Background (2002-2003)
Metro Media November 2003
When the time comes for
our daughter to leave home
Letter to the Editor
Karen Hitchen,
Brunswick
November 19, 2003
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/18/1069027115271.html?from=storyrhs
Don't treat them as second-class citizens
Letter to the Editor
Eric Emerson,
Professor of Clinical
Psychology
University of
Lancaster, UK
November 19, 2003
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/18/1069027115271.html?from=storyrhs
(KCC
Comment:
We understand Professor Emerson's recent visit to
Melbourne was paid for by the State Government)
Misplaced advocacy
Letter to the Editor
Ian Whalley, Kew
Cottages Parents Associaion
November 19, 2003
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/18/1069027115271.html?from=storyrhs
Where
are
these people meant to live?
Letter to the Editor
Lorriane Keogh, Ballarat
The Age, Melbourne
November 18, 2003
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/18/1069027115271.html?from=storyrhs
Where
are
these people meant to live?
The
"extraordinary mess" that Opposition community services
spokeswoman Helen Shardey called the Kew Cottages
redevelopment (The Age , 14/11) can only get worse with
comments from the likes of Gillian Meldrum from the new
disability group Community Living Alliance.
Where
does
Ms Meldrum propose that the more than 3000 people in
Victoria with intellectual disabilities at present on
accommodation waiting lists - including more than 1000 who
are classified as urgently requiring accommodation - live?
I'd
be fascinated to know Ms Meldrum's, and Community Services
Minister Sherryl Garbutt's, plans to house these
unfortunate people. Unlike those living at Kew Cottages
who already have a roof over their heads, these people are
on waiting lists that can be years long.
Lorraine Keogh, Ballarat
What is
really best for the Kew Cottages people?
Kenneth Davidson
The Age, Melbourne
November 17, 2003
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/16/1068917668662.html
Council
set
to challenge Kew Cottages plans
Carol Nader
The Age, Melbourne,
14th November 2003
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/13/1068674318925.html
State to control Kew
Cottages
Kate Uebergang
The Herald Sun, Melbourne
13th November 2003
http://heraldsun.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,7851096%255E2862,00.html
Urgent attention needed
for Kew Cottages: report
The Age, Melbourne,
4th November 2003
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/03/1067708137317.html
Turf war over prime site
Kate Uebergang
Urban affairs reporter
The Herald Sun, Melbourne
3rd November 2003
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,7749007%255E2862,00.html
Local Media....
Progress Leader 17th Nov
Heading - Council loses
Kew powers
By Matthew Schulz
THE State Government has
taken control of residential development at the
Kew Cottages site, saying Boroondara Council is not fit to
deal with the
project.
But the council says the
Government has sacrificed democracy for more money.
The Government wants to
close the home and replace it with up to 800 houses
at the prime 27ha site on the banks of the Yarra River.
The State Opposition said
it stood to raise up to $300 million from the
project.
Until now, Boroondara had
been charged with drawing up planning guidelines
and presiding over debate between residents, state
officials, disability
advocates and families of residents at Kew Cottages - now
known as Kew
Residential Services (KRS).
The council this month
adopted planning guidelines for the site, which set
aside half the land for open space, ignoring a Government
preference for 27
percent open space.
But late last week, the
Government used special powers to "call in" the
project and ensure its plans were the basis for future
development.
Community Service Minister
Sherryl Garbutt said the council had been too
slow to deal with the project, ignored offers to work with
the Government
and failed to formally consult with the Government.
In a written statement Ms
Garbutt said the project had "statewide
significance".
She said the Government
had to ensure it proceeded "swiftly and
appropriately to safeguard the welfare of residents with
disabilities".
"This project is too
important to be a political football or to be
undermined by planning uncertainty," Ms Garbutt said.
"There will be a community
consultation process to ensure the community and
stakeholders can have their say on the redevelopment of
KRS."
Mayor Judith Voce said the
Government now had a "substantial conflict of
interest" as the owner,
developer and planning
authority and its move was an "affront" to the
council's extensive consultation.
"it appears the Government
has chosen this course of action in order to
maximise the financial gain ... at the expense of
accountability and local
democracy," she said.
10th
November
More Kew
Conflict looms
Progress Leader Page 5
10 Nov 2003
By Belinda
Mackowski and Matthew Schulz
THE State
Government appears set to take control of the Kew Cottages
redevelopment.
Boroondara
Council urban planning director Phillip Storer has accused
the
Government of issuing "veiled threats" it
planned to sidestep the council
and take control of the project for 800
apartments and houses on prime Kew
real estate.
The council
has already drawn up planning guidelines for the 27ha site
after heated community debate.
But the
Government has the power to take over planning for the Kew
Residential Services (KRS site if it deems it
a project of state
significance or if it would be in the public
interest to make an urgent
decision.
Planning
Minister Mary Delahunty can also "call in" the project if
the
Government believes the matter "is unlikely to
be reasonably resolved by
the processes normally available".
Community
Services Minister Sherryl Garbutt last week raised the
stakes by
labeling the Kew Residential Services
redevelopment a "project of state
significance".
Last week Ms
Garbutt accused Boroondara Council of being uncooperative
and
too slow in planning the KRS redevelopment,
taking 18 months to do what
should have taken six months.
Ms Garbutt
attacked the council after it rejected the Government's
revised
plans for the site and instead decided
to seek
public comment on its own plans.
"The
council's reluctance to work with the Bracks Government on
the KIRS
redevelopment smacks of territorialism," she
said. "The redevelopment of
KRS is a project of statewide significance and
is too important to get
bogged down in petty local politics or
individual agendas."
Ms Garbutt
said the Government was "not confident" of Boroondara's
ability
to conduct the process in a timely manner.
"The Kew
redevelopment is far too important to get waylaid by
planning
uncertainty and council indecision," she said.
Mr Storer
vowed the council would "vigorously resist" any attempts by
the
Government to replace the council as the
planning authority on the project.
Mr Storer
said if the Government called in the KRS project it would
create
a conflict of interest.
He said the
State Government would then be the landowner and developer
and
would also have the final say on what could be
built on the site.
The council
has also asked the Municipal Association of Victoria to
advocate against the State Government's "call
W' powers.
3rd
November 2003
Call to Stop Kew Plans
Progress Leader 3 Nov 2003 pg 18
COMMUNITY
members fighting the sale and redevelopment of the Kew
Residential Services site have called for
the planning process to be frozen.
Kew Cottages
Coalition president Brian Walsh said the group wanted a
moratorium on any further planning of the
Kew redevelopment until Boroondara Council
investigated how other councils were fighting State
Government
attempts to sell off public land to
developers.
The
Government wants to replace the council's development plans,
adopted in August, with its own,
and to fast-track them for approval by next
June.
Under the
Government's plans 27 per cent of the Kew site would be kept
for public open space, while under the
council's, 50 per cent would be parkland.
Mr Walsh said
the group was unhappy with the council's and the
Government's redevelopment plans.
"As far as
the plans go it is like two people arguing about who is
going to be the hangman," he said.
Before either
plan can be adopted a planning scheme amendment is required.
Boroondara
Mayor Judith Voce said the council had to exhibit the
amendment for a minimum of one month.
The council
will allow community feedback on the amendment between
October 30 and December 12.
Mr Walsh and
Kew Cottages Parents Association president Ian Whalley said
they considered the exhibition
period too short for a development of the
magnitude and significance of the new Kew urban village.
The
Government has told the council an independent panel hearing
must be held on the plans, and the panel's
decision considered by the council, before
June 30 next year.
City digs in over Kew
Cottages proposal
Progres Leader By Belinda Mackowski
BOROONDARA
Council has refused to throw out its vision for the Kew
Cottages site in favour of the State
Government's revised plans for the
redevelopment.
The council
has vowed to go ahead with its normal planning process and
has called for public comment on its own
plans for the 27ha Kew site. Public
consultation is until December 12.
The council
has warned that it would vigorously resist" any attempt by
the Government to "call in" the project and
take over as the planning authority in charge
of the Kew Residential Services site redevelopment.
The
Government last month released a revised urban design
framework for the sell-off and redevelopment of the
site, which has been home to the Kew Cottages'
intellectually disabled residents for more than 100 years.
The
Government wanted the council to replace guidelines that a
working party of council, Government and
community members drew up, with its own
framework.
Council urban
planning director Phillip Store said the Government's plans
were significantly different- from the
urban design framework adopted by the council
in August.
Mr Storer
told the council meeting last week that the Government had
been ' 'disingenuous and misleading" in
promoting, its revised scheme for the
development of a high-density urban village at Kew.
He said the
Government had not revealed that its plans would reduce the
amount of open space on the
redeveloped site, compared with the council's
framework.
The council's
plans allow for 50 per cent of the land to be kept as open
space, while the State Government wants
only 27 per cent as parkland.
Mr Storer
also told the meeting that the Government's claims that it
intended to cut the number of houses on the
site from 1600 to between 450 and 800 were
incorrect and grossly misleading.
"Council's
adopted urban-design framework did not and has not ever
contemplated dwelling numbers," he said.
Mr Storer
said the council would oppose any attempts by the Government
to call in the project and override the
council's planning procedure.
He said the
council would seek public comment on a planning-scheme
amendment this month, then an
independent planning panel would be appointed
to hear arguments about the amendment.
"There has
been a veiled threat that this may be called in by the
Government," Mr Storer said.
"The
Government has the opportunity to submit its proposal to the
independent panel during the process."
Sarah
McKinnon, spokeswoman for Community Services Minister
Sherryl Garbutt, said the Government would
continue to discuss the redevelopment with
Boroondara Council during the planning process.
"We have
listened to the views and needs of the local community and
the council and ... developed a new
framework that goes a long way towards meeting
their requirements," she said.
"The
Government is committed to ensuring the redevelopment
proceeds in a timely fashion. "
Kew Cottages'
supporters have criticised the Government's revised plans,
with Kew Cottages Coalition president
Brian Walsh calling the reduction in open
space a "grab for cash".
Metro Media Nov 2002- Oct
2003
| 41 |
Urgent attention needed
for Kew Cottages: report |
AGE |
November 4,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 40 |
State's power on Point
Nepean |
HWT |
October 31,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 39 |
$120m Kew Cottages plan
rejected |
HWT |
October 29,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 38 |
Council rejects state
plan for Kew Cottages site |
AGE |
October 28,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 37 |
Vic Govt rolls in $2.1b
stamp duty bonanza |
ABC |
October 27,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 36 |
New pledge for Point
Nepean |
HWT |
October 22,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 32 |
Kew Cottages plan fails
to quell fears |
AGE |
October 18,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 33 |
Kew redevelopment plan
panned |
ABC |
October 18,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 34 |
$120m Kew plan stuns
residents |
HWT |
October 18,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 35 |
Fed Govt reveals
Mornington Peninsula plan |
ABC |
October 18,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 31 |
letters, disability
services protest $17m govt funding cuts |
AGE |
October 14,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 30 |
How Bracks is letting
$65 million sail into the sunset |
AGE |
October 6,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 28 |
Kew Cottages Protest |
OM |
September 29,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 29 |
Yarra left up the creek
without a paddle |
AGE |
September 29,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 27 |
Looking past family
stereotypes |
AGE |
September 26,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 26 |
Kew Cottages: let there
be choices |
AGE |
September 22,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 25 |
Kew Cottages group eyes
future |
HWT |
September 17,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 24 |
Don't segregate people
with disabilities |
AGE |
September 14,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 23 |
Heritage fears rise |
HWT |
September 1,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 22 |
Debunking some Point
Nepean myths (letter K. Duxbury) |
AGE |
August 29,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 21 |
Point Nepean 'not for
sale' |
AGE |
August 25,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 19 |
The disabled deserve to
have a choice |
AGE |
August 23,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 20 |
Kew Cottages: good
riddance |
AGE |
August 23,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 18 |
Missing voices in the
Kew debate (Letter) |
AGE |
August 20,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 17 |
We must do better by
those in our care |
AGE |
August 19,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 16 |
Kew is about people, not
land |
AGE |
August 18,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 15 |
The disabled need love.
Not some ideological utopia |
AGE |
August 15,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 14 |
Minister drops fee plan
within hours of release |
AGE |
August 12,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 12 |
Families, Bracks fight
over disabled |
AUS |
August 11,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 13 |
Parents split on
rehousing plan |
AGE |
August 11,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 11 |
Disabled plan city
protest |
HWT |
August 10,
2003 |
[More..] |
| 9 |
Public backs Kew
Cottages battle |
HWT |
August 8, 2003 |
[More..] |
| 10 |
Kew Cottages Coalition
accused of ulterior motive |
ABC |
August 8, 2003 |
[More..] |
| 8 |
Bracks, the developers'
friend |
AGE |
August 7, 2003 |
[More..] |
| 6 |
Disabled in limbo |
HWT |
August 6, 2003 |
[More..] |
| 7 |
Kew Cottages a social
battlefield |
AUS |
August 6, 2003 |
[More..] |
| 5 |
Kew Cottages
redevelopment to go ahead |
AGE |
August 5, 2003 |
[More..] |
| 4 |
Request to protect
VicUrban |
AGE |
July 8, 2003 |
[More..] |
| 3 |
Inside the world of a
passionate fighter |
AGE |
June 22, 2003 |
[More..] |
| 2 |
Bracks should think
again on Kew cottages |
AGE |
June 12, 2003 |
[More..] |
| 1 |
Looking for a place to
call home |
AGE |
November 25,
2002 |
[More..] |
Note:
External links (eg: to HWT/Herald Sun) may now have
expired or moved - use Google or similar search
engine to check currency of any suspect links.
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