Councillor Chris Harris

With only fourteen days to go until local resident Matthew Drake Brockman takes on the mammoth beer mogul Foster’s and Planning Minister Frank Sartor, the Chippendale community along with other Sydney residents and supporters came together to help raise funds for the cause.

At UTS on Wednesday July 11, almost 100 residents braved appalling weather to eat, drink and be inspired.

Speakers such as Cate Faehrmann, Executive Director, Nature Conservation Council of NSW, accused the Government of being more about party politics than achieving any progress in addressing climate change and that Part 3A planning laws were dangerous and undemocratic for allowing one man to hold so much power.

Green Bans legend Jack Mundey, surprised everyone with his revelation that when it came to climate change, communities would have more success lobbying business rather than government – except of course at election time.

Caroline Pidcock, President of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, agreed adding that many developers were more aware of sustainability issues than government ministers.

Michael Mobbs then informed the audience that sustainability measures only add between two and eight percent to upfront development costs. This of course would be recouped over time through lower living costs. The audience was ready with applause and questions as to why our governments just don’t get it.

The evening was a great success with the small community of Chippendale raising over $1,000 for the court case.

The CUB court case is scheduled for July 25th and 26th. It will be a David and Goliath tussle at which anyone who is interested can attend.

The court case to save Chippendale from an extra 2,300 polluting cars, the unsustainable use of water, the disposal of sewage to the ocean and the massive long term construction impacts of the proposed CUB development is set for 25 July. The Environmental Defender’s Office, the community’s legal advisors for the case, estimates that a further $30,000 will be needed on top of the Legal Aid already granted.

That’s why I am working with members of the local community to launch a public fundraising appeal.

The concept plan approved for the site pays only lip-service to the environment while Frank Sartor’s autocratic planning powers ensure that community concerns will also be sacrificed on the altar of developer profits.

This court case is our last chance to force the big end of town to re-think and re-design this massive new development into something Sydney and future generations can be proud of.

Anyone who travels along Broadway, Abercrombie Street or Regent Street which bound the huge site knows how bad the delays already are. Imagine three more sets of traffic lights and 2,300 more vehicles moving in and out of the site – because that’s how many parking spots are planned for the development! Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to Clover Moore on her convincing win in Sydney. While the win was expected, Ms Moore increased her vote compared to the previous figures for Bligh by 2.5% with 12,785 votes.

Edward Mandla for the Liberals came second with 6,395 votes followed by Labor’s Linda Scott with 6,187 and The Greens with 4,740. Absentee and postal votes have yet to be counted and this will alter these numbers slightly.

This pattern is atypical of the result statewide and for nearby inner Sydney seats. The difference can be attributed to Clover Moore drawing more votes from Greens and Labor than from the Liberals.

The Upper House vote in Sydney, however, was a different story. The Greens won nine out of 24 booths and came second in another seven. Read the rest of this entry »

The NSW Opposition cannot hope to win any credibility on the environment as long as the National Party continues to call for windbacks of land management practices, said Greens MLC Ian Cohen.

“The Labor government has let down the conservation movement in key areas of land management, leading to massive amounts of land clearing and destruction of threatened species. The Greens are the only viable opposition on this issue, as the Liberal/National Coalition would make the situation far worse.” Mr Cohen said.

“While the Greens work towards improving the government’s land management, the National Party threatens to take us back 50 years.

The Nationals have promised to:

• Reverse National parks in western NSW
• End sanctuaries zones in Marine Parks
• Send coastal rivers westwards with no consideration of environmental impacts
• Allow cattle to graze in National parks
• Allow commercial logging to be considered a routine agricultural management activity and not be subject to environmental regulation Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Harris has called on Clover Moore to return all the political donations she has received from developers.

The Australian newspaper today substantiated a previous story claiming that Ms Moore’s Lord Mayoral election campaign was largely funded by developers.

Ms Moore has been making political capital from a recent Lower House Bill proposing a ban on developer donations to political parties, triggering accusations of hypocrisy.

“In the light of this report, the only honourable course now open to Ms Moore is to identify and return all developer donations she has received either directly or indirectly,” said Cr Harris.

“Accepting large donations from developers is the principal failing of the major parties in NSW, and the state is not going to move ahead until this unethical era of politics is relegated to history. Read the rest of this entry »