Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

Who'd have thought we'd be seeing yet another Berejiklian state government land grab in Western Sydney and, once again, in Parramatta Park—this time, close to a quarter of the park. Parramatta Park isn't just any park; it was Governor Macquarie's domain, which surrounds UNESCO World Heritage listed Old Government House. The domain was granted to the people of Australia in 1857 as a gazetted public park, the oldest in Australia. It's an extraordinary place full of history and a sense of place. It's lost bits of land before for a railway line, a golf course, a football stadium, an RSL club, a leagues club and a memorial pool.

Recently, the state government decided to demolish the memorial pool to build a bigger stadium—a move rejected by local residents, but a move that saw even more public land lost. The pool saga now includes the most outrageous land grab of all. The state government originally said they'd partly fund a new pool to replace the one they took from us in the Parramatta parklands, south of the railway line. It requires about 1½ to two hectares. To excise land from Parramatta Park Trust you need legislation, and it's only because of the legislation that we have any inkling what this state government is up to. The bill that passed the New South Wales lower house last week didn't excise two hectares to build a new pool. It excised 20 hectares of an 85-hectare public park: close to a quarter of the oldest public park in Australia and the original Governor Macquarie Domain. The 20 hectares includes all of the park south of the railway line, from the Mays Hill Gatehouse—the original main carriage entrance to the park, which led to the World Heritage-listed Old Government House—all the way down to the railway line. What's more, it is proposed to give commercial interests 50-year leases over this land. The bill says that a lease can be for any purpose associated with an aquatic leisure centre, including gymnasiums, sports courts, public amenities, cafes, spectator seating, BBQ areas, health and wellbeing facilities, ancillary administrative areas, associated car parking facilities, and outdoor recreation and leisure spaces—one quarter of the oldest public park in Australia going to 50-year commercial leases. In defending the government's land grab, the spokesman for the environment minister Gabrielle Upton said, 'the aquatic centre will only occupy a portion of the Mays Hill site'—a portion of it for the aquatic centre, the rest of it is a pure land grab.

I would like to acknowledge the work of Suzette Meade and the North Parramatta Residents Action Group for their continued work in protecting our heritage and the green spaces in our region. I would also like to acknowledge the work of New South Wales MPs Lynda Voltz and Julia Finn in scrutinising the bill and making its contents public.

It's not too late to write to your New South Wales MP to tell them to stop this. Public park means public park. Public pool means public pool. Stop these land grabs in Western Sydney.

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