HigherMac

Monday, 1 May 2017

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Campaign to Save the Common

It was with little notice and much alarm that we learn the NSW Government was ramming through a major Bill that was to abolish several important laws. including the 1989 Commons Management Act. The main thrust of the Crown Land Management Bill 2016 was to give the Minister power to move public land in to fewer hands. The St Albans Common was included and therefore under threat.

Vera called an emergency community meeting 8 days before the final reading of the Bill to try and get community action to defer the Bill to save the Common. With 24 hours notice about 70 people of the little community came to the School of Arts Hall to hear about this. An action group was formed and a handful of people volunteered. Some went on holidays and some had full time work so it left very few to work around the clock to get support of the Opposition and the cross-benches as well as raise the issue in the media to bring pressure to bear.

Surprisingly the slim chance the campaign had of succeeding worked. amendments were passed on Tue 8 November that saw the Commons Management Act removed from the Bill granting us a reprieve.As Commoners we won but as citizens of the state of NSW we lost because the Bill that was passed has removed all protection for Crown Land. Now it is the Ministers discretion that will decviode what will happen to that land and the list of parks, foreshore reserves etc are very lucrative real estate in the eyes of a government that believes success is measured by $$$.

Of course another campaign is going on to try and reduce the damage ...