News Bulletin – December 2002
2006 GAMES VILLAGE FOR ROYAL PARK
The Die is Cast - Bracks Gives Go Ahead for Games Village in Royal Park
In the face of a groundswell of public opposition and after months of delay with the final decision, on 23 October 2002 Premier Bracks finally announced that the 2006 Commonwealth Games Village would be located on the former Royal Park Hospital site in Parkville. Many, including the Royal Park Protection Group (RPPG), forecast that it spells unmitigated environmental and social disaster for Melbourne. It will see the creation – post Games – of a Gulag–type settlement akin to the 1956 Heidelberg Olympic Village with a low income group of residents and the elderly in an aged care hostel trapped in an isolated pocket of land alongside a freeway, next to a prison, near serum laboratories and near a gaming venue in Melbourne’s backyard. The impact of a development the size of a new suburb with thousands of cars and heavy traffic through park roads will assure the destruction of Royal Park. Unless of course we stop the development proceeding…
Immediately following the Premier’s announcement at his media conference in the inner sanctum of Parliament House, RPPG with a number of Melbourne City Councillors and Dr Richard Di Natale, pre-selected Greens’ candidate for Melbourne, held our own media conference on the Royal Park Hospital site to protest over the Government’s decision. Over the following days RPPG had extensive media coverage – TV, radio, mainstream print media and local papers in inner and northern suburbs – in which we reiterated our opposition to the Games Village in Royal Park. Residents from surrounding suburbs joined the chorus of opposition and with it came warnings of the electoral threat to the sitting ALP member for Melbourne, Bronwyn Pike, as anger grew against the Government. (See below).
The Truth Revealed about the Games Village
RPPG attended a briefing from the newly established Office of Commonwealth Games and Australand Pty Ltd (the developer awarded the contract) with a group of members, including an architect and a barrister. Here the full horror was revealed of this monster development. The Bracks Government has attempted to con Melburnians that it’s a Games Village about to be built on the Royal Park Hospital site. It isn’t a Games Village at all, it is first and foremost a huge,
private residential development of 1, 000 units (with an estimated future population of 3,000 residents and their 1,500 cars). The so–called "Games Village" is a Trojan horse. Only 150 units plus "temporary accommodation" are to be constructed to accommodate the Games athletes. The bulk of this real estate development will be built after the Games. During the Games up to 30 athletes are to be herded into a single unit. (The Sydney Olympics had 16 – 17 per unit at Homebush Village.) The Age revealed that the athletes would be sleeping in garages and in unfinished kitchens. When the Village is complete only a small proportion (150 units) will be devoted to "social housing"(100 units) and for aged care in a hostel (50 units or 100 beds). Bronwyn Pike has misled the public, initially maintaining that "public housing" was to be provided on the site. Some of the "social housing" tenants will be billeted eventually in units, which are to be built just metres away from and parallel with the Tullamarine Freeway in a 6 storey giant wall of apartments. Inadequate assurances have been given as to whether sound proofing of units from the noise of the heaviest freeway traffic in Australia is adequate and whether residents will be protected from intrusive freeway lights.The consortium of Australand and Citta Property Group has called the development "The Village Park". This is not only extraordinarily inappropriate but insulting given: that the 20 hectare site will be virtually concrete wall to wall; that 1,000 trees will have to be felled to make way for the development; that only 4 hectares is left for the "new park" - mainly parcels of space round buildings and nature strips; and that a chunk of Royal Park plus Council freehold land has been requisitioned for "wetlands" to add to the "green" image. The wetlands will be, in reality, a sewage outfall for the Zoo and a means of solving a long-standing environmental problem of the discharge of animal effluent into the Royal Park creeks. The Royal Park Hospital site was, of course, originally part of Royal Park and, in our view, still is.
Quotable quote: "Royal Park and the decision about its future are almost a microcosm of the broader debate on how we measure progress. Will we be drawn into narrow and shortsighted visions largely configured by economic aspirations? I am concerned that the culture of impatience … may not lead us to sustaining Royal Park and other breathing spaces in the city… One thing that I hope we have learned in the 90’s is that Terra Nullius is a legal fiction. Royal Park is not vacant land ready and waiting for development" (Bronwyn Pike at the RPPG AGM 31 August 1998 speaking as preselected candidate for Melbourne).
RPPG "Major Events" in Royal Park up to and including the State Election
Launch of the Greens Save Royal Park Billboard in Flemington Road 1 November 2002:
RPPG contributed to the Greens huge billboard with its slogan "We’ll Save Royal Park", which was erected at the corner of Dryburg Street and Flemington Road in North Melbourne. At short notice we got a crowd together with our banners and attended the media launch. (The 7:30 Report ran the story).
RPPG AGM 13 November 2002: As well as holding our regular AGM, we provided a forum for election candidates in the Melbourne District and Province to speak on their platforms. All candidates attended. The central theme was, of course, the issue of the Government decision to locate the Games Village in Royal Park. It was voted the most informative and entertaining event in an otherwise boring election campaign. Akin to an old style election meeting, candidates did not escape interrogation and a certain amount of creative heckling from the audience. Defenders of Royal Park challenged Gavin Jennings (never before seen in public in North Melbourne as far as we can tell) and Bronwyn Pike to "please explain" their support for the Games Village location in Royal Park. The meeting reaffirmed opposition to current and future threats to Royal Park, including construction of the Games Village and the extension of the Eastern Freeway through Royal Park, and condemned the Bracks Government for the decision to locate the 2006 Games Village in Royal Park. Additionally, the meeting applauded the actions of the Electrical Trades Union (the ETU) in imposing Green Bans on the construction of the 2006 Games Village on the Royal Park Hospital site and called on construction unions – and all unions – to take a similar stand and oppose the sell-off of public land for private profit. Many attending the meeting added their names to the list for the picket line in preparation for the day construction starts on the site.
Protest Picnic in the Park with Bob Brown 24 November 2002: A Greens election rally attended by about 300 people was held on the Royal Park Hospital site with RPPG support. Greens Senator Bob Brown addressed the rally and Dean Mighell spoke, reaffirming the ETU’s green bans on the site to protect public land and assets. Candidates in Melbourne and Brunswick – except for the ALP – spoke at the meeting on their election policies and visions for Melbourne, which didn’t include a Games Village – or any Village – in Royal Park. The event was covered by Channel 10 and the Herald Sun ran an excellent feature article outlining why Royal Park is no place for a Village.
Protest at Bronwyn’s Election Launch at Queen Victoria Market 26 November 2002: RPPG staged a peaceful protest at Bronwyn’s launch at the Queen Vic Market with placards carrying messages such as: "Jeff Bracks Wrecks Our Parks", "Make Melbourne Marginal – Vote Independent", "Greens Care for Melbourne", "Bronwyn Who?" and "Royal Park – No Place for a Village". The official party was conveniently corralled in a glass-panelled enclosure at the Organic Food Café and so had time over lunch to study the placards. Premier Bracks actually engaged in discussion with protestors.
RPPG Campaigning in State Election: The Games Village issue was a central issue in the campaign for Melbourne District in the State Election. Richard Di Natale for the Greens and Kevin Chamberlin running as an Independent both pledged to continue opposing the location of the Games Village in Royal Park. They both stated that, if elected, they would introduce a private members bill to Parliament to stop construction of the Games Village, as has been done in NSW to save Callan Park. The official RPPG policy was as follows:"RPPG endorses jointly and equally the two candidates who have unequivocally endorsed our position of opposition to the Games Village location on the Royal Park Hospital site in Parkville –- namely Richard Di Natale for the Greens and Kevin Chamberlin as an Independent". A number of RPPG and Save Albert Park members helped Kevin’s campaign in Melbourne. Despite the landslide win for the ALP with a State wide swing of nearly 10% Bronwyn Pike, the sitting member, came perilously close to losing her seat in Melbourne to the Greens and saw her vote halved since the 1999 election. It was the worst result for Labor in nearly 100 years since the Party first won the seat in 1908 and Melbourne is now well and truly marginal. The Village issue was clearly a factor.
One of the disturbing aspects of the election campaign was the "dirty tricks campaign" by the ALP against Richard and Kevin. Attempts were made at election forums and at our AGM by ALP "heavies" to disrupt Kevin’s speeches and an attempted smear campaign was conducted against Richard. RPPG copped it in the election issue of The Melbourne Times, which published what was apparently a "propaganda" piece designed to discredit us and our Games Village campaign. Congratulations, Richard and Kevin, on your fine efforts in the election and thanks for your support in our battle for Royal Park.
RPPG Members’ Meeting Monday 16 December 2002: The final members meeting for 2002 will be held at 7:30 pm on 16 December 2002 North Melbourne Library, 66 Errol Street, North Melbourne. This will be a crucial meeting, as we have to plan further action in Royal Park and discuss legal options.
RPPG WISHES MEMBERS & FRIENDS A HAPPY XMAS & A PEACEFUL 2003