The Rally will generate further media interest in the Save Middle Head campaign (image above shows Councillor Roy Bendall and his son Angus, aged, 8 interviewed by Channel 7), you can help over the coming week by calling the open chat lines on Radio 2UE and 2GB.
Some talking points:
The Harbour Trust is going against its purpose of holding public land in trust for all Australians.
When the Harbour Trust was formed John Howard and Tony Abbott said this public parkland would be kept for all Australians, now and future.
Approval of a private residential aged care development in public parkland sets a dangerous precedent for other properties in the Harbour Trust’s care at Middle Head, Chowder Bay, Georges Heights, Cockatoo Island and North Head
NSW law doesn’t allow aged care homes in bushfire prone areas such as Middle Head. Why should the Harbour Trust be exempt from fire safety regulations that apply to everyone else?
The Harbour Trust’s management plan calls for adaptive re-use of heritage buildings. The private residential aged care development on Middle Head would require majority demolition of Commonwealth Heritage listed World War 2 military buildings which Australia’s first contingent to Vietnam also trained in.
Many better and more appropriate alternatives such as educational, technology, indigenous and cultural centres have been submitted to Greg Hunt, Federal Minister for the Environment. But neither he or the Harbour Trust executive director or board are listening.
Spin doctors are saying Mosman residents are NIMBYs making a noise. This is incorrect. Thousands of people across Sydney and elsewhere in Australia have signed petitions objecting to the proposal.
Organisations such as Mosman Council, the National Trust, the RSL and National Parks and Wildlife have made submissions against this proposal or expressed significant concerns.
Everyone knows aged care is a big challenge but it won’t be met by demolishing a heritage building and replacing it with a private residential development in a bushfire prone area on public parkland.