Last week Victorians were hit with the revelations of the blowout of the budget for the 2006 Commonwealth Games to $1.1 billion. Yesterday plans were unveiled which show that construction of a Games Village is an excuse for the Bracks Government to give away prime parkland to private real estate developers. Only a 200 of 1,000 units will be built for the Games Village, the developers will wait and see how the market performs before building the remaining 800 dwellings in order to maximise their profits. The "temporary housing extensions" i.e. demountables, which the Government will have to provide on site to supplement accommodation will turn the whole Games Village into a down market camp city, another Camp Pell of Royal Park? In the permanent houses athletes will be crammed 25 to a unit and forced to sleep in garages, kitchens and living areas.

Julianne Bell, Royal Park Protection Group Convenor, commented: "We know from previous plans that this huge development – the size of a small town – will be wall to wall accommodation shoehorned into 20 hectares of space. Was lack of space the reason why the developers had to increase the height of some of the apartment blocks to be built along the freeway boundary to 9 storeys? This "buffer zone" is where the "social housing" tenants will ultimately be accommodated, just metres from the freeway. Obviously the Government thinks that this type of accommodation is OK for low-income tenants. Travancore residents the other side of City Link will cop the increased noise bounced off these apartments and the increased light, which will beam out from the multistorey units. Also serious is the impact of traffic and car emission pollution on surrounding suburbs, Brunswick in particular. In the absence of accessible public transport future residents of the development will be dependant on cars thus adding to congestion. Traffic gridlock in the northern suburbs will affect the whole of Melbourne.

Colin Smith RPPG Deputy Convenor said: It is a major tragedy that precious parkland in the inner city will be destroyed. We know that one thousand mature trees will be axed. How long will the "new" trees take to grow? Our first Governor Latrobe established a belt of parkland round Melbourne – Royal Park and Princes Park included. The site chosen for the Games Village – the Royal Park Hospital site – was always part of Royal Park, despite denials by the Government. There have been no environmental impact assessments done on the site and Minister Madden has refused to release the report on the Environmental Benchmarks for the Commonwealth Games. What also was revealed is that the developers have grabbed a big chunk of Royal Park and Council freehold land for wetlands, which is included in "The Village Park" development by Australand and the Citta Property Group. This is just a case of trying to "greenwash" their monstrous development at public expense.

The Royal Park Protection Group has resolved at recent meetings to keep on fighting by all means possible, including non-violent direct action, this gross private development on our public land. Tomorrow, Wednesday 19 March 2003, supporters of the Group will gather at Brunswick Town Hall at

11 am to view a model of the Games Village and to hear Rod Quantock (comedian and social commentator) explain where this huge real estate development went so badly wrong.

Media Contact: Julianne Bell Convenor Royal Park Protection Group 98184114 or 0408022408 www.royalparkprotect.org.au