Libs promise cabinet style council for City

BY CHARLOTTE GRIEVE

A Liberal Town Hall would have former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s sister, Christine Forster, as Lord Mayor and Ryde Councillor Craig Chung as her right-hand man.

Together, they would conquer Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s “fiefdom” and give the community back their voice, according to Clr Forster.

Clr Forster has promised to establish a “cabinet-style council” characterised by a “collaborative approach to leadership.” Under this leadership model, she would create ten City of Sydney portfolios, each led by a different councillor.

Clr Forster would assign Clr Chung as the leader of the “economic development.” She regards this allocation as a “no brainer” due to Clr Chung’s “strong business experience and connections to global international business in Macquarie park and in the City of Sydney.”

To be eligible to run for the City of Sydney Town Hall, a Councillor must be able to vote in the local area as either a resident or a business owner.

Clr Chung has lived in the north-western Sydney suburb of Ryde for more than 15 years. With his residential address located more than 13 kilometres from the CBD, Clr Chung must be a registered business owner in the city precinct, paying over $4,000 p.a. in rent or rates to qualify.

Clr Chung describes himself as a “successful small business owner.”

He is the joint owner of Qtone Education, a business that was first registered in Darlinghurst just over 12 months ago. At present, the business employs only one person other than Clr Chung in Australia.

Qtone is also known as Student Placement Services and is responsible for liaising with foreign contractors to assist Chinese students in their application to Australian Universities.

Qstone’s website has no mention of a street address, nor any available contact details. Clr Chung explained this is because all of his customers are foreign.

“Most of the applications come from overseas, actually all of the applications come from overseas,” he said.

If elected, Clr Forster and Chung will work together to redevelop areas of the City to resemble that of the Darling Harbour skyline.

Clr Forster regards such development as “vital for growing and bringing large numbers of people to the area.” She believes the Darling Harbour precinct is a “great mix” of residential, cultural and commercial space and is “not at all” overcrowded.

The Central Sydney Planning strategy has recently released a development plan whereby building height limits could be increased to in excess of 300 metres. This would mean that newly constructed buildings could be as tall as the Sydney Tower in all parts of the CBD.

“I have lobbied for some years to make buildings in the City grow taller so I’m pleased to see that part of the strategy being proposed,” said Clr Forster.

These new height limits would apply to the Haymarket district which, if redeveloped, could radically alter the atmosphere of City’s oriental hub.

Clr Forster has promised to establish an extensive consultation process with the local community by establishing a “China Town Leadership Forum.”

“We will set up a permanent forum of community and business leaders from China Town and the surrounding area,” she said.

The redevelopment of the Haymarket precinct has been a controversial election issue across history. In 1999, Kathyrn Greiner, a Liberal lord mayoral candidate running against Frank Sartor and Lucy Turnbull essentially lost the election over her policies to allow building height limit increases in the area.

Sources on Council at the time state the argument was and still is that having sky scrapers everywhere would change the nature of the area totally.  “It would decimate China Town as we know it. It would give huge windfall profit to property owners and give little back to the community.”

While the City of Sydney council unanimously agree on the increased height limits, Councillor Linda Scott is instead focusing her attention on enhancing the cultural festivities of the Haymarket area.

“We want to ensure a rejuvenation of the Haymarket area though strong cultural investment in the Chinese New Year celebrations,” Clr Scott told City Hub.

In what Clr Forster describes as “infrastructure recycling,” a Liberal Town Hall would also support and facilitate the move of the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta.

“The proposal to move the Powerhouse was about unlocking the value of the property in Ultimo in order to pay for a world class cultural institution in Parramatta,” she said.

“It’s great that we have our wonderful cultural institutions in the City of Sydney but we also have to recognise that there aren’t many of those facilities in Western Sydney and the people of Western Sydney are entitled to get a fair share of the pie,” Clr Forster told City Hub.

“Of course Western Sydney is deserving of a strong cultural precinct and identity but that shouldn’t be funded on the back of the sale of cultural assets in the inner city,” said Clr Scott.

It would appear that a cabinet lead by Clr Forster would be characterised by a number of “unlockings” of public land to pave way for major development plans, such as that of Waterloo.

Clr Forster regards the redevelopment plan for Waterloo that is set to demolish the homes of more than four thousand public housing tenants to make way for a metro line as a “visionary decision for the future.”

“If the sale of public land provides funds to invest in necessary infrastructure that the community needs and that our growing population of Sydney needs, I see no issue with it,” she said.