Lord Mayor's double park blames the Council driver

Fine with her: Clover Moore pays for chauffeur to park

The Australian - Angus Hohenboken June 10, 2008

SYDNEY'S Lord Mayor has offered to pay a parking fine on behalf of her chauffeur after he was caught parking illegally outside her house.
Footage of Clover Moore's driver double-parking outside her home over a period of several days was shown on Seven News last night.
It showed the driver leaving his locked vehicle next to cars parked at the kerb, despite the availability of parking spaces close by. Seven said neighbours reported the driver double-parked regularly.
A spokesman for the Lord Mayor said Ms Moore would discipline her driver. "The Lord Mayor has offered to pay a fine if the driver was not parked properly and has asked him to ensure it does not happen again," the spokesman said.
The City of Sydney Council used undercover rangers last year to catch and fine parents for parking illegally when dropping their children at school.
The revelations come after NSW Education Minister John Della Bosca was last month caught for speeding for the seventh time in just over a year, causing him to lose his driving licence.
City of Sydney councillor Shayne Mallard said politicians and councillors needed to set better examples on the road.
Mr Mallard said he was disappointed that Ms Moore was blaming the driver.
"They are public servants and by and large they follow instructions," he said.
"The bigger issue is the hypocrisy. The Lord Mayor's administration makes a lot of profit out of parking fines in this city; one would think they would adhere to their own rules and laws in regards to the council's own vehicles. The Lord Mayor should know the rules."

View Channel 7 story here.

Lord Mayor's driver facing fine

Profile of an inner-city Liberal

The South Sydney Herald profile -

Liberal Councillor Shayne Mallard likes staying as close as he can to the community reports Simon Nichols in the December 2007 edition of the South Sydney Herald.
“No, I don’t have any Federal Government ambitions,” Mallard tells me. “I am more interested in health, education and community service. I have always preferred the bread- and-butter issues, even though they are often considered the un-sexy areas of politics.” Sharing a coffee with him near the fountain in Kings Cross, you can tell that Mallard feels comfortable out on the street with the local residents. “I come from a small farm community, with just one church and just one school. I guess that instilled in me the notion of communities empowering each other and doing it for themselves. In those small towns you meet people and there is a real sense of cyclical responsibility; a hand up, not a hand out.”
Mallard brought that ethic to Sydney, joining the Young Liberals and becoming State President in 1993. Previous Liberal State presidents include Joe Hockey and Philip Ruddock. He was involved with the Fight Back John Hewson Campaign, worked closely with Peter Debnam and currently is a key confidante of Malcolm Fraser (Shayne adds later - this should be Malcolm Turnbull!).
“I love Sydney and I want to create a greater sense of ownership amongst the residents, similar to what happened during the Olympics. We have a real mix of people here. I want to highlight what we have and why we are so special. I would love to deck out some big buses with audiovisual equipment and get tours conducted all around Sydney. The buses would not just go to the major tourist spots but through the suburbs of Newtown and Ultimo. I am also a cycling fanatic and I have a dream to make all parking underground in the Kings Cross area and then widen the footpaths for cyclists and pedestrians.”
On his website, Mallard describes himself as a progressive Liberal. He is conservative in terms of finance and welfare but he feels he is progressive in the areas of social issues like discrimination, women, refugees and same-sex couples. He also maintains a facebook and a blog to keep up with the information super-highway – to “keep a finger on the pulse.”
So why did Mallard get involved in politics? Quite simply, “I love helping solve problems for people. That is why it motivates me as a vocation.” Mallard muses when I ask him what he doesn’t like. “The personal attacks, but unfortunately that comes with the territory.”
Source: South Sydney Herald www.southsydneyherald.com.au/

ALP Leaderless for Sydney City Council Election

Endorsed Labor candidate for Sydney Lord Mayor, Councillor Tony Pooley announced today that he would no longer lead the ALP ticket for the Council elections in September.
Councillor Pooley said that he was stepping down because of ' work issues ', but it is more likely that he does not want to spend another four years on the margins of power in a Clover Moore party dominated Council.
Liberal Councillor Shayne Mallard said that the 11th hour withdrawal of the former Labor Mayor raised several important questions;
"Did Tony see confidential Sussex Street polling that showed a landslide victory for Clover Moore at the election?
"Did Tony realise that his bid for the Lord Mayoralty was doomed from the start?" Shayne said.
"Tony must have seen that Clover Moore was going to trounce the ALP following the endless scandals and failures of Labor in Macquarie Street. Everyone knows that the ALP has that
unpleasant, decaying smell about it nowadays.
"Labor may now turn to retired upper house politician, Dr Meredith Bergman to lead an already defeated team to the polls. It seems that Labor are throwing in the towel before the first round. They have given up the fight before it has even begun.
Shayne who has been a Councillor alongside Tony Pooley for the past 8 years acknowledges the contribution that Tony has made.
"I would like to put on record my appreciation of Councillor Pooley's service to the local community on the City of Sydney Council and prior service on the South Sydney Council as mayor. Tony has been a dedicated local representative who has worked very effectively on behalf of residents. It is a shame that we will lose his experience after September.
"As leader of the Liberal team for this September's Council elections, I can assure all voters that the Liberal Party will not be throwing in the towel. We believe that Clover Moore's party must be held to public account by having a balance on the Council.
"The out-of-control spending and massive misuse of ratepayer money to promote Clover Moore's picture and words on everything the Council publishes must stop. Ratepayers deserve a City Council that represents all community views -- residents, businesses and leaseholders.
"Council needs to ensure that its basic services are its highest priority. It must ensure that the cash reserves are not eaten away by irresponsible and unaccountable spending. It must keep costs down and rates affordable.
"We offer the voters a real choice in September. And while it may be true that the ALP secret polling shows Clover Moore will be easily re-elected as Lord Mayor, we believe that voters will want balanced representation on the next council," Councillor Shayne Mallard concluded.

Daily Telegraph reports 'Clover Moore tipped to win against Meredith Bergman'

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.

Affordable Housing keeps Sydney competitive but at what cost?

City of Sydney Councillor Shayne Mallard has spoken out in support of the proposal to create up to 700 new dwellings as part of the City's affordable housing commitment but has questioned the secrecy in the planning and raised concerns about the high concentrations of affordable housing in the inner west.

" Today's announcement will help provide much needed housing for lower wage earners in the inner city and help keep Sydney competitive with the diverse labour force needed to be globally competitive", Shayne said.

"The addition of another large development of affordable housing in Glebe adds to the high concentrations of existing affordable housing and large estates of public housing in the area where police and other government agencies struggle to maintain order and deliver effective services."

"Concentrating more affordable and social housing in the inner west will only increase community concerns about creating ghettos of social and economic disadvantage."

"Council is currently asking the Department of Housing to provide private security guards to patrol the housing estates in Glebe. How does that sit with this announcement?"

"Why not consider breaking up the concentrations with opportunities in the Greensquare, Broadway brewery site and newer developing areas? This could involve innovative development solutions such as land swaps and rezoning bonuses for affordable housing provision in new developments?"

Shayne is also opposed to Council being the affordable housing landlord.
"Council must not take on the huge responsibility of becoming the affordable housing landlord. Most councils have failed to deliver equity and transparency in this area in the past with issues of nepotism and favours for mates under previous cheap rent deals."

Councillor Mallard also questioned the financial secrecy and lack of accountability surrounding today's announcement.
"Increasingly the City of Sydney has reverted to the dark management arts of Frank Sartor's day."

"Councillors were in a full day of briefings yesterday including a budget session and yet nothing was mentioned about this announcement and Councillors were not consulted."

"Keeping secret from elected Councillors a $260 M project including the provision of $30 M worth of ratepayer's land is not a good demonstration of open and accountable government,"

"Informing elected Councillors by media release smacks of election spin ahead of meaningful engagement with an elected representative body." Shayne concluded.

Council's announcement today here: http://www.sydneymedia.com.au/html/3596-new-partnership-to-boost-affordable-housing.asp

Dog-gone debate at Council

Clover Moore's proposal to make 44 parks in the City of Sydney including Hyde Park, Cook and Phillip, Rushcutters Bay, Bear and Macleay Park in the most densely populated areas of the City's east 24 hours off leash have been met with howls of protest from residents and particularly young mothers. In quite emotional scenes at last Monday's mid afternoon committee community members spoke strongly of their concerns about protecting their children from a dog attack or even unwarranted attention by an off leash canine. As I said at the Committee this issue is not about dog lovers versus dog haters as some have tried to simplistically portray it. I'm a dog lover having owned many dogs in my life including a rather robust single minded Great Dane called Bowen (sadly gone to that great off leash park in the sky now). But having a well trained but determined dog or two reinforces my concerns for parents with young children. After supporting a deferral for more information on this proposal and reflection I now do not think that Council can introduce such a startling and radical change in a 'big bang'. But rather we need to much more carefully asses each park and open space. There should be some space for dogs off leash 24/7. But they must be either larger regional parks (like Sydney Park) where say 50% can off leash 24/7 or specially constructed large off leash enclosures such as in New York and Copenhagen. These are ideal especially for smaller inner city dogs. The balance should remain on leash from 8am (to allow humans exercising not to be assailed by canines) to just before sunset (say 5pm).

The Daily Telegraph covered this issue today (see below and links).





Clover puts your children on a leash

By Justin Vallejo, Urban Affiars Reporter
April 04, 2008 12:00am

CHILDREN'S playgrounds will be fenced off inside parks to give unleashed dogs free rein over the city's green open spaces.
Up to 10 popular city playgrounds will be penned in under a City of Sydney Council plan to hand over 44 parks to unrestrained canines. Instead of creating fenced off-leash areas as in other cities worldwide, families will be the ones corralled - for their own safety.
The move has sparked calls from Australia's peak veterinary body for all NSW councils to follow Sydney's lead and provide more places where dogs can be exercised.
"These days dogs are treated something akin to a member of the family by their owners, yet there seem to be greater restrictions than ever on where families can take their pet," Australian Veterinary Association president Diane Sheehan said.
A public debate between dog owners, parents and councillors this week erupted over Sydney City Council officers' rejection of calls to create fenced areas for dogs in favour of fencing off children.
Justifying its decision, the council report said its approach to off-leash areas was "to integrate recreational activities rather than segregate activities into separate areas".
But in the same breath it proposed to segregate children from dogs by fencing off playgrounds in Beare, Foley, Jubilee, Perry, Prince Alfred, Rushcutters Bay, Waterloo and Wentworth parks and Bannerman Crescent and Kimberley Grove reserves.
"This would have to be the most biased report I've ever seen in my four years as a councillor," Councillor Chris Harris said.
"I have no confidence in supporting the assumptions in this report."
The City of Sydney has proposed to turn 44 parks into off-leash areas 24 hours a day, incorporating 18 parks that are currently off-leash from 6pm to 8pm.
It would take the number of off-leash parks to 13 per cent of the city's 350 parks, up from 6 per cent.
But the land would be 55 per cent of the total land area, with the lion's share of the biggest and most popular parks going to the dogs.
Council staff dropped Paradise Park in Ultimo from the off-leash list after receiving a petition signed by 130 angry residents.
Seventy-three per cent of the 1527 public submissions backed the proposal.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore, both a dog owner and a parent, gave the plan support before the public debate, saying "exercising dogs is important to reduce animal boredom, which can reduce behavioural problems such as nuisance barking".
After fierce opposition at the public meeting her stance was more cautious and she said they had a challenge to balance everyone's concerns before the plan went to council next Monday for consideration.
"The pendulum in the past has swung against dog owners and we are trying to restore that balance. The fences are not to keep the child in, but to create a safe environment for parents and their children," she said.
There are currently only three city parks that are off-leash at all times: Edmund Resch Reserve at Redfern, Joynton Park at Zetland and Embarkation Park at Potts Point.
Mark Callan, walking his dog Molly on-leash past Waratah Playground, said council priorities were wrong.
"I think off-leash areas are great for the dogs but I understand parents' concerns that they would be the ones caged in, rather than the animals," he said.
"Which is more important, the dogs or the children? I would have thought the kids would be the priority."

More info on dogs off leash here at City of Sydney web site.

Spin Sustainable Sydney 2030 for Council elections?

Giving the latest fairy floss just one more spin

Elizabeth Farrelly

April 2, 2008 Sydney Morning Herald


In fourth class they're writing a speech: "The Power of Words. Discuss." My heart leaps. Words are what I love. Not only is the pen mightier than the sword. Not only do words mend and break hearts, bend and fracture history, shape and steal souls. Not only are they the utensils of choice for popes and tyrants, poets and presidents, lovers and assorted glorious madmen; for Caesar and Shakespeare, Luther and Luther King, Lincoln, Churchill and Obama. Words delight, transport and transcend. Words quicken our noble core. They are the angel part of us, our rope ladder to god. Pictures? Sure, pictures are dandy, but a word - I propose while peeling spuds - is worth a thousand of them. It's a bold claim, possibly over-bold, but you get the point. For me, words are kind of it.
Which is why word abuse fills me with a wild, helpless fury. I don't mean bad grammar. It'd hardly pay to spill milk over grammar these days. I can overlook misrelated participles and split infinitives, even in people paid to know better. I can tolerate "however" used for "but" or "which" for "that". Or sentences that start with conjunctions or end with prepositions. All that I'm fine with. In fact, I like it; breaking the grammar rules still has the tang of naughtiness for me.
So what does qualify as word abuse? What is it that sucks the life from language, dulling its glossy coat and tossing its corpse onto the stinking heap of despair? Bullshit, in a word. The deliberate use of language not to approach reality but to hide it.
This, be it corporate bullshit or art-world bullshit or political bullshit, is all the same. It's small talk in the airless front room of our lives, polite morning teas with the vicar, breakfast meetings with power couples, motivational speakers flanked by pomp and flowers at polished wood daises, euphemism of all kinds. It's also false promises.
Like Clover's "new" 2030 vision for Sydney. And yes, I venture into this territory in full, trembling knowledge that Australia does not like a naysayer. That "visions" are as much the flavour of the moment as they were in St Catherine's time, that as much time and considerably more money has gone into this particular rainbow fantasy as into Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, and that popping or even grounding the pretty bubble may make baby cry.
So be it. There are things baby should know. It's not that the ideas are bad; many of them are fine. To have St Mark's Square at Circular Quay would be brilliant. (Although the proposal looked more like a piece of communist East-Berlin-on-Sea and, in any case, I have my doubts about removing "Joe's Road", which offers one of the finest driving experiences in the country and perhaps the best railway station in the world.)

Healing the wound behind Central Station, building over the tracks to reconnect the street-grid and giving Prince Alfred Park its rightful generosity of spirit is a good and obvious move. To redirect the Western Distributor underground, ensure no house is more than three minutes' walk from serious parkland, ban cars, focus on bikes and add great luxurious dollops of fast, clean, efficient public transport. All good.
It's not even that they're not new. Just because the same ideas, tree for tree and tunnel for tunnel, bulked up former lord mayor Frank Sartor's Living City Vision in 2000, his Living City Vision in 1992, former lord mayor Jeremy Bingham's 2020 Vision in 1990, former lord mayor Leo Port's Civic Reform vision in 1971 (and a few others in between) doesn't make them bad ideas. On the contrary, it shows these ideas have stood the test of time.
It may make you spit that hundreds of thousands of your rates are lavished on each regurgitation, paying consultants who almost certainly know more than their political masters about how long a gap is needed between iterations of an idea, in order not to be caught. Then again, spent or otherwise, it's not like your rates are coming back to you, right?
No, the real reason you should get mad about this many-splendoured fairy floss is that, unlike the stuff at the Easter Show, it doesn't just melt on your tongue and disappear in a fleeting feelgood moment. The 2030 vision will melt and disappear, yes. Mainly because - except for the dozen or so cycle paths already built - the entire exercise sits well outside Sydney council control, in some cases even outside state control, and with the bill in the billions (half a billion for the Cahill alone), who's going cough up for squares rather than hospitals?
Yes, the fairy floss is designed to disappear, all right. Just not immediately. Not, in fact, until after September 13, which is - oh my fur and whiskers, so soon? - election day. Meanwhile, for all those believers in the pretty stories of cultural ribbons and car bans, planet earth and I have a one-word answer. Spin!

Read more on Sustainable Sydney 2030 - SMH multi media report here

And Council's glossy web site on 2030 here: http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/2030/

The Draft Summary document for 2030 will be debated at Council on Monday night - eCouncillor will have a few more objective things to say in the coming days.

Nick Greiner's way forward for the Liberal party

eCouncillor attended the dinner celebrating the 20th anniversary of the election of the Greiner government last Friday night and witnessed the former premier deliver a magnificent and historical speech on the state of the Liberal party today and the way forward. Part of that speech published in the SMH on Saturday is reproduced below. I fully support Nick's thesis that the nature of politics in the community has permanently changed. It has been emerging for two decades that the community no longer identifies with the great ideological struggles of left versus right. A giant middle ground of Australians now seek a synthesis of ideas, aspirations and understanding from political parties - and the Liberal party with its traditional base of conservatives and liberals is in a position to meet that new era politics - if it reforms around Australia.

Time to stir up the wooden spoon state

Nick GreinerMarch 15, 2008

NSW is a national laughing stock. In the 1980s it was corruption that made NSW a laughing stock. This decade the state is a national laughing stock for everything. NSW is in the political and bureaucratic wilderness in terms of talent. The state deserves a wooden spoon for, among other things, economic performance, infrastructure, health and planning.

If the Liberals are to win government at the next NSW election, the changes must start at home. We need to change the dysfunctional organisational structure of the party as a first step to changing behaviour, to enable the kind of positive decisions that win elections. We must become a genuine broad church able to take the middle ground of politics.
There is some denial regarding the performance of the Liberals in NSW. The party has faced a Labor Government that has gone from fair, to poor, to simply hopeless - the worst ever. The Government has failed on integrity and effectiveness. Despite this incompetence, the Liberals have won just two seats from Labor in 17 years. We have dismally failed the test described by Bob Hawke: if you can't govern yourselves, you can't govern the state.

We will not deserve, nor receive, electoral support if we are not able to demonstrate that we are a party of balance and moderation, interested in the public interest, not sectional interests.
I commend efforts of the state leader, Barry O'Farrell, and the state president, Geoff Selig, to move decisively to an inclusive way forward. The Liberal Party should be the natural home for both social conservatives and progressives. This is not the United States. A narrow focus on wedge issues is no basis for success, especially sustained success.

We must review our relevance to today's community. We must consider explicitly the appeal of our message to young people and people from a non-English-speaking background. We must re-establish our links with both.

As our society becomes "more single, more childless, more secular, more non-white, more immigrant", as David Frum wrote of the US in his book Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again, we must not allow our opponents to be the natural beneficiaries.

Rudd's capacity to effectively maintain all Labor's traditional constituencies while broadening his appeal to the Howard base is a textbook example of politics in the 21st century.
Of course we should argue for distinctive Liberal positions such as flexible labour markets, privatisation, tax reform and so on.

We need to retain our traditional strengths in economic management, state development, security and family values. But let us move with the centre of the body politic on the softer issues, not insult that centre by denying the relevance of its warm and green concerns. Compassion and concern for the planet are fundamental aspects of the national psyche. We must acknowledge the power of symbolism and emotion. There is nothing in Liberalism, in competition, in self-reliance that is inconsistent with innovative and effective Liberal ideas on the environment and on the wellbeing of the less fortunate in society.

The future lies in coalition building, not going it alone. We must learn to work better with independents and minor parties across the political spectrum. Around Australia we are being outplayed by the ALP in this crucial space. There is much fertile ground in universities, business, industry associations and community groups for us to engage - our focus should be out into the community, not inwards on ourselves.

As for the question of factions, the problem for the NSW Liberals is not the presence of factions but our inability to manage them in the cause of the party's overall success. Our key problem is that the winning faction takes all. Whichever side has the ascendancy takes all the positions and endeavours to assert all the influence as opposed to sharing between the factions.

It is easy to believe that a drover's dog would beat Labor in 2011. That would be foolish. NSW Labor on its merits deserved to lose in 2003 and to be annihilated in 2007 - neither happened and we are to blame.

The old truism about how "governments lose, oppositions don't win" no longer applies. The evidence of successive wins by incompetent failed governments in Queensland and NSW in particular is the proof. Making the case for change is obviously crucial. Demonstrating our own capacity to be trusted is equally so.

Let us not be frightened of change, of vision, of new directions. Equally, let us not be afraid to agree with Labor when it gets it right. NSW Labor has no capacity to govern, no ability to govern. It simply wants to be in government and enjoy the spoils of office. We must be more than a pale shadow, more than just "not Labor".

Finally, we must be ready to be competent managers of the bureaucracy and "pro-good government". To quote Newt Gingrich, we cannot win over time as the permanently angry anti-government party because it does not appeal to most voters.

When we last won government from Labor 20 years ago, we faced a government reflecting its age and loss of talent. But equally, we were a united Coalition with stable, well-established leadership appealing to a broad cross-section of the community, with a clear focus on winning and a clear set of directions. People knew in a general sense what sort of government they were getting and its key aspirations for reform, or to use our slogan, "change for the better".
The Coalition has a wonderful opportunity to win in 2011, to learn from both the successes and failures of the Greiner and Fahey governments, to acknowledge the reasons for the dismal efforts of the last three election cycles and carve out a new relevant coalition for good government for all the people of NSW.

Nick Greiner was the Liberal premier of NSW from 1988 to 1992. This is an adaption of a speech delivered last night at a dinner to mark the 20-year anniversary of his government.

Labor V Labor: Left V Left

More heat from the hard Left over Town Hall spoils. Today's SMH...

Candidates step up for city's top job

Wendy Frew Urban Affairs EditorMarch 13, 2008
THE former NSW upper house president Meredith Burgmann's tilt at Town Hall's top job has met its first hurdle, with her Labor Party colleague and former mayor of South Sydney Tony Pooley also considering running for lord mayor of Sydney. The two ALP members, who between them have years of state and local government experience, are both courting preselection support before Labor's NSW conference on the first weekend in May, to challenge the incumbent, Clover Moore.
"I am very seriously considering putting my hat in the ring for the mayor's job," said
Cr Pooley, who is the City of Sydney's Deputy Mayor. He said his focus had been squarely on the local area for many years compared with Dr Burgmann's statewide view. Both played down potential damage to their campaigns by the Wollongong
council scandal and the problem-plagued State Government.
Dr Burgmann said she was probably the least likely person to be tainted by developer donations because of her long history of opposing inappropriate development in parts of the city, such as Kings Cross.
"My early political activity was all about opposing development in the Cross, I was involved in the Green Bans … I have been the person in the party fighting against [developer donations]," she said, adding that she would not accept developer donations that were funnelled to her campaign from Labor's head office.
In 2006-07, the NSW branch of the Labor Party accepted $8 million in donations and nearly $3 million of that was from developers and hoteliers, said the Sydney councillor and Greens member Chris Harris, who will also run for the mayor's job.
"Therefore, accepting money from Labor headquarters would put Ms Burgmann in a position where she is accepting developer donations and inducements from the hotel industry, something that she says that she abhors," he said.
"If Ms Burgmann was successful in her campaign for the lord mayoral role, corporate donors would be beating a path to her door expecting the kind of access that only money can buy. We have seen this from what happened in Wollongong."
Cr Pooley said he had never accepted development donations in the two campaigns he had been involved in but acknowledged the ALP state campaign accepted donations from developers.
"You have to raise money so let's understand what we recognise as donations … less is better," he said.
"Should I run, should I be selected as a candidate, it will be a grassroots campaign."
The ALP councillors Michael Lee and Verity Firth (Ms Firth is also the state's Environment Minister) are not expected to stand again. Cr Moore, who now heads a registered political party of independents, will run for the mayor's job again in September, as will Liberal councillor Shayne Mallard.
In 2004, 14 people put their hands up for Town Hall's top job. So far this year there are six contenders, including the former Sydney Theatre Company and Australia Council chief Michael Lynch. Mr Lynch masterminded the revitalisation of Southbank Centre, one of London's top art and music venues. His 10-point plan for Sydney included increasing the lord mayor's patch to include areas such as Bondi, and giving the council more control over public and private transport.

September elections Heating Up on the Left

The September 13Council elections are starting to warm up as the various political parties test their candidates. Over on the extreme left Meredith Bergmann the extreme left wing ALP trade union backed retired MLC has set her ambitions on Town Hall and unseating equally left wing Clover Moore. Moore confirming today that she is recontesting the Lord Mayoralty for her registered 'Independent' political party. That leaves plenty of space for mainstream centrist candidates and Councillor tickets seeking some balance at Town Hall.

From today's Australian and check out ABC702 this morning.

Sydney's battle of female warriors

Imre
Salusinszky, NSW political reporter March 12, 2008
TWO of Sydney's most formidable women are heading for a showdown, with Meredith Burgmann set to challenge Clover Moore for the role of the city's lord mayor.
Dr Burgmann, a former state Labor MP and NSW upper house president, confirmed yesterday she was on the verge of throwing down the gauntlet to Ms Moore.
"I'll have to make up my mind in the next month or so, and if I did run it would be because I am still very angry that Clover Moore thinks it's a part-time job," Dr Burgmann, who retired from parliament last year, told The Australian.
Along with holding the mayoral position since 2004, Ms Moore, an independent MP, has represented the inner-city electorate of Sydney in state parliament since 1988.
Ms Moore, who has previously been guarded about her intentions, confirmed yesterday she would seek a second term as head of Australia's third-largest municipality when the election is held on September 13.
Labor, which has not had a lord mayor since the 1980s, will select its candidate at its NSW conference during the first weekend in May.
A battle between Ms Moore, 62, and Dr Burgmann, 60, would make for one of the most gripping municipal contests in memory. The two women, both forceful, are not on good terms.
With her signature black choker and spiky hair, Ms Moore is an icon in the gay community - which constitutes a powerful voting bloc in inner Sydney - and has had a float devoted to her at the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. But Labor's Dr Burgmann is equally an icon of the inner-city Left. She is better credentialled as a feminist than Ms Moore, and is the guiding spirit behind the annual Ernie Awards, which recognise outstanding examples of sexism in the media.
Yesterday, Dr Burgmann revealed a potential electoral wedge against her opponent.
"If you actually look at the voting, it's quite clear the more socially disadvantaged areas just don't vote for her," Dr Burgmann said.
"The traditional Labor areas still vote very strongly for us. "Our really strong vote is in the housing commission areas and around Redfern and that whole south Sydney area." Dr Burgmann has long argued there is a conflict between Ms Moore's twin roles as an MP and Lord Mayor. "If she's special pleading for the one-third of the City of Sydney, which she also represents as an MP, then the other two-thirds have got to feel left out - and that's a conflict of interest," she said. Though ridiculed for such foibles as her affection for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Dr Burgmann was widely regarded as a successful leader of the Legislative Council.
Ms Moore's term in charge of the City of Sydney Council has been tumultuous. While the three Labor, one Liberal and one Green councillor have frequently united against her, she has been able to rely on the support of the four independents.
Dr Burgmann said she would consult her "Left comrades" before making a final decision.

Sorry Day

Today is an important day for all Australians but especially our indigenous fellow Australians. Watching the historic and long overdue proceedings in our Federal parliament bought forth mixed emotions of humility and pride in our democratic institutions and political leaders. As a proud sixth generation 1st fleeter, a son of a white Australian forcibly removed from his father's care in the 1950's and the proud uncle of an aboriginal neice, I hope that today will mark the binding together of all Australians for a better common future.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore's brief speech at Redfern today is worthy of the City of Sydney.

Lord Mayor speech - Sorry Day at Redfern
13 February 2008

APOLOGY TO STOLEN GENERATIONS

13 February 2008, 9amRedfern Community Centre
Hello, everyone. It's with special emotion today that I offer the customary recognition of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional custodians of this land.

Because today, we have reached a turning point in the Australian story.
For the first time as a nation, we have formally acknowledged the wrongs that were done - to the Gadigal people and to the other indigenous nations, the wrongs that were done to their children and children's children.

For the first time as a nation, we have had the courage to acknowledge our past. We have stopped telling ourselves the comfortable lie. We have acknowledged the privilege that we have in living in this remarkable country.

And in the words of Lowitja O'Donoghue, we have begun to ask ourselves: "What was the cost of this privilege? And who paid the price?"

Father Ted Kennedy knew the answer to those questions. The nuns who carry on his work in Redfern know it, too. Naomi Mayers and the staff at the Aboriginal Medical Service see the answer every day as they care for the sick, the wounded, and those who die too young from alcohol or drugs.

In our hearts, we know the cost, whether it's in child-abuse and petrol sniffing in remote communities, or drugs and alcoholism and fractured families here on the streets of Redfern.

Parliament House in Canberra is a long way from the streets of Redfern. But the apology that has been made there this morning must resonate here, and not just in our hearts and minds.

It must result in practical actions to ensure that past wrongs are righted, and that indigenous Australians can take their rightful place in Australia in the 21st century. That indigenous Australians are no longer the "fringe-dwellers" but are central to
our national life, whether as teachers or doctors or lawyers, as artists or writers, and that every indigenous Australian has the opportunity to fulfill his or her potential.

For in denying these opportunities for too long, white Australia, too, has been the poorer. We have deprived ourselves for generations of the deep knowledge of country, of the wit, the courage, the generosity and resilience of indigenous Australians.

We need to learn from these qualities, and we need more indigenous leaders who can point us to them. So I am pleased that funds from my Lord Mayor's Salary Trust have gone to the Robert Riley Scholarship Program to help indigenous students study law, human rights, child protection, criminology and juvenile justice.
Some years ago, the City of Sydney recognised the importance of Redfern in the story of indigenous Australia, and recognised our own significant indigenous population by signing a Principles of Co-operation agreement with the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. These principles recognise the community and its spiritual and cultural ties to the land.

They also commit us to working together to foster reconciliation and to promote Aboriginal history and heritage. It is my hope that within the next few years, Sydney will have a major Aboriginal Cultural Centre to exhibit and teach the story of the world's oldest living culture. A place for black and white Australians, and overseas visitors, to learn more of our shared story.

I'd like to conclude with some lines from a poem by Michael Thwaites, written at the grave of Teresa Clements, who was buried at Cummeragunja [kummer-ah-gun-jer] in 1959.

You, last of all that knew your tribal tongue,

Sleep now with them in this ancestral ground.

Above your grave the towering, ancient wrong

Speaks in a silence pregnant and profound.

Beside your grave I stand, among your folk

Who loved this land before the white man came,

Burned by the burning words you never spoke,

I ask for forgiveness for my people's shame.

For named and nameless ills your people bore

From us, who killed by bullet, axe and pride.

For our stone blindness; for the day we tore

In kindness' name your children from your side.

What could we answer if your ghost should rise

To curse our children's children from the grave?

You rise - but with redemption in your eyes

Before we knew to ask it, you forgave.

Thank you. I hope we can all celebrate together this first national Reconciliation
Day. Lord MayorClover Moore MP

SMH coverage and links to speeches here.