Living in the Olympic state
By Margaret Gleeson
SYDNEY — Maximising profits for property developers tendering for the Olympic Village, by not requiring a component of affordable housing, was motivated by the government's desire to "drive down costs", Olympic minister Michael Knight told a conference here on November 13.
Knight went on to "explain" that the government sought to minimise taxpayers' contribution, reducing it from $300 million to $50 million.
The two-day conference, organised by social welfare and local government peak organisations, included presentations covering the impact of the Olympics on housing, community services, employment, civil liberties, transport and environment.
Housing activists demonstrated outside to draw attention to the critical situation of emergency housing, and the government's refusal to prevent rent hikes during the Olympics. Knight agreed to a meeting, together with other relevant ministers, to discuss these concerns.
Uniting Church leader Harry Herbert, chairperson of the Olympics Social Impacts Advisory Committee, pointed out:
- A loss of low income housing is inevitable because of the upgrade of accommodation. This occurred in Sydney during the Bicentenary.
- There will be increased pressure on emergency accommodation, which is already under-resourced.
- There is a strong case for the Commonwealth to provide NSW with a one-off housing grant to compensate for the Olympic factor.
In his presentation, Tasmanian academic John Madden burst Knight's bubble about the "low cost, job creation games". Of the $1580 million publicly funded construction, only $413 million is budgeted to be recovered from profits. The rest is funded by redirecting funds from other capital works and increased taxes.
Peggy James from Green Games Watch 2000 took conference participants on a virtual "toxic tour" of the games site. She questioned the scientific basis of the proposed "clean-up" of the site and the adequacy of monitoring.
James also asked who would benefit: "I can't see much benefit of the clean-up if it's going to people who can afford million dollar penthouses".
The subsidising of the Olympic bonanza by the poor was taken up by the general manager of Auburn Council, which lost a fifth of its rate base when the old abattoir became the Olympic site. The community is already suffering a degradation of services as a result.
Department of Urban Affairs and Planning had rejected most of Auburn Council's submission for contributions for funding for community services infrastructure for the Olympic Village site. Services provided for the better-off residents of Newington (the village to be sold for private housing after the Olympics) will have to be subsidised by the less well-off existing residents of Auburn.