Sartor sidesteps peaceful protesters

By Roje Adaimy

The NSW Minister for the Arts and Planning, Frank Sartor, avoided a group of protesters outside a Glebe bookstore last week, after a last minute decision to not attend a NSW Premier’s Literary Awards event.
Mr Sartor was scheduled to announce the shortlist of finalists at 11am, but requested that a fellow Member of Parliament and City of Sydney Councillor Verity Firth take his place, without reason.
The small group of locals gathered out the front of Gleebooks on Glebe Point Road to confront Mr Sartor about his decision to close Callan Park Hospital in Rozelle, and replace it with a new University of Sydney campus.
Dressed in large sandwich boards, university cloaks, and holding a volleyball with Mr Sartor’s face painted on it, the members of Friends of Callan Park handed out flyers for a rally at Callan Park to be held this Sunday ‘ three days before the hospital’s closure.
Psychiatrist and former director of drug and alcohol services at Callan Park Hospital, Dr Jean Lennane, said the closure of one of the state’s last remaining mental hospitals is a death trap.
‘The spin doctors say it’s moving Rozelle Psychiatric Hospital’s patients to a new facility at Concord Hospital, but there aren’t enough beds,’ Dr Lennane said.
‘Even now, after constant shrinking since 2001, Rozelle still has over 200 beds, reduced to 174 at Concord will make it even more difficult for our local fellow citizens to access.
‘Mentally-ill people will be left to die and have nowhere to go,’ she said.
Dr Lennane had scheduled a meeting with local member Verity Firth to discuss the closure, but was advised at the protest by Cr Firth that she would no longer be able to attend.
Mr Sartor’s office did not respond to several requests for comment from The City News.