Government must not sign over Barangaroo: Greens

“We are twelve months out from the next State election and the Government is proposing to make a commitment that will define the western side of the city for generations,” said Ms Hale.

“Within weeks of the Government announcing its withdrawal from the ill-conceived Metro project at enormous cost to the taxpayer, it is rushing into a project which is bedevilled by a similar lack of consultation and transparency.

“The process of planning for Barangaroo has been out of control since the announcement of the winner of the international architecture competition in April 2006. Since then former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating has campaigned vociferously for a project that has departed from the design rules of the competition.

“It is only now becoming clear that the Lend Lease plan will result in a significant loss of public space, particularly along the harbour foreshore, and a massive increase in the height and density of buildings.

“It appears that only one street in the seven hectare proposal will be public, and that the rest of the area will be owned by Lend Lease. This is a dangerous loss of the public domain and undemocratic in its operation.

“The Government’s signing off on the project before even the extremely limited public consultation process has been completed and before detailed plans and drawings are available, sends a strong message that it is contemptuous of the community’s views. 

“The plan announced last week by Lend Lease has little detail, and similarly there is no advice from Government on what will be in the contract.

“There is no clear plan for the area outside the land promised to Lend Lease, and no costing for the restoration of the ‘natural’ foreshore. Who will pay the cost of remediation of gas-contaminated land or for the demolition of the existing sea walls? Where is the affordable housing that the design competition required?

“We have already seen the Labor Government preside over projects whose costs have blown out and where the public good has been sacrificed to private interests. Barangaroo must not be another of those projects.

“Premier Keneally has said this is a vital project for the future of Sydney, and The Greens agree. But Barangaroo must not simply be a place to shop. It must be a more creative space that engages fully with what we as Sydneysiders want to do.

“To be truly different and to add vitality to our city, Barangaroo’s public spaces and recreation areas must be generous, as must provide public access to the harbour and its entire foreshore. The Lend Lease/Keating plan simply takes public land and turns it to private benefit, and that’s not good enough.

“It’s time that the Government subscribed to a principle underlying the Sydney Regional Environmental Plan (Sydney Harbour Catchment) 2005, that: The public good has precedence over the private good whenever and whatever change is proposed for Sydney Harbour or its foreshores’, concluded Ms Hale.