By Michelle Neathercote

The NSW Department of Housing said there is ‘no truth’ to rumours that a large group of their tennants are to be transferred to Helensburgh as a part of the Redfern-Waterloo re-development project.

Helping to fan the rumour flame, an anonymous person recently erected a large sign on the window of the former IGA supermarket, which was quickly removed by other residents who were disturbed by its aggressive and racially derogatory messages.

A Department of Housing spokesperson confrmed they regularly get asked about these type of rumours from all over NSW but said they “don’t just lift up a whole bunch of people and put them somewhere else”.

“In regards to the Redfern redevelopment plans, consultations with tenants in this area began in mid May, but the Department does not relocate tenants affected by redevelopments to a specific area,” the spokesperson said.

The rumours of a ‘mass relocation’ gained greater intensity when the NSW Minister for Lands, Tony Kelly confirmed recently that two lots of Crown land in Robertson St, Helensburgh will be transferred to the Illawarra Aboriginal Land Council (IALC) under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983.

The correspondence stated this would happen following a survey and ‘any proposal to develop land, irrespective of ownership, must accord with the environmental planning instruments that apply to that land (and) the public has a right to comment on any development application’.

The former Crown land is adjacent to the Catholic Church’s Holy Cross Parish, which said the lands had previously been considered for a 50 bed combined nursing home/retirement centre. A few years ago the Parish had been working towards a proposal involving a partnership with government that included use of the transferred land and some of their own land which would have incorporated a green belt corridor within the development.

“The proposal depended on the area being allocated a certain number of beds but when the local federal member changed portfolios the proposal was postponed,” said Father Peter Vaughan of Holy Cross Parish.

“Its such a shame that it didn’t come to anything as Helensburgh has nothing available for older people, who have to leave and go elsewhere when they need that level of care. If it had been successful it would have serviced a large area of the northern Illawarra,” he said.

The Coordinator of Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council, Sharralyn Robinson said while no plans have been made for the future development of the land that they owned in Helensburgh, she was surprised and disappointed at the amount of controversy it had attracted.
“These rumours sound pre-emptive and judgmental. I prefer to focus discussion on the inclusive, caring behaviours that build positive experiences with others in the community,” Ms Robinson said.
The Convener of the Local Area Meetings, Pauline Smith has invited Ms Robinson to attend one of their monthly meetings ‘to inform the community of what plans you have (as) we do not know what is proposed for this land (and) without factual information people unfortunately are likely to believe misguided rumours’.
”I’d be happy to respond to an invitation from the Convenor of the Local Area Community meetings to let people know about any IALC plans when some have been made,” said Ms Robinson.
There are about 520 public housing, community housing and Aboriginal housing properties (social housing) in the Heathcote electorate. In comparison to other parts of Sydney and the Illawarra, the NSW Housing Department advised that these figures are regarded as being quite low and there were ‘not a lot of plans for the Helensburgh area’.
“If any Aboriginal tenant expressed a desire to move into Lands Council housing, the Department would do whatever it could to assist but the Lands Councils usually have their own waiting lists,” said the Housing Department spokesperson.