Waterloo Tent Embassy Taking On Baird Government

BY CHARLOTTE GRIEVE

The newly-formed Waterloo tent embassy is a coalition of Aboriginal and non-indigenous Australians working together to resist the new NSW government’s plans to redevelop the area.

The plans involve building a new metro station in Waterloo accompanied by extensive high rise developments along the metro line. Although details of the plan have not yet been released, it has been speculated that up to 10,000 new dwellings in the area would replace existing public housing units.

“It’s going to be wall to wall apartment blocks of up to 70 per cent private housing” said Richard Weeks, leader of the Waterloo Public Housing Action Group.

The towers and low-rise public housing units range from Phillip to McEvoy Street, providing accommodation to between four and five thousand people, of which over 70 per cent are senior citizens.

The tent embassy is not a squatter’s settlement, nor an activism stunt, it is the official office for the Waterloo Public Housing Action Group (WPHAG). The group is mobilising community and political support in the form of a petition to challenge the Baird government’s development plans.

“The Baird government is using law and Parliament to kick us out, we’re using law and Parliament to fight him” said Richard Weeks.

The petition asks the Legislative Assembly of NSW to “place the security and well-being of local residents ahead of developer’s interests.” It is a state-wide initiative that Mr Weeks estimates will receive up to 10 thousand signatures in the coming weeks.

With over 60 thousand people currently on the public housing wait list and an average expected wait time of over 10 years in the Sydney district, Jan Barham MLC, the NSW Greens spokesperson for Public Housing believes this is a missed opportunity to expand public housing.

“The Waterloo redevelopment gives the Government an opportunity to increase the amount of desperately-needed affordable and public housing in Sydney’s inner city. But they’ve chosen instead to use the extra capacity on the site for yet more private apartments with a cost out of reach to low income earners” she said.

Another point on the agenda of the Waterloo tent embassy is drawing attention to government’s failure to maintain the appartments. Gas leaks, flooding and electrical failures are common place in Waterloo housing units, Mr Weeks told City Hub.

He believes this is a failure of the state’s duty of care to residents in public housing.

“As part of the rental arrangement, they have a responsibility to maintain the building and keep it in a liveable state. Nobody should have to live like this” he said.

Ms Barham blames the past Labor and Liberal governments for “allowing” the residences to “fall into disrepair.”

“We need on-going investment in public housing, particularly for maintenance,” she said.

The embassy has been running in the southwest corner of the Waterloo greens for over three weeks now raising awareness of these issues, among others.

With key players, such as Lord Mayor Clover Moore and Greens member Jenny Leong, throwing their support behind the movement, the embassy and has no plans of giving up.

“We’re going to take this as far as we can to protect the old people of this area” Mr Weeks said.