Independent Review of the Harbour Trust
THE CAMPAIGN
On 30 October 2019 the Commonwealth Government announced an Independent Review of the Harbour Trust, to be conducted by Ms Carolyn McNally and Ms Erin Flaherty.
Submissions closed end January 2020.
The report was made public in June 2020. It made 21 recommendations to government on the future of the Harbour Trust and its operations.
READ REPORT HERE →
HPG’s position
Community members spoke at public forums with knowledge and passion about how the Trust lands should be managed in the future. There was unanimous support for the Trust to remain in perpetuity, and for the Government to take responsibility for funding full rehabilitation of all sites.
READ HPG's SUBMISSION TO THE REVIEW HERE →
In July 2020 HPG submitted a response to the Review’s recommendations made to the Minister.
READ RESPONSE HERE →
CORE VALUES
HPG is committed to defending the original vision and core objectives of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, confident that the Trust was established in good faith, with admirable goals, and enjoying the protection of federal legislation.
HPG says NO to the transfer of land to either the NSW Government or local Councils to manage, and that the Trust should continue as an ongoing entity in perpetuity with current protections in place.
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The passionate response from the community to save Trust lands from inappropriate development was evident throughout the Review process. Pictured above are Middle Head Artists at a public forum held in February 2020. You can view interviews with some of the artists on HPG’s Facebook page.
HPG is totally familiar with the vision, objectives and policies for Harbour Trust sites having been closely involved in the establishment of the Trust, and the drafting of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust Act 2001 and supporting Plans. READ THE ACT HERE →
The Comprehensive Plan and Management Plans are still appropriate. They serve to protect the lands from inappropriate development and maintain their aesthetic, cultural, historic, indigenous, convict and defence heritage for all Australians.
HPG does not support any changes which would water down the protections afforded by the Trust Act, the Comprehensive Plan and the Management Plans. In November 2020 HPG responded to the Draft Sydney Harbour Federation Trust Amendment Bill 2020.
READ MORE →
Key Points:
1.
FUTURE OF THE HARBOUR TRUST
The Trust should have its term of office extended in perpetuity to maintain and rehabilitate the land around Sydney Harbour that it currently manages.
The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust Act 2001 and the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) should be kept in place to protect Trust lands from inappropriate exploitation.
The above Acts must not be watered down to erode the current protections by promoting major commercialisation and alienation of public land by developers.
2.
SoURCE OF FUNDING TO COMPLETE THE REHABILITATIon of trust PROPERTIES
The Commonwealth Government should allocate the necessary funds to allow the Trust to complete the remediation of remaining contaminated sites and adaptive re-use of heritage buildings that have not been restored such as 10 Terminal.
It is clearly unrealistic for the Trust to become self sufficient in funding whilst multi-million dollar restoration work is pending.
The Trust needs to become much more proactive in seeking private and philanthropic investment in the sites it manages.
Private investment must not lead to over-commercialisation and alienation of public lands from the Australian people.
3.
NO TRANSFER OF HARBOUR TRUST LAND TO THE NSW GOVERNMENT OR LOCAL COUNCILS
HPG is opposed to any transfer of land to the NSW Government.
There is no guarantee that the Harbour Trust lands would end up in the National Parks portfolio. In any event, the NPWS is not set up to manage sites with tenanted multiple heritage building. It is itself starved of funds.
It is likely the NSW Government would push for Headland Park to be absorbed into another Government entity with unpredictable consequences for major commercialisation.
HPG is opposed to any transfer of land to local councils.
Local councils must look after local interests. They do not necessarily have the interests of ALL AUSTRALIANS at heart.
Many Mosman residents, for example, regard Headland Park as their backyard with plenty of “spare land” for their sporting use.
If the Trust was dissolved and lands handed to another entity, all legislative protections currently in place would disappear.
There would be no guarantee that the lands would be protected from urbanisation and large-scale commercial development.
For more information:
KEY ISSUES WE ASKED THE PUBLIC TO CONSIDER WHEN MAKING SUBMISSIONS TO THE REVIEW→