I have had the pleasure of working with the Redfern and Waterloo community for over 14 years – four years as a community development worker and 10 years as Executive Officer at Counterpoint Community Services (The Factory).
As part of that work, I have witnessed how this community has been poked and prodded much like a doctor performing surgery on some unfortunate patient. This has been under the guise of planning and redevelopment proposals and place-based interventions by “well-intentioned” government departments, politicians and expert consultants.
All of them have promised to be better than the last. All of them promised community ownership and guaranteed complete transparency. All have failed to deliver their undertakings before riding off into the sunset to chase their next career move while leaving behind anxiety, frustration and confusion. This has only exacerbated mistrust between government departments and the communities they represent.
The latest version is in the form of the part “masterplan” for the Waterloo redevelopment recently lodged with the City of Sydney, which was supposed to be matched by a comprehensive human services plan.
It has been nearly five years since NSW Minister Brad Hazzard’s insensitive “have I got good news for you” announcement in the lead-up to Christmas 2015, that the government would attempt a third go at redeveloping the Waterloo social housing estate.
During this time, there has been three-and-a-half years of start-and-stop consultation and an array of promises made for how the community would be meaningfully engaged during the journey.
The release of the preferred masterplan in January 2019 was followed by a year-and-a-half of complete silence as the government was busy focusing on itself, its department restructures, rebranding and the politically shifting landscape. There was no care given to the community. The original plan was changed and lodged behind closed doors, leaving the community in the dark.
- Has the community seen the details of the plan or reason for the changes as promised before lodgement? NO.
- Was the matching human services plan developed? NO.
- Will the City share full details of the lodged plan before any changes are made by its processes? NOT YET.
- Will LAHC continue to fund the Community Development Officer, the Aboriginal Liaison Officer, or the bilingual educators who have all supported the Waterloo community on this complex journey to date? NO.
- Will the community be given independent support at crucial times such as during the formal exhibition phase? LAHC has said it cannot justify funding for this.
- Will the human services plan that has been promised for over 16 years ever eventuate? With this government’s bureaucratic wrangling and deflections of responsibility – who knows!
- Can we meet the executive officer in charge of the redevelopment? Not anymore.
- Can we meet the Minister responsible? NO.
Will I mention the Waterloo history website, the Ross Smith memorial or the independent social workers for relocations? The Redfern Morehead Street community centre, perhaps? The rumoured withdrawal of funding for RedLink and Northcott Connect? Or the loss of the Housing Communities Program, the Tenant Participation Resource Service and the UNSW Community Development Program – despite the promise that there would be no loss of services in the area? Should I ask whether the taxpayer-funded research and evaluation reports will ever see the light of day? Better not I suppose.
It is time that the government and those given the responsibility to serve the community step up, show some leadership and honour their undertakings. It is time they realised the damage and unnecessary trauma they are causing through their action and inaction. It is time we as a community stand up and say enough is enough!
If the government is genuine about community ownership, it needs to stop the waffle, the empty placations and the shallow attempts to engage. It needs to make its Waterloo plans public as promised and treat the community with the respect and decency it deserves, and stop taking away meaningful resources and support from the Waterloo, Redfern and Surry Hills social housing estates.
The government needs to put an end to the inward, selfish focus on itself and realise the impact of its in/action. Public servants are supposed to serve the public – not themselves!
