The Guardian 11 February, 2009

Sydneysiders face massive land grab

Peter Mac

The NSW government wants to massively redevelop Sydney's inner suburbs, as part of the $13 billion construction of the proposed new privately-operated (and driverless!) Metro subway lines.

The new Metro legislation would allow the Sydney Metro Authority to compulsorily acquire properties in areas over and around the subways, for 15-storey office, retail and domestic development. Railcorp, the authority for the existing heavy rail network, has no such power.

The new Metro development would result in massive overcrowding of the already intensively developed inner city area, and the demolition of a huge number of heritage buildings in historic inner-city suburbs such as Glebe, Leichhardt and Camperdown.

The new redevelopment policies are being driven by the government's commitment to development in general and the privatisation of public services.

The vast cost of constructing and outfitting the new Metro lines will strip the existing heavy rail system of desperately-needed funding for maintenance and extensions. The government's previous programs of "untangling" the existing network and increasing its capacity (particularly in the Central Business District) have been quietly dropped.

Accommodating the city's growth

The policy of locating new high to medium density development adjacent to rail networks certainly has the potential to ease congestion and reduce the cost of providing new water, power and transport services. The location of new industrial, government and business centres as part of this development reduces the likelihood of residents travelling vast distances to workplaces or service centres.
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The government's former major planning policy was centred around developing outlying suburbs while conserving the inner areas. This policy arse in part from the struggles waged over many decades by unions and concerned residents to preserve the old city, which was threatened by the unfettered greed of property developers. These struggles resulted in legislation for the protection of heritage localities.

However, the policy has now been dumped. The new Metro legislation, combined with recently-enacted laws for the forcing through of construction project declared to be of "state significance", can override all former legislation.

Biggest is best!

The state government's obsession with massive redevelopment is not confined to the areas beneath which the Metro tunnel will snake its way. In the upper North Shore suburbs, for example, much of the extant late nineteenth and early twentieth-century areas are to be redeveloped, under recommendations from a government-appointed planning panel. Roseville, one of the smallest railway suburbs, is notable for its two-storey Art Deco and Art Noveau buildings, but is scheduled for extensive new seven-storey redevelopment.

Elaine Malicki, the Mayor of Ku-ring-gai Local Government Area commented: "In Turamurra, for no good reason, we are going from two storeys to ten; in Gordon we are going from about four storeys, on average, to 15. We simply can't cope in terms of the impact on our roads, rail and infrastructure … Nothing is going to work."

The panel has now usurped the Council's planning powers, and just to add salt to the wound, the Council will have to pay a planning panel fee of at least $$685,000.

The state government has also instituted ministerial changes which will facilitate construction of the Metro's other major redevelopment.

The State Property Authority, an agency of the Finance and Port's Ministry, has now taken over management and trading of land along proposed rail corridors and in state parklands. This was formerly the responsibility of the Department of Planning, which implemented the government's former policy of coordinating land release in conjunction with the construction of extensions to the existing heavy rail network.

The dumping of proposed new heavy rail extensions in the north-west and south-west of the city, in favour of the Metro construction, heralds the abandonment of the coordinated land release plan and a return to the bad old days of ad hoc land release.

The Ports and Finance Department has also taken over some of the tasks of the Planning Department's Office of Strategic Lands, an agency which has responsibility for buying and selling land for major government projects, including the land needed for the south west and north-west rail links.

Joe Tripodi, the Minister for Ports and Finance, whose reputation was mired by his friendship with one of the Councillors involved in the notorious Wollongong Council corruption saga, has also been involved in attempts to gain control of the government's $300 million climate change fund.

Greens MP Sylvia Hale commented icily: "I doubt that anyone in NSW would feel comfortable knowing that $1.3 billion worth of the state's most strategically important land has been placed in the hands of Joe Tripodi."

The way to go

Despite its new powers, the NSW government still has major obstacles to overcome in implementing its megalomaniac development plans. For a start, it needs funding from the federal government, which, although sympathetic, has pointed out that the new Metro proposals have been presented with insufficient detail to justify funding by Infrastructure Australia.

However, its greatest potential obstacle is the NSW people. The government currently enjoys an appallingly low approval rating, which indicates that it will probably be defeated at the next election.

The defeat of the government's reactionary privatisation initiatives, including the Metro proposal, lies in the election of progressive candidates, but also in "shop-floor" agitation within the ALP itself, as was demonstrated by the defeat of the then Iemma government's electricity privatisation proposal.

And, of course, by loud objections from the public at every opportunity. That's the way to go.

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