Councillor Chris Harris

The recent launch of the City of Sydney Library’s GLBTIQ Collection at Newtown Library was an auspicious occasion, especially for a Greens Councillor.

It was an honour to say a few words and cut the cake at the launch which was the culmination of much inspiration and dedication by many people committed to highlighting and recording issues relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer communities. It was great to be in the company of people passionate about the Collection like John Witte, Secretary of the Pride History Group, Dorothy McRae McMahon, editor of the South Sydney Herald, and historians Garry Wotherspoon and Gary Simes at the launch.

The Collection, which at present includes more than 450 items of fiction, non-fiction, reference and audio-visual items, was made possible by a $35,000 open grant from the State Library of NSW - Kathleen Bresnehan graciously represented the State Library at the launch. Many items in the collection were generously donated by Larry Galbraith. The project ultimately aims to purchase about 1000 items. The collection covers a broad range of topics ranging from same-sex parenting, sexual and gender identity, art, history, economics, politics and also teen fiction.

The City of Sydney Library aims to develop a fully-fledged GLBTIQ public events program to provide an accessible space to raise awareness and educate the larger community and strengthen partnerships within GLBTIQ organisations.

Newtown, which is increasingly called “home” by Sydney’s GLBTIQ community, is a perfect location for the Collection, but items can also be borrowed from Surry Hills and Kings Cross and are also searchable in the online library catalogue, through Libraries Australia and inter-library loans.

Childcare is the biggest issue for working women with children.  The question is whether the City of Sydney council wants to or is prepared to deal with this issue.

In a motion put to Council, Councillor Harris is called on the City of Sydney to prepare a report to establish the feasibility of providing a crèche on site for the children of council staff.

“As one of Sydney’s major employers, the City of Sydney Council should be setting the example not lagging behind private enterprise in providing quality childcare facilities” according to Greens Councillor, Chris Harris.

“The greatest investment a society can make is in its children. Companies such as Lend Lease in the city, IBM at Pennant Hills and the NSW Police Headquarters at Parramatta realise this and are already leading the way with in-house childcare facilities” Cr. Harris said

“Since 1994 the Body Shop’s head office in Melbourne have had an 86-place childcare facility that provides care and education programs for children aged from birth to five. They also provide a special room with kitchenette and work station where a parent can spend the day with a sick child.

“The advantage for companies that provide childcare facilities is that their staff are more wiling to return to work earlier. There is a severe shortage of childcare places, especially in the 0-2 year group.  If mothers know they can breastfeed their babies at work and that they only have to make one trip to work rather than dashing off to childcare centres then they have an incentive to return to work sooner.  Cr Harris said.

“But it’s not just the convenience of having childcare facilities that is behind my motion, studies have shown that conflicts between employee’s work and family can hinder overall productivity.

“If we provide high quality childcare facilities for our staff, we would not only be investing in our workforce, but we would be providing a safe and secure environment in which our children can grow and learn. If because of this initiative, productivity improves then that’s an added bonus,” Councillor Harris said

Cr Harris’ motion was supported by all councillors present and the staff will now prepare a report for a future council meeting on how an internal childcare facility can be provided. 

Greens Councillor Chris Harris has nominated the City of Sydney Council for a positive award at the Greens Bad Development Awards. The Awards, run by Greens MP Sylvia Hale, target bad developments and councils, but also have categories which recognise good developments and initiatives.

The City of Sydney has 15 water harvesting and recycling systems already installed with another 34 underway, and Councillor Harris, an often outspoken critic of bad developments and the lack of sustainable initiatives, is impressed by the positive steps the Council is taking on water.

“I’m usually the dissenting voice on developments and issues that do nothing to help make this city sustainable, so it’s good to be able to promote initiatives that will help the city reduce its reliance on mains water and the volume of stormwater discharged into our waterways,” Councillor Harris said. Read the rest of this entry »