Shayne Mallard secures $50,000 donation for the Red Shield Appeal

City of Sydney Councillor Shayne Mallard has convinced the Council to support his motion and donate $50,000 to the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal. During today's Extraordinary Council meeting called to approve the Lord Mayor's proposed $100,000 for the Chinese Earthquake victims, Councillor Mallard alerted his colleagues of the pressing needs here in our own City.

"Each night as I walk through the City I see homeless people bedding down on park benches and in doorways huddling under thin blankets trying to ward off the winter cold. Shayne told the Council.

"I agree with the donation of $100,000 to China but we must not lose sight of the dire needs here at home as well.

"It's a disgrace that a city as wealthy as Sydney leaves vulnerable people such as the young, homeless and abused to live off the streets.

"No one should have to beg and no one should be living on the streets in this City and we need to be doing much more about it.

Councillor Mallard alerted the Council to the problems of donation fatigue and the donation vacuum that follows big appeals such as the Chinese earthquake and recent Tsunami appeals.

"The Salvo's reported raising $50,000 from the City of Sydney residents in the Red Shield Appeal yesterday. The City's donation now matches the generosity of our residents and businesses dollar for dollar.

"What better way to say thank you to the generous people including the many thousands of volunteers out there collecting for the Salvos.

"I am sure the people of Sydney support the work of the Salvation Army. The Salvos target for 2008 is to raise $68 million nationally. It is a big number and it just goes to show the extent of the work that the Salvation Army does to help the most disadvantaged in our community."

Councillor Mallard's successful Amendment reads:
(iv) that in recognition of the important work done by the Salvation Army in the City of Sydney and to support and add value to our residents, ratepayers and visitors the City of Sydney match dollar for dollar to a maximum of $50,000 for the Red Shield appeal.

Mallard to call for $50,000 donation to Salvation Army for Red Shield Appeal

"Thank God for the Salvos. We must never lose sight that every night, without fanfare, organisations like the Salvation Army find shelter and sustenance for Sydney's growing number of homeless men and women," Councillor Shayne Mallard said today.

"As winter approaches and nights become colder, it is a stark reminder of how hard life has become for those without a home. The Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal this weekend aims to raise money to help Sydney's homeless and I would encourage everyone to give generously to this very worthy cause.

"People in Sydney ask me, almost on a daily basis, why there are so many homeless people sleeping in doorways and on park benches every night when we are such a wealthy city. There is of course no simple answer, but there is no doubt that we need to do more to tackle the problem of homelessness in our city.

Councillor Mallard announced today that at the extraordinary meeting of Council on Monday, which has been called by the Lord Mayor to approve her suggested $100,000 donation to the Chinese earthquake appeal, he will be calling on Council to also support a donation of up to $50,000 to the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal.

"I will asking the Council to match dollar for dollar the generosity of our residents, small businesses and ratepayers up to maximum of $50,000.

"Whilst I support the $100,000 donation to the Chinese earthquake appeal I fear that international pleas for help distract us from the very real needs in our own backyard. That is why I want Council to back the generosity of our residents by matching their donations to the Red Shield Appeal to help the needy of Sydney.

"The Salvation Army does a fantastic job on the ground in the City of Sydney on behalf of the residents and ratepayers and I think we ought to recognize their work with a substantial donation. Many people would have seen the ABC TV documentary, The Oasis, that gave us an insight into the daily struggle that confronts people at the margins of society and the compassionate but practical way the Salvos meet these immense challenges.

"I am sure the people of Sydney will support a substantial contribution to the Salvation Army. The Salvos target for 2008 is to raise $68 million nationally. It is a big number and it just goes to show the extent of the work that the Salvation Army does to help the most disadvantaged in our community."

Support the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal here.

Listen to the 2GB interview on Redfern Park children's playground 'We murdered the people.." artwork.

Listen to the interview here ...

Keating quote in Children's playground - political Correctness gone mad

MEDIA RELEASE

Keating quote in Children's playground - political Correctness gone mad

City of Sydney Councillor Shayne Mallard has spoken out publicly against the decision of the City Council to incorporate a quote by former Prime Minister Paul Keating in a new children's playground.

The extract taken from Paul Keating's 1992 Redfern Park speech prominently includes the following lines;

"We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life.

We brought the diseases. The alcohol.

We committed the murders.

We took the children from their mothers.

We practised discrimination and exclusion."

Shayne Mallard said that the inclusion of the extract was out of context and would not advance reconciliation in the Redfern area.

"Keating's quote belongs in the history books and not in a children's playground," he said.

"Any parent coming to this playground whether white or Aboriginal will feel anger and shame when confronted by this message,"

"If or when children understand the words they will be frightened by the violent language and images."

"What happened to the age of innocence for our children?"

Shayne said that his concerns are not about the former Prime Minister's speech but the out of context extract and its suitability for a children's playground.

"The speech has a place in history and even elsewhere in Redfern Park,"

"This is the political correctness we have come to expect from this big spending, big brother, left wing controlled Council," Shayne added.

The work by artist Fiona Foley incorporates the extract of the speech as engraved paving as well as a cross shaped water feature and over sized steel lotus flowers and is part of the $30 million Redfern Park upgrade. When finished later this year the park will return as the spiritual home of the South Sydney Rabbitohs as their new training grounds.

RELEASE ENDS
7 May 2008

Channel 7 News reports here 'Quote too controversial for park.'

The Australian reports:

Liberal lashes nod to Keating

Ashleigh Wilson May 08, 2008

A SYDNEY councillor has criticised a playground sculpture for featuring an extract from Paul Keating's Redfern speech, claiming the words were a "real guilt trip" to non-indigenous Australians who had already apologised to the Stolen Generations.
Shayne Mallard, a Liberal member of the Sydney City Council, last night said the former prime minister's message was inappropriate for a children's playground.
"This is political correctness going mad when you put this in the playground," Mr Mallard said.
"What happened to the age of innocence?"
But Mr Mallard was ridiculed last night by Mr Keating's former speechwriter Don Watson, who said: "The truth never hurt anybody - including children.
"And for that matter, I don't remember children being damaged by inscriptions on public memorials."
The sculpture, by indigenous artist Fiona Foley, includes several lines from Mr Keating's acclaimed speech in the Sydney suburb of Redfern in 1992.
In the speech, he referred to the past injustice towards Aborigines in Australia, saying non-indigenous people had to recognise it was "we who did the dispossessing".
The sculpture, expected to be finished this year as part of the council's upgrade of Redfern Park, features some of Mr Keating's words: "We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life."
"We brought the diseases, the alcohol," the inscription continues. "We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers."
Mr Mallard said the council approved the sculpture last week. He claimed he was not attacking Mr Keating's "great" speech, but said the council should find a way to commemorate the words in a different location.
"I don't see how young indigenous Australians going there will have a positive disposition towards white Australians," he said.
"We all commemorated and said sorry earlier this year, but this means everyone who goes there to play must say sorry every time because it's a real guilt trip.
"Every time an Aboriginal person or a white Australian goes there, they're going to be reminded of this. It's out of context ... I don't see this as part of the process of moving forward."
Mr Keating could not be contacted for comment last night.

Pooley's faustian deal with the ALP Right's money men

In the midst of all the electricity privatisation blood letting and bad manners at the ALP's State Conference there was some political knife wielding in the City of Sydney's corner as current ALP Councilor Tony Pooley convincingly dispatched Labor's left wing Lord Mayoral aspirant and former MP Dr Meredith Burgmann.

In today's SMH a victorious Pooley proclaims he will not take donations from developers or the hotel industry... but by gaining the support of the discredited Right wing Sussex Street machine to defeat the ALP Left, Pooley has already made his faustian deal with the money men and unions of Sussex Street that the Right will no doubt call in.

When is the Clover Moore party preselection?

As Tony Pooley (ALP), Chris Harris (Greens) and I traverse our respective public party processes for preselection and endorsement to run as Lord Mayoral candidates - observers wonder what preselection processes the Clover Moore Party (yes it is now a registered political party and brand name) is undertaking. In Council last year the Lord Mayor promised to provide a copy of her new political party's constitution (as required by the Act) but we are still waiting. Word has it that all Moore Councillors have been re-endorsed to run again under the Moore Party banner. eCouncillor must have missed the Moore party advertisements, missed the party conference and missed the rank and file ballots around the Moore household kitchen table.


Deputy mayor fends off rival for top job

Jano Gibson and Sunanda Creagh May 6, 2008

THE field of hopefuls for Sydney's top job has narrowed after one of the most prominent contenders, Meredith Burgmann, failed to win Labor Party support for her run at the lord mayorship.
Labor's difficult task of toppling the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, in September's local government elections has instead been given to the Deputy Lord Mayor, Tony Pooley.
Cr Pooley, a former mayor of South Sydney, defeated the former NSW Upper House president in a vote at last weekend's ALP state conference.
Dr Burgmann, from Labor's Left faction, said she had expected to lose after Cr Pooley, who does not belong to either faction, received endorsement from the Right several weeks ago.
She said she stayed in the race to highlight her concerns about Cr Moore being the Lord Mayor and the Member for Sydney at the same time. "I wanted to make a point about Clover's arrogance about thinking Lord Mayor of Sydney was a part-time job."
Defeating Cr Moore would be a "tough battle", said Dr Burgmann, who is now considering running as a candidate for Labor councillor.
"Clover has the advantage of incumbency and the huge multimedia machine that cranks out material with her face on it once a week," she said. "[And] at the moment the State Government is pretty unpopular and that will count against us too."
Cr Pooley said he was pleased with the result.
"It was a hard slog; it's a lot of delegates to contact. I went across the board and spoke to every major union secretary from across both factions. I contacted everyone I could, regardless of whether they were Left or Right.
"Of course, 333 of them did support Meredith but I think [I won support because] I have had eight years of involvement in local government."
He promised not to take donations from developers or the hotel industry to fund his bid. "However, I do have two friends who manage pubs who I will be inviting to a fund-raiser as friends," he said. He refused to name the pubs.
He said he would have preferred the preselection to have been made through a ballot of rank-and-file branches, but suggested the outcome would be the same regardless.
Councillors Chris Harris (Greens) and Shayne Mallard (Liberal) have said they are also keen to run for the top job.