Councillor Chris Harris

In Elizabeth Farrelly’s piece on the Surry Hills Neighbourhood centre (Quest for green, yet engaging, public building May 16, 2007) she tells us that striving for viridity in urban design is worthwhile.

But she also says we all need to become eco-heads because we ‘can’t trust government to find the green pastures and lead us there’.

She uses the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre to underline her point. But is she right?

It’s true we are living in an age where greenhouse gases are at levels rarely seen in the history of the world. However being an ‘eco-head’ is not that hard.

With 75 per cent of the world’s energy being used by cities we need to design our buildings in such a way that we don’t go on pumping water from a far away dam to flush the toilets and pump our sewage to a far away ocean outfall. By the way the electricity that we use to do all this pumping is provided by burning coal, and guess what? Coal contributes 33 per cent of our total greenhouse gas emissions.

So how do we fix this?

First up we take less water from our rivers so our farmers can do what they do best – provide us with food. How? We simply work out what the yearly rainfall is, how much water each building needs and install water tanks to meet that need. How hard is that? If there is a shortfall – say unexpectedly low rainfall - then dam water can be used as a back up. The dam of course, by not being drained for toilet flushing, is now full.

Secondly we treat and recycle our sewage and use that water to flush toilets - 70 per cent of a non-residential building’s needs - water gardens, circulate through cooling systems and eventually, when we get over the ‘yuk’ factor, drink it as does half the known world including London and Singapore. Read the rest of this entry »

Clover Moore on Monday night used her casting vote to approve the new Surry Hills Community Centre knowing it would be environmentally unsustainable and that the cost had blown out from $3.6 million to $19 million.

Of course, this long-awaited centre with its library and childcare centre will be a fine social asset for Surry Hills.

But this is the first major building project this council has started from scratch, in an era that recognises climate change as the greatest threat to our way of life.

And what do we get? An overspend of millions of dollars for a building that relies on mains water, pumps its sewage into the ocean and will cause over 400 tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution per year.

In contrast to the $19 million we are coughing up in Surry Hills, a far more sustainable building of similar size in Knox Street Double Bay cost under $9 million.

The floor space is the same, the height is the same, the demand for quality is the same, so why such a massive difference in cost? Read the rest of this entry »

In an extraordinary move to protect their client - the giant beer baron Foster’s Limited - lawyers Corrs Chambers Westgarth are pressuring the Legal Aid Commission to reject legal aid to student Matthew Drake-Brockman.

Drake-Brockman is taking legal action against Minister Frank Sartor and Foster’s Limited on the basis that the concept plan for the Carlton United Brewery Site is environmentally unsustainable.

With the support of Greens Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Chris Harris, Drake-Brockman, who has little if any money to take action against a corporation the size of Fosters and the Minister, approached Legal Aid for funding.

Chris Harris: “Here we have a monolithic company that made a profit last year of $1.16 billion, using its lawyers to coerce the Legal Aid Commission to stop a penniless student from getting funds to fight for sustainable development. When it’s all said and done the legal costs to Fosters would probably be in the vicinity of $50,000. That’s about .004% of their profit. This is Goliath attacking David even before he gets his slingshot out.

“Not only is this an outrage, it is in direct contravention of the 1979 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act that provides for citizens with limited funds to take action against corporations or state bodies with far larger financial resources and in direct contravention of Foster’s own Code of Ethics,” Cr Harris said.

Matthew Drake-Brockman has written to the Law Society requesting that Corrs Chambers Westgarth be disciplined for their failure to observe the spirit and letter of the law.

“I call on Foster’s to counsel Corrs Chambers Westgarth on their obligations to society and the rule of law not to coerce, lobby or pressure the Legal Aid Commission about the exercise of its discretion to grant legal aid in matters involving the public interest. I also call on Foster’s to instruct another firm of solicitors, who can demonstrate that they are prepared to act within the spirit of the law and Foster’s own Code of Ethics, to act on their behalf,” Cr Harris said.

To view the correspondence on this issue, click the following links.

Corrs to LAC 1

Corrs to LAC2

Drake-Brockman to Ohoy

Drake-Brockman to Law Soc.

Following the filing of legal action against Fosters and the NSW Government over environmentally unsustainable plans for their old brewery site in Chippendale, Fosters has responded by refusing to meet the litigants and by airing claims about their own ‘commitment’ to sustainable development.

The Concept Plan approved by Planning Minister Frank Sartor allows up to 2,800 residents on the site plus 4,800 workers served by 2,320 parking spots, the equivalent of several small towns.

Yet this massive addition to Sydney will essentially be plugged in to the coal-fired power grid and connected to existing sewage and stormwater systems that overflow straight into Blackwattle Bay. It will generate up to 144,000 tonnes of greenhouse pollution and spew out 120 million litres of sewage per year. Read the rest of this entry »

Any move to restrict public access to Sydney Harbour in favour of ‘rich boys with their floating toys’ is the clearest demonstration of how badly the Labor Party has lost its way and abrogated its philosophical roots.

Ports Minister Joe Tripodi’s move to weaken controls over foreshore development on Sydney Harbour does exactly this. It all but undoes the 2002 ‘Sharing Sydney Harbour’ initiative of the Carr Government.

A fundamental part of that initiative was The Regional Environment Plan (REP) for the harbour which has very clear objectives, including these clauses:

(b) the public good has precedence over the private good whenever and whatever change is proposed for Sydney Harbour or its foreshores,

(c) protection of the natural assets of Sydney Harbour has precedence over all other interests.

The REP was given real teeth via the powers of Landowner’s Consent vested in NSW Maritime.

Currently, NSW Maritime must apply REP principles when Landowner’s Consent is requested for a proposed development application (DA).

If NSW Maritime refuses consent, the DA cannot then proceed to the next relevant authority, for example a municipal council.

It is a strong, accountable two-tier procedure which can stop inappropriate developments early in the process, especially as refusal of Landowners’ consent is not subject to appeal.

However, without explanation or consultation, Joe Tripodi wants to give NSW Maritime ‘discretion’ to ignore REP principles when granting landowners consent. Put another way, owner’s consent could not be refused on the grounds of REP provisions. Read the rest of this entry »