- by Denis Doherty
- The Guardian
- Issue #2123
There was only one line in the major media about King Charles III visiting an inner-city housing development in Sydney. The Minister for Housing Rose Jackson said this: “I was pleased to welcome His Majesty King Charles III to public housing that the government is building in Glebe. Quite genuinely, His Majesty had a real passion for not just the provision of affordable housing, which he spoke about fondly, but also the provision of sustainable building design and beautiful public homes that last. She went on to say some other things of breathtaking hypocrisy “All of us … could learn a thing or two from the commitment of His Majesty to public housing.” We have failed to see the commitment to public housing in the new government. In fact there does not seem to be much difference between the LNP and Labor governments of NSW regarding public housing.
The back story to this development and spot was that around 2018 the LNP government of Gladys Berejiklian was fully engaged in privatising public housing under the confusing title of ‘communities plus.’ Approximately 30 people, who had been living quietly and not causing any trouble, were suddenly evicted from buildings in Cowper St, Glebe, and an announcement was made that these buildings would be replaced by 8 storeys towers and the world would be a better place because the ‘Princes Trust’ would be involved. Some of the people evicted were people who had previously been evicted from Millers Pt (another piece of vandalism near Circular Quay). A large Aboriginal family was also evicted.
There were two other problems with this plan, first the Prince’s Trust (PT) chaired by former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop could not be expected to know much of what was needed for inner City residents of Sydney. Questions about the PT such as what role would it have? Would it donate money to the project were met with firm silence. Eventually it emerged that the PT would manage the project after it was completed and that there would an extra room for recreation – very sustainable!
The other problem was that one of the buildings demolished was an architectural gem, nevertheless it was broken up and the bits taken away.
Come October 2024, the Prince, now King Charles III visits the site and is fed a story about sustainable public housing and how keen everyone is about public housing in the NSW government. The reality is quite different to the smarmy words of the minister. In the NSW State Labor and Federally there is real antagonism to public housing as both governments try to shift housing into the hands of ‘Community Housing Providers’ (CHP). NSW Labor has saved one complex from demolition and renovated 30 houses in Glebe, yet it is still demolishing and rebuilding public housing in the inner city.
The time is now for the NSW state government to build and run public housing in this state, and to forget the flummery of a Prince’s or King’s trust.
