Have Minister Atkinson and Minister Weatherill now taken to pleading their case by admitting that the government has made mistakes?
Not a bad ploy really; if all else fails go for the old sympathy vote. Works every time, particularly if you have the moral high ground. How do you think you’re going in this respect fellows?
It's About
It’s hard to build much of a hill of morals when the government is taking a children’s park away and giving them less play space on suspect land with no significant trees.
By the way, we haven’t heard much from the man at the top over the issue. You know who we mean; the one who is always saying “It’s about this” and “It’s about that”.
Anyway, if the government (and the Council?) is in the business of admitting to mistakes we can readily give them a hand. Here goes a few:
It’s about not saying up front that you had to have St Clair for your TOD and your light rail (which is simply not true when the Actil site is located only 500m away).
It’s about subjecting the Woodville community to a farcical consultation process using the ALP Charles Sturt puppet show, with no intention of listening to the community.
It’s about putting the land swap in the Charles Sturt CEO’s performance agreement, and then leaving him in charge of the consultation process.
It’s about legislating a cute deal for developers in which changing the status of community owned land only requires consultation within a pitiful 500 metre radius (and then not listening to the residents anyway).
It’s about consulting in an area that has virtually no ratepayers (over a third of the land within 500 metres is encompassed by the former Cheltenham Racecourse, Woodville High School, the uninhabited Actil site and the Charles Sturt Council complex itself).
It’s about offering soccer clubs/associations brand new facilities then “consulting” them and claiming their numbers as part of the Council’s supposed “widespread support”.
It’s about forcing the hand of the Woodville High School Governing Council by threatening to re-open Brocas Avenue (which may yet happen). Is student safety the only reason that they have agreed to support the land swap and therefore not exercise the power of veto they hold over the land?
It’s about including the 1100 students of Woodville High School as supporters in your “widespread support” group without asking them what they think.
It’s about making promises about road closures that you possibly can’t keep (Woodville High please note).
It’s about the developer refusing to build houses on the contaminated Actil land, regardless of how well it is rejuvenated. Is this due to the possible risk of litigation in 30 years time from people who might become ill?
It’s about playing Russian Roulette with our children’s lives, and their children’s lives, by having them play on former industrial land instead of heeding the very sound judgement of the developer.
It’s about the supposed hectare for hectare swap of pristine land for a contaminated industrial site (Actil).
It’s about the Council not benefiting financially while giving away Woodville’s crown jewels to developers.
It’s about not disclosing who does benefit from the millions of extra dollars which emanate from selling prestigious St Clair Reserve blocks compared to blocks on the Actil site.
It’s about consistently and doggedly arguing that there is no other alternative for the TOD other than St Clair Reserve, despite the fact that there are clearly a number of other possibilities (check your own research guys).
It’s about ignoring the carpark site already owned by Council, located directly across the railway line from St Clair AT THE WOODVILLE RAILWAY STATION for the non-ambulant denizens of the TOD, who the government clearly thinks cannot walk further than 20 metres.
It’s about refusing to consider TOD locations further along the railway line to the west (for example the Actil site).
It’s about conveniently ignoring the advice of the experts that you are so fond of quoting about introducing TODs —at all costs avoid disadvantaging and alienating the folk who already live there by taking away their parks.
It’s about the refusal to have major traffic impact studies of the whole area conducted (fearing what you might be told?)
There you go; that’s a good start to the list of mistakes that the government and the Council could admit to making. Should be heaps of votes in that lot!
Where to from here Mr Rann? An investigation could be announced because some irregularities in the consultation process have suddenly been discovered? Perhaps that could last until after the elections in March?
Perhaps try making another heap of “It’s about” statements about an entirely unrelated area to try to take the heat off? Why not try threatening to sue a few of the people who voted you into power, but are disenchanted now?
Better get a move on with whatever you’ve decided to do. Woodville unrest has rapidly escalated from Save St Clair and now it has spread to all of Charles Sturt and beyond. We’re getting calls from groups and citizens all over the state who are disaffected by the government’s arrogance and failure to listen (remember your slogan at the last elections—‘Labor Listens’).
Maybe the simplest way out would be to back off St Clair Reserve altogether. Now that has a certain appeal about it…….Where did I leave that white horse tied up?
