and sky. This will be a captivating event positioning Australian Aboriginal heritage in a global context, inviting the audience to learn more about the scope and interconnectedness of living cultural heritage in the southeast region of Australia. These events are free and open to the public. Click here for more information. The Voice to Parliament - If you don't know - you can find out! In the lead up to the Voice Referendum the No Campaign is saying "if you don't know vote no" and the Yes Campaign is trying to explain the Voice's background and why it should be supported. A recent CityTalk "Why the Voice to Parliament is essential for all Australians" organised by the City of Sydney Council provided an opportunity to hear why the Voice is important and should be supported. A video of the 2 hour CityTalk is now online through the City of Sydney's CityTalk webpage or directly via this link. Below REDWatch has detailed speakers and key times in the presentation so people can see who presented and also find specific bits of the video to return to if they wish. Please feel free to share this information and the links. This CityTalk was compared by Stan Grant (0:00) with Welcome to Country by Councillor Yvonne Weldon AO from the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council (5:18). The night's journey started with a video on the "First Nations National Constitutional Convention at Uluru from 23-26 May 2017" that called for the Voice (11.00). This is followed by Lord Mayor Clover Moore (18:00), a video of the announcement of the question by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (32:20), and presentations by the Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians the Hon Linda Burney MP (32:00) and by Noel Pearson founder of the Cape York Institute of Policy and Leadership (44:47). Following the presentations there is a Q&A panel session with questions from the audience (58:00). The panel is chaired by Stan Grant and made up Shane Phillips (CEO Tribal Warrior Assn in Redfern), Professor Anne Twomey AO (member of the Constitutional Expert Group), Thomas Mayo (member of the First Nations Referendum Working Group), Kerry O'Brien (journalist) and Dr Shireen Morris (Macquarie University Law School). For those looking for more information, at the end of this session (1:47:25) is a plug for Thomas Mayo and Kerry O'Brian's book "The Voice to Parliament Handbook: All the detail you need", Professor Anne Twomey's YouTube channel the "Constitutional Clarion" and the Empowered Communities booklet on 'Voice, Partnership and Empowerment explained". The video then has Thomas Mayo talking about the Yes23 campaign and encouraging people to be involved (1:48:16). Thomas Mayo then reads to a group of children his children's book "Finding Our Heart A story about the Uluru Statement for young Australians" illustrated by Blak Douglas (1:55:20). The video ends with Thomas Mayo reciting the Uluru Statement of the Heart as a call to action (1:59:30). We hope this video and the links to materials about the Voice provide useful information about the Voice to Parliament proposal. Homes NSW Consultation The community still await an announcement about the future of Waterloo redevelopment from the government. No information has been provided directly to tenants since December 2022 other than what the Minister said in June which has been disseminated through the South Sydney Herald. Prolonged silence and uncertainty are not good for tenants who continue in limbo over their future. Even if there is little to say there should be regular communications and the quarterly joint agency newsletters should have continued. There has been some work started on what is needed to bring improvements through the proposed Homes NSW agency. The new agency is to combine Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC), Aboriginal Housing Office (AHO) and DCJ relevant social and affordable housing and homelessness functions. The primary purpose of Homes NSW is to deliver better outcomes for public housing tenants, deliver more affordable and social housing, and reduce the number of homeless people in NSW. A working group has been set up within the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) under Strategy, Policy and Commissioning and it held a consultation with peak organisations at NCIE on July 20. Just putting the three organisations together in one place will not necessarily deliver a well-functioning agency. LAHC and DCJ Housing have been together and separated twice over the last 15 years and neither structure delivered the outcomes tenants and homeless people needed. Major changes were being considered on maintenance prior to the election and this looks like these will be carried forward under the Labor Government when the current contract comes to an end in mid-2024. It is likely, if what is on the drawing board is enacted, tenants' experience of the maintenance system will be significantly improved. In working on the Waterloo Human Service Action Plan, REDWatch and other agencies have heard lots of stories about how the system of supports and public housing management can be improved. REDWatch hopes that the learnings from the Waterloo Collaborative and the DCJ - Groundswell work will feed into the discussions about how Homes NSW can be scoped to give improved outcomes and supports for public housing tenants, the homeless and those on the waiting list and the organisations that work with tenants. REDWatch understands there will be consultations with tenants about what they think needs to happen, so put your thinking caps on and gather your stories so you can have a say when you get asked. Ask yourself "What should be stopped", "What should be started" and "What should continue". Regards, Geoff Geoffrey Turnbull REDWatch Co-Spokesperson Ph Wk: (02) 8004 1490 Mob: 0418 457 392 email: spokesperson at redwatch.org.au web: www.redwatch.org.au FB: www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 46087 bytes Desc: not available URL: