MEDIA RELEASE: SAVE WATERLOO. No demolitions in a housing crisis. Renovate and beautify public housing estates!
Protest: Sunday May 24, 3pm start Redfern and Regent St, Redfern. March to the demolition site corner of McEvoy and Cope St, Waterloo for BBQ, film festival and music.
Contact: Karyn Brown 0432 409 711 Samuel Cooper 0478 848 597 Rachel Evans 0403 517 266 Wes Carter 0480 333 450
The Minns ALP government is set to renege on their pre-election 2023 promise to save Waterloo and bring demolition teams into Waterloo South on Monday May 25. Waterloo tenant letterboxes are awash with letters from Homes NSW declaring the demolition will begin of 150, perfectly liveable apartments. Fifteen residents are still living within apartment blocks, set to be demolished.
The leveling of the blocks is socially and environmentally irresponsible in a housing crisis. Dilapidated estates and homes can be renovated for a fraction of the price. The Office architects have even drawn up alternative plans for the Waterloo estate and ones in Naarm/Melbourne.
Karyn Brown, Waterloo South resident and Action for Public Housing spokesperson said, “we will not stop fighting the Minns government. A total of 750 tenants will be evicted to make way for private developer Stockland to build 3300 homes - 50% or 1650 of them will be over-priced, luxury homes. They’re saying 20% will be “affordable” housing, and 30% of the 3300 will be “social” housing. Only 7% of this affordable housing is in perpetuity.” said Brown.
The demolition will wipe out Waterloo’s thriving natural environment. Activist biologist, botanist Samuel Cooper has meticulously recorded the plant, native grass and wildlife of Waterloo South.
He said, “Normally, proposals like this need a rigorous biodiversity development assessment report (BDAR) - instead, the Government granted a waiver. This BDAR waiver was based on Government acceptance of a highly questionable ecological consulting report; funded by the developer, which states: ‘The proposed development does not impact upon any locally occurring vegetation community, only requiring the removal of areas containing Mixed Urban Landscaping and Planted Native Vegetation located in garden beds.’
Cooper continued, “this $4 billion development proposal covers a 10.6ha area. Anyone familiar with vegetation in Sydney knows how unlikely it is for native flora in an area this large to be entirely plantings. It’s unclear why the NSW Government was so readily accepting of such an incredible claim. Across this 10.6ha area, the BDAR waiver reports 30 native species (apparently plantings). Yet we’ve so far found 20 native plant species on-site which were not mentioned in the BDAR-waiver, and checking the arborist report adds another 11. Our current tally is 61 native species on-site overall, not 30. A break-down of which species have been found on-site as plantings and as wild plants is in our journal here, ” concluded Cooper.
Karyn Brown said, “we have 640,000 people across the country who are in dire need of secure public housing. We have 150,000 people homeless and these are conservative figures. The housing concessions in the recent Federal budget made small tax changes to assist home owners, not renters, those suffering severe mortgage payment stress, or those unable to cough up a deposit. The solution to the housing crisis is beautiful public housing. That’s why we need to save Waterloo.”
The rally will hear from: Chair: Erina Delinicolas - Better Future Coalition, Save Warren Road, Renters and Housing Union. Speakers: Karyn Brown - Waterloo South resident, Action for Public Housing; Paul Keating - Maritime Union Australia Sydney Branch Secretary; Jenny Leong Greens NSW MP for the seat of Newtown; Graham Save 160 Oxford St, Paddington, Paddington United, Rachel Evans - Action for Public Housing, Socialist Alliance
Protest on Sunday May 24, 3pm, starting at the corner of Redfern and Regent st, Redfern and will end at McEvoy Street and Cope St, Waterloo. At 5pm there will be a film ‘Waterloo’ with a presentation from producer Tom Zubrycki, 7pm a showing of ‘Rocking the Foundation’, a BBQ and more.
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/823158467075034
Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/action4publichousing/
REPORTS AND INFO TO WATCH, READ & SHARE:
Channel 9 News report on Action for Public Housing media conference:
“Hundreds Of Public Housing Units To Be Demolished For Controversial Waterloo South Development”:
https://cityhub.com.au/hundreds-of-public-housing-units-to-be-demolished-for-controversial-waterloo-south-development/
Jenny Leong MP speaking in parliament about Waterloo demolition and privatisation:
Dobell and Drysdale buildings to be demolished were designed by iconic Sirius building architect Tao Gofers:
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/designing-australias-public-housing/dobell-drysdale
“Across Sydney, the Labor Party Is Selling Public Housing by Stealth”:
https://jacobin.com/2023/07/australia-public-housing-sydney-labor-party-chris-minns-real-estate-developers
“Housing resident and campaigner says renovate, not demolish Waterloo”
https://www.greenleft.org.au/2026/1453/news/housing-resident-and-campaigner-says-renovate-not-demolish-waterloo
“Rally Set As Waterloo Public Housing Tenants Continue Fight Against Redevelopment”
https://cityhub.com.au/rally-set-as-waterloo-public-housing-tenants-continue-fight-against-redevelopment/
ONLINE PETITION:
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/save-waterloo-refurbish-dont-demolish-sign-on-petition-to-the-premier-and-housing-minister/
