Councillor Chris Harris

On Saturday May 23rd I attended a large but peaceful rally organised by the Tamil community in Sydney where I read a statement of support from the Greens NSW parliamentarians – this statement also reflects my view.  Other speakers included Phillip Boulten, barrister defending Tamils who are being prosecuted on terror-related charges, Reverend John Barr, Uniting Church, and supporter of Tamil rights, Phil Glendenning, Director Edmund Rice Centre – an advocacy group for refugees, and Michael Thomson, president, Sydney University branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, NSW vice president general staff, plus Dr Sam Pari and other Tamil community leaders.

Below is the message from the parliamentarians
 

Statement by Greens NSW Members of Parliament
 
Ian Cohen, Sylvia Hale, John Kaye and Lee Rhiannon
 
Friends
 
Our hearts go out to you, your families and your community as you confront the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe that has been inflicted on the Tamils of Sri Lanka.
 
The Sri Lankan government and army have displayed an appalling level of brutality and callous disregard for lives of innocent civilians.
 
For this crime against humanity of historic proportions, they deserve global condemnation.
 
So too do their super-power allies, including the Chinese government, who have supplied the Sri Lankan military with weapons and support and enthusiastically leapt to the defence of the Rajapaksa government at the UN and in other international forums.
 
The Greens call on all governments to speak out against the callous disregard for human rights, the targeting of civilians and the exclusion of aid agencies and human rights monitors from the conflict zone.
 
It is time to show no tolerance to the perpetrators of heinous crimes against the Tamil people of Sri Lanka.
 
It is time to demand an end to super-power support for the murderous army and the government that supports them.
 
It is time for the international community to demand a fair deal for the Tamils.
 
The Greens share with you a commitment to working for a peaceful settlement in Sri Lanka that respects the rights of Tamils to live free of fear and to determine their own future. 
 
To all of you who have lost family members and friends and who have loved ones living in appalling conditions in territories now occupied by the army, our thoughts are with you.
 

The Harold Park Paceway has asked the Minister for Planing to use her Part 3A powers to determine a concept plan for the re-zoning and redevelopment of both the trotting facility and the adjacent historic Tramsheds.

The Greens are very concerned about this approach by the Trotting Club to have the concept plan determined inside the minister’s office. Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act is meant to give the minister power to fast track critical infrastructure, not to enable an owner to increase the value of a property by being granted a rezoning.  The Greens are calling on the minister to refuse the Part 3A application and to refer the concept plan to the City of Sydney Council to carry out the necessary consultation and assessment.

Consultation Part 3A is a flawed process. Objectors are held at arms length from the decision makers but developers, particularly those who hand over large donations to the major parties, are able to get straight through to the minister. The process creates a very uneven playing field and has led to gross overdevelopment on sites such as the CUB site in Chippendale. The City of Sydney process is a much more open and public process and will allow objectors to have their voices heard.

The other key issue is the future of the historic Tramsheds that are adjacent to the Paceway. The process under which the title for the Tramsheds was transferred to the Trotting Club indicates that this valuable public land was handed over for a peppercorn consideration. In addition, the poor state of the Tramsheds, demonstrates that the Trotting Club has neglected this strategically located facility.

The Tramsheds site is a former depot for Sydney’s trams and now it seems to have found its way from public ownership into the hands of a horse racing business. There needs to be an examination of how this came about and exactly how much the trotting industry paid for it.

Whether or not the Tramsheds site remains the property of the trotting industry or is returned to public ownership, it should be used for a public purpose. Perhaps one good use is for it to be used as a depot for future light rail carriages or even buses. Other possible public uses can be developed by a thorough process of community consultation.

The Tramsheds site is a strategically located and important piece of public land that should be used for the benefit of the community, not to line the pockets of a developer or the trotting industry.

Below is a link to the Central Courier story and a second to the Sydney Morning Herald story.  After opening the link to the Courier story use the arrow to go to page 4 for full story.

http://digitaledition.centralmag.com.au/?iid=24977

smh-story.pdf

The City of Sydney Council has been urged by the Greens to provide 18 weeks paid maternity leave for employees in line with an endorsement by the NSW Local Government Association.

Extending the leave from 14 to 18 weeks would show that the City of Sydney values parenting and recognises the huge investment women make to acquire degrees and skills which ultimately benefit not only themselves but the organisation that employs them.

There are very real economic benefits to be gained by an organisation in providing  paid maternity leave. It leads to increased employee productivity and loyalty and reduces recruitment and training costs as the number of employees returning to work after paid maternity leave increases. It also improves morale and job satisfaction.

We need to foster ongoing relationships with our working-mother employees that value their educational investment, hard work and career aspirations.

At the Council meeting on May 11, I asked the CEO to consider extending the maternity leave to 18 weeks in the current round of wage and salary negotiations with unions.

The Greens also want consideration to be given to establishing parental leave for supporting parents of new born and adopted children and to extend maternity leave, where legally possible, to same sex couples.

The motion below was passed unanimously at Council on Monday, May 11.

 MATERNITY LEAVE (S063668)
1. By Councillor Harris -

The City of Sydney Council:
1. Notes that maternity leave provides critical financial support to City of Sydney
employees who choose to care for newborn infants on a full time basis.

2. Notes that there are corresponding economic benefits to the City of Sydney in
retaining skilled and experienced staff, on a full time or part time basis, when staff return to work after the birth of children.

3. Notes the endorsement of 18 weeks maternity leave by the NSW Local
Government Association.

4. Requests that the CEO consider extending maternity leave from 14 weeks to 18 weeks for City of Sydney employees in the current round of wage and salary
negotiations with the Unions.

5. Requests that the CEO report to Council on additional measures the City can take to extend parental leave, such measures:

 (a) being designed to facilitate the needs and personal choices of:
     (i) the parents of a new born child – which could include the biological
         father and mother or a non-biological co-parent, such as in the case of
         same sex couples;
     (ii) persons adopting children; and
     (iii) persons who may assume the care of a child or children, for example,
          as a result of the death or incapacity of their parents;
(b) to include the option of paid leave being available in these circumstances to
parents and other parents responsible for the care of children, other than the
primary care giver.