Submissions to the parliamentary inquiry into Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Bill.
The Alliance for Public Parklands’ has campaigned against the Bill as a whole rather than ‘tinkering at the edges’ with amendments, as we believe the Bill is fundamentally flawed.
The Alliance’s principal objections can be summarised as follows:
The legislation does not proportionately reflect or support the Minister’s original ‘50 Year Vision’ or the aims and objects contained in the White Paper, providing negligible protections for five iconic parklands across Sydney and setting an alarming precedent for future public parklands across the State.
The Bill is a framework for asset recycling and lacks ANY FUNDING COMMITMENT FROM THE NSW GOVERNMENT.
No Business Case or financial modelling have been provided.
No mechanism for dealing with new parklands, nor any articulation of the acquisition strategy is contained in the Exposure Draft.
Our public parks should be open for public access to both heritage buildings and precious green open space. Parklands should NOT be for sale or privatisation including hotels, business hubs, cemeteries or crematoria and/or transport infrastructure such as highways and car parks.
Download the Alliance submission here:
Alliance for public Parklands Submission>
Download other community submissions here:
“If approved by Parliament, the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust and the Bill to enable it will echo through the halls of history as one of the greatest betrayals of and thefts from the general public of Greater Sydney.”
Blacktown & District Environment Group Inc
“This submission outlines the Friends’ fundamental objections to the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Bill and proposes a community-based, public-goods model for Sydney’s iconic parks in place of the bureaucratic, centralised, top-down, commercial model embodied in the Bill.”
Friends of Callan Park
“Our concern centres around the consequences of this legislation. It is clear, on reading the Bill, that there is the potential to alienate and hence lose our parklands, be it through inappropriate partnerships or long leases. Missing in the legislation is a commitment for adequate Government funding for the Greater Sydney Parklands.”
Centennial Park Residents Association
“This Bill fails to provide any significant protections for Greater Sydney’s five iconic parklands. It creates an alarming model for funding and administering future public parklands across NSW at a time when, as the Minister has stated, the people have discovered a new appreciation for the value and importance of open green space for exercise, passive recreation and mental health…
FFMV believes a federated, community model rather than the centralised, top-down model advanced in the Bill should be the way forward.”
Friends of Fernhill and Mulgoa Valley Inc.
“Our position is clear: This Bill should be withdrawn and recast to emphasise the protection of the environment, heritage, biodiversity and public access and facilitate genuine community input over the management of each of the five foundation parklands.”
North Parramatta Residents Action Group Inc
Business Hub development within Western Sydney Parklands:
“The Western Sydney Parklands (WSP) is by far the largest area presently administered by Greater Sydney Parklands (GSP), and the GSP Trust Bill appears to be closely modelled on WSP Trust Act. According to my calculations, the WSPT has already exceeded its limit of 2% for business hubs by 10% and is investigating even more hubs despite this… I do not think it is a good model as there are no constraints on development.”
Linda Bergin OAM
“The Bill is mistaken legislation and should not be passed. It is mistaken legislation because it is attempting to do two things badly, (1) centralise control of five very different parks, (2) extend that control over more open spaces of Metropolitan Sydney….. I urge the Select Committee on the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Bill to recommend rejection of the Bill, and initiate a consultative process to frame new legislation to establish a responsive, informed, community-based Greater Sydney Parklands Council.”
Emeritus Professor James Weirick
