“Storm brews over future of harbourside lands as proposal puts jewels up for grabs”
By Deborah Snow
Transcript:
A proposal to allow private interests to take 49-year leases at Sydney Harbour Federation Trust landmarks such as Cockatoo Island would amount to "de facto privatisation", federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese claims.
Mr Albanese, whose electorate includes the island, was responding to a proposal submitted by the trust to an independent review commissioned by federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley.
Cockatoo Island on Sydney Harbour.
The trust argues that it faces "financial and operational headwinds" and that about $300 million, as The Sydney Morning Herald revealed in December, is needed to fully rehabilitate former Defence sites.
These include Commonwealth-owned harbourside gems such as Headland Park at Mosman, the former Platypus submarine base at North Sydney, the Woolwich dock and parklands, and the North Head sanctuary.
The trust draws its estimate of a $300 million funding shortfall from a report commissioned from consulting firm Deloitte, and says revised legislation to allow it to lease out its assets for up to 49 years would help plug the funding gap.
But the Deloitte report is yet to be released, and Mr Albanese told the Herald he regarded the $300 million figure as dubious.
"Sydney Harbour is a national asset, not a money-making venture" he said. "If you have long-term leases and an alienation of public space, then that is de facto privatisation. This is a precious resource, not a plaything for corporate interests".
One entity showing interest is Cockatoo Island Foundation Limited, which finance and property king-pins Danny Goldberg and Tony Berg set up as a non-profit entity last-year.
The Foundation, registered as a charity, outlines a raft of objectives including the restoration and maintenance of Cockatoo Island, taking "all necessary steps to acquire the property for the purposes of [a] Museum".
The document envisages the island becoming the hub of an arts precinct with the not-for-profit company able to "lease buildings or areas of land for, and to operate, retail shops, marinas, pop-up stores, and/or other commercial enterprises" on the island. Mr Goldberg is among Australia’s top collectors of contemporary art.
Thus far the foundation's submission to the review has not been released.
Mr Albanese has also written to Ms Ley challenging the review’s terms of reference which assume the trust has to become self-funding. He says that requirement was not in the original legislation and that "a review seemingly based on misleading terms of reference is of great concern to me and my constituency."
Ms Ley, however, said both Liberal and Labor governments have expected the Trust – which was set up in 2001 – to be self-funding.
She told the Herald leases were already part of the trust’s activities and that the review’s purpose was to "give Australians their say on the ways to maximise public access to the Harbour’s historic landmarks".
Trust chairman Joseph Carrozzi told the Herald, "the fact that the Cockatoo Island Foundation has been established, we will look at that from a legal perspective as to whether it impacts us or not but it is unfortunate, because at a minimum it does raise confusion and concern in the minds of the community."
He said that any suggestion the trust wanted to privatise assets "could not be further from the truth".
"We will never under the current board entertain the Trust diverting from the purpose for which it was created" he said.
"Our submission seeks the ability to enter longer-term leases so we can ask private sector tenants, and businesses who want to use the facilities, to contribute to their capital upgrade.
"We are not in the business of alienating or transferring the assets to third parties which would then stop the general public from understanding and enjoying the sites."
Warringah MP, independent Zali Steggall, has also written to the review saying that the Commonwealth government should fund the trust on an "ongoing basis" and that it should remain custodian of the trust lands "in perpetuity".
Two of the key trust sites – Headland Park at Mosman and North Head Sanctuary in Manly – lie inside her electorate, galvanising Liberals hoping to win back the seat at the next election.
The community-based Headland Preservation Group, which aims to protect the trust's original charter, claims the consultation process for the review has been "worryingly flawed". President Jill L’Estrange told the Herald "the goalposts are being moved and the original intent of the Act undermined."
Ms Ley said Mr Albanese had been invited to meet with the reviewers but had not done so. Mr Albanese said his office had no record of the invitation.