North Sydney Sun May 2021 issue by DecisivePublishing

Trent Zimmerman talks up Federal Budget | Berry’s Bay development | QE expands

May 2021

News and views for North Sydney’s residential and business community

www.northsydneysun.com.au

SHORE, Montessori best for teacher ratios The North Sydney district’s smallest and largest schools have come up trumps on a key measure of school resourcing: student-to-teacher ratios. The tiny Montessori school at Lavender Bay has 5.9 teachers but just 46 students: a ratio of 7.8. At the other end of the spectrum, North Sydney’s SHORE, with 1668 students and 174.2 full time teacher equivalents, a ratio of 9.6. The data comes from the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority which compiles the information on an annual basis. Of the area’s public schools, Cammeraygal—the only comprehensive high school—was the best resourced with 64.4 teachers and 770 students, a ratio of just 12.0. The more highly fancied North Sydney Girls and Boys High Schools—both selective and ranked as the best two

schools in the area by HSC results— have teacher student ratios of 13.8 and 14.5 respectively. As is to be expected, primary schools have larger student-teacher rations than high schools. Of this group, St Mary’s North Sydney has a slightly better studentteacher ratio than the next best: Anzac Park. Cammeray Public School had the highest student-teacher ratio at 20.0. The average across all public schools measured by ACARA is 14.9, falling to 13.4 for public high schools. For independent schools, the average ratio was 11.5 and for Catholic Schools, 13.9. This suggests that area public schools are resourced slightly below the overall average, and area independent schools are slightly above the average. Payroll records are used to compile the data.

School

Teachers

Students

RaƟo

Montessori

5.9

7.8

SHORE

174.2

1668

9.6

Loreto

108.5

1127

10.1

Redlands

152.1

1610

10.6

Aloysius

109.1

1268

11.5

Wenona

106.6

1221

11.5

Cammeraygal

64.4

770

12.0

North Syd Boys

66.1

915

13.8

North Syd Girls

62.9

911

14.5

Marist

55.6

819

14.7

St Marys

26.7

466

17.45

Anzac Park

747

17.8

North Syd Dem

45.7

857

18.8

Neutral Bay

46.7

917

Cammeray

43.1

860

19.6 Continued on page 3 20.0

Plans for cycle ramp off Sydney Harbour Bridge rile Council and Milsons Pt residents Milsons Point residents and North Sydney Council have rejected proposals for a cycleway ramp onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge which they believe will adversely impact on local public space. Transport for NSW released two proposals, illustrated right, this month. The first option is a linear ramp that would wind its way north through Bradfield Park on a gentle gradient. This option would reduce conflict with pedestrians closer to the entrance to Milsons Point Station. The second option is a looped ramp to be built in Bradfield Park central. This option would have a compact footprint, while still offering improved access, safety and convenience for cyclists. At its latest meeting, North Sydney Council councillors passed a motion stating that they strenuously object to any Sydney Harbour Bridge cycle ramp proposal that has a deleterious impact on “our precious parkland,” detracts from the heritage significance of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, reduces pedestrian safety and removes parking from Alfred Street South. The council also urged the state government to conduct a proper community consultation on the proposal and called for the relocation of cyclists onto the main deck of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a mode of transport in the

future. The cycleway move has prompted intense activism from the Milsons Point Community Group which met to consider the proposals on 13 May. According to convenor Julia Connor, “nearly three years ago, the community overwhelmingly rejected very similar proposals. The only aspect that is in fact new is the proposal for a dedicated bicycle path on the footpath running alongside Bradfield Park North.” “With Milsons Point being one of the most densely populated areas of Sydney, I find it particularly galling that a few transient cyclists are given priority, seemingly with the right to an unimpeded journey anywhere across Sydney when motorists and pedestrians rarely have this opportunity.” Connor remarked that the spiral ramp proposal looks like it belongs in Luna Park with no consideration given to current frequent users of the bowling greens, “particularly as sporting facilities for our two local schools not to mention the boules group who often use the gravel patch adjacent to Burton Street. There’s also the fortnightly markets. While it may suit cyclists speeding down from the bridge, it would seem singularly unattractive to try to ride up - most will still use the Continued on page 2

Opposition to Harbour Bridge cycleway Continued from page 1 steps.” Connor said the proposed “wiggly ramp, designed to weave its way through the palm trees opposite the railway station entrance, is just simply intrusive, its structure taking up alot of our park’s space, obstructing the view of the art deco features on the entrance to Milsons Point Station.” She said that to make matters worse, TfNSW is now proposing a dedicated bicycle path on the footpath running alongside the park. “This is already shared by both cycles and pedestrians but the new footpath will be widened, impinging further into Alfred Street. Several parking spaces will be lost as well.” Councillor Ian Mutton says the proposal contradicts the original intention behind the creation of Bradfield Park. But state transport minister Andrew Constance defends the designs. “Cyclists who use the Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway will not miss having to negotiate the 55 steps that they currently carry their bikes up and down each day at the northern end,” Constance said.

“A new ramp will improve safety but also encourage people who are currently unable or unwilling to tackle the stairs from Bradfield Park to use what is our most popular cycleway in Sydney. We want to have a conversation with the community about a preferred solution over the coming months,” Constance said. Constance said excellent design was a key priority of the project and thanked the community for its patience as TfNSW worked to get the plans right. “Whichever ramp is built, the project will include improvements at ground level for the safety of local pedestrians and cyclists who commute through Milsons Point and North Sydney. We will work closely with key stakeholders and industry experts to ensure an outcome appropriate for this world famous location.” Transport for NSW said it made the decision not to progress with a lift or travellator because they did not solve safety or congestion issues and they were not supported by the Heritage Council of NSW. Mayor Jilly Gibson is adamantly

against the proposals. “The Council has a long history of supporting active transport strategies and we can see the benefit of cyclists being able to cross the Bridge without having to dismount. However, the proposals being considered bring cycling into direct conflict with Bradfield Park,” she told the most recent council meeting. “The land was specifically provided “for public parks and for public recreation and for the purposes of public parks and public recreation” as approved by a resolution of both the Legislative Assembly and Council of NSW in March 1935,” she said. “I don’t believe I am exaggerating when I say that our open space is under assault. North Sydney currently has 557 people per hectare of open space – as a comparison Ku-ring-gai has only 80 people and Willoughby, which is has its own high-density areas, has just 220 people per hectare. We even have more residents per hectare than the City of Sydney! Yet the thinking behind every NSW Government infrastructure project is that it is okay to chip away at our open space.” Gibson qualified that if cycling pro-

posals gave the LGA visionary active transport infrastructure that would support the city for the 50 years, perhaps the trade-off on open space and heritage would be thinkable. “But any ramp constructed will link to the substandard Bridge cycleway that is approximately only 2.5 metres wide and unfit for any real growth in commuter and recreational cycling. In other words, a ramp is a Band-aid solution at the expense of North Sydney residents,” Gibson said. The state government has rejected her idea for dedicated cycle lane on the bridge roadway. But she defends it, stating: “Personally, I think that the reallocation of the Sydney Harbour Bridge traffic lane adjoining the pedestrian walkway to a bidirectional cycling facility warrants serious consideration. This lane feeds the Cahill Expressway, which has been recently cited as a possible pedestrian highline rather than road.” “If the Western Harbour Tunnel reduces traffic on the Bridge as predicted, then a dedicated cycling lane will be easily accommodated.”

Court clash over Berrys Bay dry dock

The Noakes facility at Berrys Bay A proposal by Noakes to establish a floating dry dock and infrastructure in Berrys Bay is headed to court, with the company challenging a decision to refuse its development application. The Sydney North Planning Panel in September rejected the application. That decision is now the subject of a case filed by Stannards Marine, which owns the McMahons Point site, in the Land & Environment Court of NSW. The SNPP will be supported by North Sydney Council, which said in a statement that it had instructed HWL Ebsworth Lawyers to appear for and on behalf of the panel at the proceedings. “Council is writing to everyone who made a submission on the DA, or asked to remain informed of its progress, to advise them of the appeal,” the statement said. “A second letter will be sent notifying them when written or oral submissions can be made to the Land &

Environment Court.” The disputed development application was lodged in late 2018. An environment impact statement prepared by Hamptons Property Services on behalf of the company said the proposed floating dry dock would accommodate vessels up to 60 metres in length with an effective maximum tonnage of 750 tonnes. The EIS stated: “The proposed development seeks to implement use of the site to further its offering to the maintenance of maritime vessels of which there is an insufficient supply of service facilities for such purpose, and to the extent proposed, within New South Wales.” “The implementation of the project represents a significant capital investment value to the local government area of North Sydney, along with the State itself. For this reason and given

the limited environmental impact attributable to the development, the application should be supported.” However, the SNPP at a 1 September meeting refused the application. In its decision the panel noted that the site “has a long history of use for boat repair, the business has operated with significant community support and the current zoning of the land and waterway permit this use.” However, the development proposal represented a “significant expansion of the facility’s capacity and operations.” The refusal claimed that the proposal “is not in the public interest as it has not adequately demonstrated that the potential air quality impacts, acoustic impacts and impacts from hazardous materials can be suitably mitigated.” The panel said that the council had received 332 community submissions in early 2019 with 44 in support and

288 against the proposal. When the proposal was renotified in 2020, 14 submissions supported the proposed development and 171 opposed it. A wide range of concerns were cited in the submissions, ranging from visual impacts and the possible effect on property prices, to fears about excessive noise and pollution, parking problems and a perceived risk of accidents involving users of small watercraft such as kayaks. “Noakes Group remains committed to the marine industry and Sydney harbour infrastructure,” the company’s managing director, Sean Langman, told The Sun. Langman added that the company’s Berry Bay facility “has had a heritage of small ships repairs dating back to 1853”. He added: “Noakes look forward to maintaining the ability to provide this service well past 2053.”

Zimmerman says digital focus of Federal Budget a plus for North Sydney business North Sydney federal MP Trent Zimmerman has highlighted the $1.2 billion Digital Economy Strategy in the Federal Budget as a measure of particular interest to North Sydney businesses. The Strategy will see the government target investment in emerging technologies, building digital skills, encouraging business investment and enhancing Government service delivery. “The thing that I’m really excited about, which is relevant to an exciting innovation precinct like North Sydney in the lower north shore, is the $1.2 billion that we’ve allocated for the digital economy. It’s pretty comprehensive. So it covers everything from AI through to skills training. So it’s got a lot in it, and anything we can do to promote the digital economy and innovative businesses is a good thing,” Zimmerman told North Sydney Sun. “Overall, I think it’s a really good budget for residents and businesses working in North Sydney because it's obviously got a lot of support forbusinesses, particularly small businesses, to help them continue in the recovery process. So, for example, we have extended the instant asset write-off, which is a very popular tool for allowing companies and businesses to invest in equipment.” Business groups also backed the budget. “From an industry perspective, the Government's second budget in a

year locks in the recovery from recession and shifts gears from emergency measures to investing in the economy for the longer term,” Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association Ai Group said. “The significant investments in skills and training, alongside the focus on

Federal member of parliament for North Sydney, Trent Zimmerman

social spending including on aged care and the NDIS, make this a forwardlooking Budget.” “The Budget makes a substantial investment in the JobTrainer Fund; significantly expands the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy; lifts Commonwealth funding for pre-schooling; increases funding for short courses; and offers substantial resourcing of reforms to skills develop-

ment including to improve the responsiveness of training to industry and employer needs,” Willox said. “These measures will over time help people move into higher paying jobs, assist in addressing rapidly growing skill shortages; and, over coming years, will be critical to lifting our lagging productivity growth,” Willox added. RESIDENTS: As for the budget impact on residents, Zimmerman said: “As part of COVID economic stimulus, we’ve provided so far $7 million to the four local councils in my electorate, and this budget’s confirmed another $2 million and that is going directly to improving local roads and infrastructure. So, for example, in North Sydney, the council has been using it for some footpath and road upgrades, for children’s playgrounds and sporting facilities.” He continued: “I spoke to the mayor today, and she’s pretty excited about having another round of funding to help build some of that critical infrastructure or important infrastructure.” “But also I think that the things like the tax cuts, the lots of additional support for women’s economic security, women’s health and the tax cuts for lower and middle-income earners are important too.” “There’s actually something like 60,000 residents in my electorate that will get support through that tax cuts,” he estimated.

MIRACLE IN MILLER STREET

There was a remarkable absence of injuries from a major fire in the kitchen of a Cammeray restaurant on 15 May. The fire broke out in the kitchen of Nagomi’s Japanese Dining around 4pm and required the evacuation of around a dozen staff and customers. The upstairs massage parlour and neighbouring Vietnamese restaurant were also evacuated. Flames shot as high as 15m above the building roof at one stage but fire brigades were quickly on the scene and extinguished the flames. Miraculously, no one was harmed or taken to hospital. Nagomi’s is closed until further notice while neighbouring businesses are trading normally.

THE SUN SAYS

Council wants to change name of Ben Boyd Rd

Hell’s Kitchen. Bunker Hill. Whitechapel. Are we to now add the Cremorne and Neutral Bay village neighbourhoods to the list of the locations of notorious crimes? That was the thought on many local residents’ minds as news flowed on nightly TV about the bizarre kidnapping of former Australian cricketer and Neutral Bay restaurateur Stuart MacGill from the corner of Winnie and Parraween streets in Cremorne last month. As subsequent court hearings & statements revealed, he was allegedly kidnapped from the street in retaliation for the unpaid debt of a friend he introduced to the perpetrator. MacGill was beaten and stripped naked but has now recovered. The kidnappers reputedly didn’t get one dollar from him. Then there was the incident in Woolworth’s Neutral Bay carpark a few weeks earlier. Officers from the North Shore Police Area Command were conducting a drug operation when they attempted to arrest a 24-year-old man in Grosvenor Lane. As a detective attempted to make an arrest, a 25-year-old man allegedly drove his vehicle at the officer. Police say the car hit the detective before he discharged his gun, with several bullets hitting the car. What is going on? Well the good news is that all major recorded crime types are falling in incidence in the LGA, over both a 24 month and a 60 month trend. Over the past five years there have been no murders in the district. Last year there were just four robberies with a weapon and none with a firearm. There is one crime in which the LGA excels: fraud. On average there was just over one case of fraud reported to police per day in the calendar year 2020. And North Sydney ranked just outside the worst third of LGAs in the state for this particular crime in 2020. But for violent crimes, North Sydney consistently rates in the safest 10%. Celebrity kidnappings notwithstanding.

Is it time for the name Ben Boyd Rd to be retired and replaced with something more savoury? That’s what North Sydney Council is trying to find out in a Your Say consultation with local residents. Councillor Kathy Brodie took up the case against continued use of the name Ben Boyd and successfully convinced her fellow councillors to review the matter last month. Boyd was a Scottish entrepreneur who lived in NSW between 1842 and 1850. He’s most remembered for the whaling station he created in southern NSW—his name is remembered by Boydtown and Ben Boyd National Park. But the controversy comes over his involvement in “blackbirding,” the term given to the practice of using South Sea Islanders as slaves. According to Australian history professor and Boyd biographer Marion Diamond, “in 1847 he imported several hundred Pacific Islanders to work on his sheep stations. We can argue about whether this was slavery (or black birding) – by then illegal throughout the British Empire. Officially the men were indentured labourers, bound by a contract or indenture, but they signed with a cross because they could not read or write, and in ignorance of the conditions they would face in NSW. Boyd abandoned them after the NSW government ruled the contracts invalid, and an unknown but large number died of cold and infectious diseases before the survivors were repatriated at others’ expense.” It’s this that prompted Brodie to see a name change for Ben Boyd Rd, apparently named for the fact that he lived in Neutral Bay for much of his time in Australia. Indeed, the track that became Ben Boyd Rd was arguably the first in the Neutral Bay area with Military Rd not created until 1871. Boyd lived at Craignathan, a house dating back to 1831 at the head of Hayes St, making him one of the earliest residents of the suburb. This, along with his construction of a small dam nearby, was apparently enough to have his name immortalised in what is one of the two major north-south routes through the suburb. When he left the colony in 1850 he was scandalised by the debts he left in addition to his blackbirding activities: it is surprising that he was immortalised to the extent he was even by contemporary standards of the day. “His past actions and Black Lives Matter has heightened my awareness of his undesirable past. The wrongs of the past should not be forgotten and can be a useful tool to reflect on how much society has improved. I felt it important to find out if our community would like the name changed,” said Brodie. “At a local level Neutral Bay Public School has changed the name of Boyd House to Waratah and I understand the Environment Minister Matt Kean is investigating changing the name of the 100 square kilometre Ben Boyd National Park.”

Copyright Decisive Publishing. All rights reserved. ACN 065 084 960 Responsibility for election comment taken by G Lynch Office address: Unit 3 20 Cliff St Milsons Point NSW Australia 2061 Postal address: PO Box 490 Milsons Point NSW 1565 Australia Phone: 02 9061 7048 URL: www.northsydneysun.com.au Email for editorial: grahamelynch@commsdaymail.com Founding editor and Decisive CEO: Grahame Lynch Contributing writers: Simon Dux, Rohan Pearce Photographers: Tram Vo, Amy Carswell Advertising information: Amy Carswell amy@commsdaymail.com Distribution inquiries: Linda Salameh linda@commsdaymail.com Payment inquiries: Sally Lloyd sally@commsdaymail.com

Talk of the Town

Ben Boyd Council has resolved to survey community opinion regarding a renaming of Ben Boyd Road, use the established survey process of Council’s “YourSay” programme to conduct the survey and ask if the respondent is in favour of renaming Ben Boyd Road, and if yes then what is the respondent’s preferred new name (if any), based on a suggested list of three candidate names. The suggested list of three candidate names should consist of: at least one name derived from the indigenous history of the area; at least one name derived from the non-indigenous history of the area; and a maximum of only one name being the name of a person. Separately, the council resolved to install an interpretative plaque to accompany the existing plaque about Ben Boyd, located at the corner of Ben Boyd Road and Kurraba Road and will request the Council historian to pro-

pose draft wording for the interpretative plaque, explaining the history and context of the original plaque in a contemporary and non-divisive style, and to report the draft wording to Council for consideration. BARK IN THE PARK North Sydney’s annual pets’ day out event, previously known as Bradfield Bark, is moving to a new location with a new name – Bark in the Park! The grass carpet will be rolled out for the first time at St Leonards Park, just up the road from the North Sydney CBD, from 9.30am to 2.30pm on Sunday 23 May. “This bone-anza day of furry fun will be packed with dog demonstrations and expert talks, Doga (dog yoga), a Mutt & Meow Market, food stalls, free kids activities, live music and plenty of other activities for fur residents and their human companions to enjoy,” said the council in a press release. Highlights include a K9 Ninja challenge and trick off by Farmer Dave and his Rufftrack crew, a show by Dr Katrina Warren and her Wonderdogs and a demonstration by expert dog trainer Steve Austin with his conservation dogs. There will be prizes to be won on the day for the best dressed pet, an owner-pet look alike competition and for the best trick. There will also be a treat guessing competition and a raffle to support Bark in the Park’s charity partner Sydney Dogs & Cats Home. Event sponsor Pet Medical Milsons Point will also be holding a pop-up photo booth and giving away free magnets of the happy snaps taken. Mayor Jilly Gibson said Bark in the Park is a great community event, not just for animal lovers, but for families and friends as well.

North Sydney Council is among 12 councils across Greater Sydney to share in almost $3.9 million of matched funding for pedestrian and cycle pathways, new and improved parks, and open spaces, under the NSW Government’s Metropolitan Greenspace Program. Funding includes $100,000 for pathway improvements in Wollstonecraft’s Smoothey Park. Works are due for completion by November 2021. Pictured above: NSW planning minister Rob Stokes, mayor Jilly Gibson and state MP Felicity Wilson.

Mystery surrounds councillor’s privacy case against Council The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) has ordered North Sydney Council to make an unreserved written apology to an unnamed councillor and review its Privacy Management Plan, after the councillor’s personal information was disclosed. The Council was ordered to address the personal information security breach, after the councillor, dubbed EIG in the Tribunal to protect their identity, had filed for an administrative review alleging that the “North Sydney Residents Alliance” sent an email in November 2019 with 14 attachments containing their personal information to a wide range of recipients. The councillor further alleged that the body of the email made assertions about the councillor and others based on attachments, and also disclosed information about the councillor’s property ownership within the Local Government Area. The attachments were documents the councillor and others had submitted to Council over the previous 2-3 years including requests to attend conferences, expense claims and pecuniary interest disclosures. On 28 February 2020, the councillor requested an internal review by the Council over the disclosure. However, the Council did not undertake an internal review after 60 days so the council-

lor filed for an NCAT administrative review on 4 May 2020. On the same day, the Council issued its internal review decision but the councillor said they did not receive this decision until 26 June 2020 via the Council's solicitors. The Council’s internal review concluded that no personal information was released and therefore there had been no breach of the councillor’s privacy. It consequently decided to take no further action. However, following its decision, the Council continued to investigate the incident and, based on that investigation, it provided the councillor with a written apology and scheduled an additional course of training for staff on the importance of protecting personal information and the requirements of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection (PPIP) Act 1998. Then, with the Tribunal already underway, on 15 June 2020 the Council published a report naming the councillor as having lodged a privacy complaint against it. Despite the councillor expressing their concern about this, the Council then produced another report which published the councillor’s name and details of their privacy complaint including on the councillor’s publicly accessible website.

Council Talk Over the course of the Tribunal - EIG v North Sydney Council [2021] NSWCATAD 66 - the Council made a number of concessions including that its original decision that the information in question was not personal information was not correctly made using the definition of personal information in section 4 of the PPIP Act. The Council also conceded that the councillor’s identity could be reasonably ascertained from the information it held and that it had improperly disclosed this information via the email attachments. The Council also conceded it had breached the PPIP Act by contravening Information Protection Principles IPP 11, meaning that the disclosure of the applicant’s personal information was unauthorised, improper and in breach of section 18 of the PPIP Act. The Tribunal also found against the Council on section 12 of the PPIP Act stating that while case law precedence holds that not every action by an employee can be attributed to their employer, it was reasonable to expect that the Council should have implemented significant security safeguards across

all of its personal information holdings, including in physical form. The Tribunal’s decision meant that where an agency hasn’t taken reasonable security safeguards to protect personal information, it may be liable for the unauthorised conduct of its employees. The Tribunal added there was no evidence from the Council around the specific security and access measures it had implemented for the physical copies of the personal information in the attachments. The Tribunal ordered the Council to provide an unreserved formal written apology to the councillor addressing and apologising for the breaches and the distress and embarrassment. It also ordered the Council to implement security safeguards against the loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure for all of personal information it holds in physical form and ensure the conduct in question won’t occur again. Specifically the safeguards must include details as to when and in what circumstances an internal review of an incident will be sufficient and when an external independent review of an incident is required. The Council said it has taken immediate steps to review its Privacy Management Plan and amend it to include these new security safeguards.

New North Sydney tower to emulate the Waratah flower A proposed blood red, 27-storey North Sydney tower, inspired by the waratah, is being billed as “a new sculpture in the heart of the city.” The curved tower designed by Woods Bagot incorporates a through-site link, a central atrium space, and flexible office floor plates. In total it will have 33,000 square metres of gross floor area. In planning documents before North Sydney Council, the architects say the design references the waratah, New South Wales’ official floral emblem, which is a symbol of resilience and regeneration – and apparently an analogy for the post-pandemic renewal of North Sydney. “Surrounded by existing multi-storey commercial towers, the proposal seeks to strengthen North Sydney’s position as a major commercial centre by introducing a new premium commercial offering to the mix,” Woods Bagot’s design report reads. Developed by Thirdi Group and Couloumbis Property Group, the $191 million tower will be built at 63-83 Walker Street, a site formed through an amalgamation process involving 21 owners and 31 lots across two freehold and two strata buildings. Ethos Urban notes in a report that “It constitutes one of the last remaining significant redevelopment sites in North Sydney.” The design of the office space aims at creating workplace experiences that are more attractive than working from home. Planning documents describe “A new approach to

spatial layout that encourages a porosity of movement through divisible lobby and workspaces with separable cores.” With landscape architecture by 360 Degrees, the tower will include multiple outdoor work spaces, including roof gardens and a street-level urban outdoor room. The building will be called Warada, the Eora word for the Waratah. The proposal was announced as the latest research from North Sydney Cityscope shows commercial property sales for the quarter to April 2021 in North Sydney have significantly de-

creased in terms of both total value and number. Sales recorded in the most recent quarter totalled $86.5 million from 28 sales, as compared to the $618.6 million from 37 sales in the quarter to January 2021 and from the $246.4 million from 22 sales recorded in the quarter to October 2020. This quarter brings the twelvemonth total value of sales to $1.278 billion from 108 sales, a decrease from the $2.979 billion from 226 sales recorded for the previous year. The largest sale for the quarter in the

area was at 657 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, an eight-storey office building with three basement parking levels for 47 cars, completed in 1970, extensively refurbished in 2005 with a net lettable area of 3,666 sqm and typical floor plates of 454 sqm, which was sold for $34 million. Second highest: Metropolitan Residences at 7-19 Albany Street, Crows Nest, a commercial space of 41 sqm on the ground, 1,605 sqm on level one and parking/storage space of 168.2 sqm on basement level one, which was sold for $8.75 million.

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QE comes to St Leonards as founder outlines grand plan for more outlets across North Shore & Sydney QE is not quite yet at the store numbers of Woolworths, Coles and Aldi but it may be soon if founder Narinder Singh has his way. Sydney-based boutique grocery chain QE Foodstores has officially launched its 11th store, joining St Leonards Square - a newly established food and dining precinct on the Pacific Highway. And if he has his way it will be the 11th of 50 by 2030—all in Sydney—placing him in a peer bracket with Aldi which currently has 19 stores in Sydney. Lower north shore shoppers familiar with its Milsons Point and inner city outlets will already understand QE’s point-of-difference: its extensive offering of healthy, vegan and organic alternatives to the mainstay items of the major supermarket chains. “Our purpose is to improve people's health and save family time and support their lifestyle through providing fresh food conveniently,” Singh told North Sydney Sun. “Our mission is to make quality food shopping easy. Our goal is to open... Our vision is to have 50 stores by 2030 and a high disposable income where there is a great need for quality food, shopping made easy. So that’s our mission.: So why St Leonards as only the second location in the north shore following Milson’s Point? “So we saw a very good opportunity. We had never gone into a little plaza thing before. We’ve always been on a high street, like Milsons Point or Waverley or Paddington, Oxford Street, Victoria Street, Darlinghurst. Always been on a high street, but this is our first store in a little plaza with Mirvac. I saw that as a great opportunity, newly developed development. I think St Leonards is a great area. It fits in with what we’re trying to achieve,” Singh said. And achievement is something which comes naturally to Singh, having purchased his first supermarket at the humble age of 19. Singh was raised in New Zealand, and started out as a young kiwifruit picker working on orchards and farms. “Look, growing up, I always wanted to be successful,” he told the Sun. “My background was farming with my family and I worked in farms for most of the first 19 years of my life.

Then I decided to come to Sydney from New Zealand and wanted to do business. But I got knocked back many times because I was 19. I had no work experience in any field.Most landlords wouldn’t sign a lease for me.” But then his luck changed thanks to a sympathetic landlord with a similar life story. “I found this site on Victoria Street and asked the agent to talk to the landlord first to see if they would sign a lease for me. And a Greek landlord, Bill Anton, who came here as a 16 year old himself and felt he was given an opportunity by somebody, told the agent to go and sign this lease. Give it to him! Hungry young guy who wants to do it!” However, after a few years, he decided he wasn’t advancing and flirted with selling the business. Singh was tired, working long hours seven days a week. And then he met business coach Roland Hanekroot. “He was in Elizabeth Bay at the time. I just signed up with him and started really learning about business and serving customers and customer service and meeting the needs of people. I think we started talking to our customers and the customers would say, Can you get this in? Can you get that in? And we just kept doing it. And before you know, we were growing very well,” Singh recollects. “And then a couple of years into working with Roland, I started to dream about having 50 stores by 2030. You learn many lessons as you go through, and then I thought I’ve learned a lot and knew everything, but then I went and opened a second store on King Street Newtown and probably learned more lessons at my second site than the first one. You think you know everything and then you don’t. But I enjoyed learning and the 50 store goal keeps me going basically.” Singh’s stores were originally branded as 7 Star but he made the decision in 2014 to change to QE Foodstores. “We just figured out why we’re doing what we do. So our purpose, was about helping people live a healthy life. And we were doing that through making quality food shopping easy. So quality became Q and then easy became E and then we added food store as a description.” Until the launch of its Milsons Point store, QE was concentrated around the

Sydney inner city and inner west. “We never really wanted to go over the other side of the bridge before. I don’t know why. It’s just a road, and that we created the bridge as a barrier over the years. And then when we first opened in Milsons Point, we thought, ‘Oh, okay. Just a road, isn’t it?’” Singh has subsequently observed that there are few regional differences across Sydney in terms of what people buy: “Not many actually. And that’s the beauty. There is a difference of maybe five to 10% range sells, what sells and what doesn’t sell well in each areas. But look, mostly there is similar demographic if you look at the customers we’re serving. There’s not much. Our core demographic is in the age of 30 to 55. Mostly females, and they live in affluent areas. They want to shop daily. They care about sustainability. Shop locally. “

“So we’ve got lots of healthier alternatives than, say, our competitors, in fruit and veg. We originally started out selling cigarettes in our first couple of stores that we opened before we discovered our purpose, and then we stopped. We now don’t sell any cigarettes in any of our stores,” Singh says. One innovation in the St Leonards store is a café. “Look, to be honest, it wasn’t my idea to put a coffee in there. It was my property guy who’d been part of the journey for a very long time and he's got an office up there and he said, ‘Look, we should trial put a coffee offering, coffee bar.’ And I call it a brand's espresso bar. But look, it may well become part of what we do moving forward. It’s just another way of supporting our customer lifestyle.” According to Singh, QE is already actively planning another launch in Crows Nest.

Aldi taps street artist for N Syd makeover Aldi is looking to its North Sydney store to spruce up its image, hiring street artist Joel Moore to come up with a colourful new design intended to jump up its virtues as a convenience outlet. Moore is a Sydney based artist, freelance illustrator and poet who paints murals, designs t-shirts and runs the Mulga brand. After having his first art show and launching his art career in 2012 he left his finance job in 2014 to become a full time art dude. The proposed makeover is currently the subject of a development applica-

tion to North Sydney Council. The makeover appears to be part of an effort by Aldi to recase its more central stores as convenience outlets in the mode of Woolworths Metro or Coles Express. "We know that Australians are looking for new and convenient shopping experiences, especially in densely populated areas, so we are exploring a smaller format store in North Sydney under a new store concept name: Aldi Corner Store," an Aldi spokesperson said in a statement.

Farrelly asks the big questions about the health of Sydney’s soul Elizabeth Farrelly’s Killing Sydney is a beautifully written book of heartfelt musings, serious analysis and stream-of -consciousness rants about a city that Farrelly loves and knows intimately but is also very concerned about. If you are familiar with Farrelly’s writings in the Sydney Morning Herald, her meandering style will delight you. Farrelly, who has a background in architecture and philosophy, is serious and poetic, philosophical and passionate, all at once. She can move quickly from a sharp and unforgiving analysis of the WestConnex and Light Rail debacles to more subtle articulations on the aesthetics and intricacies of urban design. For this reason, it’s an exhausting yet satisfying read. If however you’re not used to Farrelly’s style and tone, her foray into beautiful but distracting tangents can be disorienting, the connection between topics sometimes hard to discern. Either way, this is an important book for all who care about Sydney and who want to create a more likeable city before the developers and government makes a mess of it all. Farrelly says of her book: Killing Sydney exhorts all lovers of the city to reinvest in civic debate, reprioritise public space, re-emphasise nature’s critical role, reconceive our decision-making processes, revitalise our love of history and rebuild our confidence in the city’s future before it is too late. Throughout the book, Farrelly brings the reader back to the question: “What do we want from a city?” We need to answer this question, she explains, otherwise we will find ourselves living in a city that is flat, harsh, sterile, motivated by greed and altogether badly planned and designed. There are some gems in the book. For instance, Farrelly offers us some wonderful phrases and words that flesh out the characteristics of a good city.

Killing Sydney: The Fight for a City’s Soul by Elizabeth Farrelly (Sydney: Macmillan, 2021) Book review by Karina Kreminski

“Pokability” is the “quality of a city that encourages you to poke around in its nooks and crannies”. Then there’s “walkability”, drawing on 1960s urban activist Jane Jacobs. And the “fine grain” is the detail or texture of a place that makes a city desirable and interesting. These words help us get our heads around how Farrelly imagines a city that is desirable to live in, and also helps us think about what we value. Killing Sydney is a strong critique of the current government and developers who, she argues, have no vision and lack the political will to make a city beautiful, sustainable, interesting and desirable. Instead, says Farrelly, money is driving these two enemies of city planning and design. Farrelly often pits the modern, fast, efficient and minimalistic against the slow, textured and thoughtful. Because of this, the book can lack nuance. But Farrelly is not saying that

all development is unnecessary or bad. The problem is not high-rise or high density, but when good planning and design, and the public interest, are sacrificed on the altar of greed. When apartments are designed “Not for anyone’s pleasure of habitation but for landlords to buy, negatively gear and rent out in an exploitative market”, they will become “the slums of the future”. Sydney-dwellers devastated by the current “revisioning” of the city by our state government would agree. In my own village of Surry Hills, which Farrelly talks about so lovingly, I’m constantly on edge about heritage-listed buildings being sold off, trees being chopped down and accelerating gentrification. It makes me anxious about Surry Hills losing its “fine grain”. Farrelly is at her best when she looks carefully at case studies such as WestConnex, the Light Rail and the Powerhouse Museum relocation. I found in her analysis of WestConnex a wonderful mix of fact, lament and good storytelling. She tells of Kate Cotis who had to put up with noise, dirt and pollution during the construction. Farrelly asks: Why was any of this ok? Do we seriously expect people to live inside their own houses with noisecancelling headphones, forever? To live with windows permanently closed, breathing machine-filters air? Aren’t we all entitled to sleep, cook, bathe or read a book in ordinary fresh air when we want to? These are good questions that we, as citizens of a city trying to balance development with the “softer” matters of people and place, need to ask. If we don’t, we risk compromising our humanity. More broadly, Farrelly asks: Do we really think a city is just a thing to move through, as easily and efficiently as possible? Is this a complete failure of selfrespect? Are we so soulless, so profoundly unromantic in our relations to

ourselves and our habitat that we are more about efficiency than delight? Is getting there faster so important that we’re willing to destroy everything lovely about the city, and the planet, to achieve it? Is this really who we are? For Farrelly, an important part of keeping this sense of delight, of keeping our soul, is staying connected to our past in order to understand who we are today. Rather than selling off our assets and marginalising our heritage buildings, we need to be people of today who ask the difficult questions about what we must keep in order to retain our sense of identity. This is very important especially in a society that is fast-paced, forgetful of the past and in danger of repeating the same mistakes of yesterday. This is a timely book that forces us to ask the bigger questions. What kind of city do we want to live in? Who do we want to become? What forces are driving this city and are they for the good? In a society that seduces us into becoming consumers rather than active citizens, Killing Sydney inspires us to reflect more deeply on our culture and place, to challenge the forces that are shaping our city, for the good of our community. Can we, as Farrelly concludes, “with a little more listening and a little less shoving … create a city that encourages empathy and connection as well as competition and struggle?” We can only hope that those who are making the decisions will start to listen. Karina Kreminski is a neighbourhood enthusiast who, like Elizabeth Farrelly, hates leaf blowers. She lives in Surry Hills and is Co-Director of Neighbourhood Matters with her husband. Their website is

www.neighbourhoodmatters.com.au.

A Haunting comes to North Sydney’s Don Bank An interactive theatre event set in an old haunted house on the outskirts of Sydney opens on the 10th of June at North Sydney’s Don Bank Museum. The story begins outside of a cottage dated to the 1850s, where attendees are met by a mysterious priest who offers to be a guide. To exorcise the house of an unhappy spirit, the audience will need all their sleuthing skills to deduce the truth of events in this house from over a hundred years ago. “The audience is very much part of the story, so when they show up, they’ll be met by one of the characters, who will give them a rundown of the background and the context to the story that’s going to unfold and the audience’s role in it,” says show spokesman David Dark. “And so they'll be taken into the different rooms within the house, where different scenes will unfold with different characters. It’s a fully scripted show, but there will be occasions when audience interaction may be required to keep the story progressing.” “And on occasions, we have a bit of a mix of invited audience interaction, as with any such thing you’ll get often uninvited audience interaction, which is completely welcome because most people are responding organically. As it were.” Asked to explain the background for the show, Dark said that it stemmed, in

part, from an operation behind Sydney crime history tours. “Well, a lot of us are involved in a company that has a community theatre background. And in my case, Dark Stories, we started to run some crime history tours throughout different locations in New South Wales. And that’s sort of our main focus, as it were, to run the crime tours on a weekly basis. We tell stories that people haven’t heard of, that are not part of the normal part of history. Stories that are lost to time.” “So the main thing is we’re into stories, and the tours are all about crime history stories of the area. But we also like to explore our theatrical side as well. Most of our hosts are actors. Our crime tour hosts are actors. And it’s really we just want to present events that have a slightly darker theme. So it’s exploring the nature of good and evil for the audience, but without any danger.” As for A Haunting at Don Bank, Dark says: “Essentially it’s a bit of a ghost story mystery. So the audience is helping to try and solve an old mystery from what we’re calling a haunted house. And, yeah, that’s probably a good rundown without giving away too many spoilers.” “It’s small audience sizes, probably about 15 people per session. So we keep it small, obviously especially, even forgetting COVID, in that environment we have to keep the audiences small. To make it manageable.

“We’re running for six nights, over two weeks. We’ll have multiple showings on each night. So the show will go for about 50 to 55 minutes. So we’ll have a show at seven o’clock, and another show at eight o’clock, and possibly even a six o’clock show on particularly popular nights, like a Friday.” Tickets are now on sale, with the

show running across two weekends, the evenings of the 10-12th June and the 1719th June. Tickets are $34 per person, with limited audience numbers, so please book early to avoid missing out. For further information on session times and to purchase tickets, visitwww.darkstories.com.au/the-hauntingsydney/

Northside sporting teams gain fillip from national streaming Two of the lower north shore’s preeminent sporting teams are now gaining national exposure from streaming of their competition matches. Foxtel’s sports streaming brand Kayo Sports is broadcasting a number of matches of the Gore Hill-based North Shore Bombers mens and women Australian Football teams through coming weeks. And Stan Sport is broadcasting every Northern Suburbs Shoremen rugby union match in the Sydney Shute Shield competition. Head of AFL NSW/ACT, Tiffany Robertson, said “Having Australia’s largest sports streaming service offer AFL Sydney to its audience shows the broad reach of this competition.” “It will be a thrill for players and followers of the league to watch live and playback the best Men’s and Women’s matches. The players’ hard work, determination and talent has led to this partnership with Kayo and I have no doubt the league will be stronger because of it. “There are more than 15,000 players in AFL Sydney’s seniors and juniors competitions, and each of them will have a keen eye on the Premier division’s match of the round each week.” Bombers’ matches that will be streamed on Kayo include: Round 11, Saturday June 26: St George Dragons v North Shore Bombers (men and women) – Olds Park, Penshurst. Round 12, Saturday July 3: North

Shore Bombers v UNSW Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs (men and women) – Gore Hill Oval, St Leonards Round 16, Saturday July 31: Sydney University v North Shore Bombers (men and women) – Sydney University Oval No 1. If the Bombers teams make the finals they will be broadcast too. Meanwhile, the Shoremen are now a weekly addition to Stan Sport, with that platform showing weekly broadcasts of all Shute Shield games. The Shoremen have a had a terrific

start to the season winning all six games so far, including matches against fancied competition such as Gordon and Eastwood. The Shoremen are no strangers to broadcast television, having intermittently appeared in match of the round coverage on Seven Network for many years. However, this is the first time their matches have been streamed live on a weekly basis. Stan Sport’s dedicated rugby platform is estimated to already have 150,000 subscribers in its first few months of operation.

Not to be outdone, the North Sydney Bears rugby league team made a welcome appearance on Foxtel and Kayo earlier this month when their NSW Cup match against the Western Suburbs Magpies was televised live. Despite the exposure and the memories it revived of the glory days when the Bears were a first grade team that regularly made the finals, it was a hard night out. The Bears went down 36-16 after having been behind 24-4 at halftime. As a result, the Bears have dropped to 5th on the table.

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Articles inside

Farrelly asks the big questions about the health of Sydney’s soul