Barangaroo forum fails to impress

City Councillors who attended the first Barangaroo consultation last Monday night overall gave it the thumbs-down.

The Greens’ Irene Doutney, Liberal Shayne Mallard and independent John McInerney all had criticisms of the meeting, which they said failed to sufficiently address concerns about the development.

Cr McInerney said the forum was “a very managed event”.

“The whole tenor of the meeting was the presentation of what they intend to do and any questions were answered in a defensive way,” he said.

“It wasn’t the sort of public consultation that councils normally manage where we tend to look for the community’s opinion. In this case it was clear the community’s opinion was only sought after if it supported what they wanted to do.

“A number of questions around [the high rise hotel] … were immediately either answered in some way which cut the question off or the guy who was managing it moved it to another topic.”

Cr Mallard labelled the Barangaroo process as “glossy presentation – people walking around with lapel microphones, pretty pictures and feedback forms, and no genuine process [so] you know your contribution will be assessed professionally and addressed in some way”.

There was no mention of Council’s unanimous March 15 motion opposing various aspects of the Barangaroo plan, he said.

Cr Doutney said the majority of the forum was “spin”, adding that she was disappointed at the audience response.

“There were a few people who objected to it a little bit but not really,” she said.

“There weren’t a huge amount of questions and there didn’t seem to be that many people putting in feedback forms.”

Both Cr Doutney and Cr Mallard continued to question Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s role on the Barangaroo Delivery Authority Board, after she spoke on their behalf.

“There was not one Labor Party politician there … Clover was the politician defending what they’re doing,” Cr Mallard said.

“Last night she jumped to the defence of the authority and she spoke on behalf of it quite aggressively … it took me quite by surprise.”

But Barangaroo Delivery Authority CEO John Tabart took a different view of the meeting.

“Participants contributed a range of important comments and views during the session which are being fed into the design process,” he said.

“All of these forums are prior to any formal applications by Lend Lease to the Department of Planning, which will require a formal planning process including public exhibition and seeking submissions, prior to consideration by the Minister for Planning.”