The Removal of Millers Point Public Housing Tenants in Inner-Sydney by the New South Wales Government: Narratives of Government and Tenants

Abstract

In 2014, the New South Wales (NSW) government announced that it was to move all of the approximately 580 public housing tenants from Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks in inner Sydney, sell the properties and use the proceeds to build social housing. This article, drawing on government media material and in-depth interviews with tenants, examines the removal process and contrasts the government’s narrative with that of the tenants. What is argued is that the displacement reflects how in the current neoliberal climate, instrumental rationality is a central feature, i.e. little cognisance is taken of the human cost of policies.

2014年，新南威尔士州政府宣布将580位公租房住户从悉尼内城三个点（Millers Point, Dawes Point, The Rocks）迁出，将土地出售，并将收入用于建设社会住房。本文利用政府媒体材料和对住户的深度访谈，考察拆迁过程，并对比政府叙事与住户叙事。文章指出此次拆迁反映出在目前的新自由主义语境下，工具理性成为核心特点，对政策的人力成本则现有考虑。

Keywords:

• Public housing
• displacement
• removal process
• inner Sydney
• neoliberalism
• instrumental rationality

Notes

1. The Coalition government is constituted by the Liberal Party and the National Party. The latter are a regional party.

2. 8 properties (16 tenancies) in Dawes Point were threatened and it is an extension of Millers Point.

3. The Green Bans were implemented by the Builder Labourers Federation from 1970. It involved union members refusing to work on developments it deemed guilty of demolishing historic buildings, the erosion of public space and unnecessary development (Burgmann and Burgmann 1998).

4. Public housing is administered by the housing authorities of the respective states and territories. Community housing are non-profit housing associations. Their housing stock is constituted mainly of public housing that has been handed over to community housing providers (CHPs). The CHPs, which are non-government organisations or religious organisations, are responsible for the allocation and management of these homes. Social housing refers to both public and community housing.

5. This was manifested perhaps most dramatically in the selling of the government owned telecommunications company, Telstra. There was an endeavor to boost the power and depth and breadth of the market and the private sector at every opportunity (see Connell 2006).

6. This is based on my own observations and interviews with present and ex-residents.

7. The 543 tenancies include tenancies vacated prior to the March 2014 announcement (see SGS Economics and Planning 2014, p. 3).

8. Alex Greenwich is an independent member in the State Parliament. Millers Point and the Sirius Building are in his constituency and he has fought extremely hard for the residents.

9. Although the ruling party is called the Liberal Party, it is a right of centre party.