Planning Minister expresses outrage at response to proposed Bill.
Inner West Council Mayor Rochelle Porteous, interviewed for a Sydney Morning Herald article, says she is concerned that the proposed Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Bill will weaken the protections for our public lands to stop inappropriate commercial developments. “Fifty-year leases that only require the nod of the minister and have no parliamentary, council or community oversight are also bad in terms of protecting the park and its integrity as a sanctuary and wellness place,” Cr Porteous said.
Read Andrew Taylor’s article here or read the transcript below.
‘Nothing to stop a Starbucks’: Minister accuses council of lying about Callan Park
The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 October 2021
By Andrew Taylor, Senior Reporter
Planning Minister Rob Stokes has accused Inner West Council of lying about the future of Callan Park as a war of words intensifies over the state government’s plans for a new agency to run Sydney’s major parklands.
Mr Stokes said it was “outrageous” for the council to use ratepayers’ money to “fund a campaign based on false information” about the future of the park.
But inner west Greens mayor Rochelle Porteous said a bill to create a new parklands trust weakened protections against development in the park by permitting for-profit businesses, long-term leases and “unfreezing” zoning controls.
“There is nothing to stop a Starbucks or a McDonald’s moving into Callan Park if this bill is passed,” she said.
Submissions on the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Bill close on Friday, October 29, and inner west councillors will vote this week on a submission opposing key elements of the bill, including 50-year leases and incorporating Callan Park into the parklands superagency.
The agency will also oversee Centennial Park and Moore Park, Parramatta Park, Western Sydney Parkland and Fernhill Estate.
The council is giving away Hands off Callan Park signs to residents and will host an online meeting this week about the bill.
Cr Porteous said a separate trust should be set up to run Callan Park and the state government should fund heritage restorations. She said that allowing commercial uses detracted from the public nature of the park because “park users will increasingly have to pay for what is a public asset”.
She said the bill could lead to the 60-hectare park in Lilyfield hosting a large function centre such as Doltone House, private educational institutions or even a hotel.
“Fifty-year leases that only require the nod of the minister and have no parliamentary, council or community oversight are also bad in terms of protecting the park and its integrity as a sanctuary and wellness place,” Cr Porteous said.
Mr Stokes said current laws had not facilitated the restoration and use of the park “as a parkland for everyone” after a long period of stagnation.
“If we just leave the Callan Park Act in place as it is now and no one uses the buildings, it will result in privatisation by neglect,” he said. “All we’ve seen is the public locked out of heritage buildings that are left unused and crumbling.”
Mr Stokes said the government’s bill would allow heritage buildings to be used as artist studios or galleries, small bars, restaurants, cafes and for music festivals.
Long-term leases were necessary because no future tenant has been willing to invest the millions required to restore the heritage buildings without certainty and security of tenure, Mr Stokes said. “A 10-year lease makes it almost impossible to stack up, which is why no one has taken up a lease of these buildings to date.”
Jamie Parker, the Greens member for Balmain, said successive governments had left the historic site to languish for years to the point that many of the buildings were unsafe.
“Now they are saying that we have to get private corporations in to offset the costs of repairs that are the result of their own neglect,” he said.
Mr Parker said the bill would “dismantle” laws that have protected Callan Park and limited use of the site to not-for-profit community organisations, education and health facilities.
“Cafés are a Trojan Horse that will crack the door open to big businesses, large-scale commercialisation and privatisation,” he said.
Katey Grusovin, spokeswoman for the Alliance for Public Parklands, said the bill opens the door to further commercialisation, “inappropriate developments” and concentrates decision-making in the hands of the agency and minister.
“It creates an alarming model for future public parklands across NSW at a time when the people have discovered a new appreciation for the value and importance of open green space,” she said.
Hall Greenland, president of the Friends of Callan Park, said the bill would gut legislative protections for the park and “crowd out not-for-profit mental health, community and education uses”.
But Mr Stokes said the new agency would protect “the precious open space of our city’s best parks”.
“Parks are for everyone, no matter where you live,” he said. “While some Rozelle residents may want to lock everyone else out, the [bill] is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shift our way of managing individual parks to a model that benefits Greater Sydney as a whole.”
