Fox on the rampage again

Peter Mac

Four years after the Carr Government virtually gave away the 
immensely valuable old Sydney Showground site at Moore Park to 
Rupert Murdoch's Fox Studios, corporate interests are planning to 
profit from inappropriate development of the site.

In 1997, it was leased for 40 years to a partnership of Murdoch's 
News Corporation and Lend Lease, for use by Fox Studios. The deal 
effectively stripped control over the site from its titular 
managers, the Centennial Park Trust, whose charter includes the 
"provision, protection and improvement of public space, 
consistent with their own plan of management", and the 
integration of the Showground into the Moore Park/Centennial Park 
complex.

The rental was $2 million, payable over 40 years. However, the 
payment date was not specified, and the deal proceeded with an 
initial $1 per annum peppercorn rental, in return for which the 
government was obliged to spend $75-80 million on site works for 
the benefit of Fox.

The site was to be used for "commercial uses associated with the 
film, television and video industry". However, this was not 
compulsory. There was no requirement that any area within the 
site would be used exclusively for these purposes, and since the 
lease was signed most of the site has been used for 
entertainment, shopping and restaurant purposes.

And now a sub-lease of the small Bent Street area within the 
complex has been sold to Colonial First State Property, which 
proposes to build a shopping centre there, despite the 
understanding restricting development to film production 
purposes.

However, the proposal is bitterly opposed by the recently-elected 
Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, former independent member for the 
state seat of Bligh. The courageous Ms Moore has fought a 
gruelling battle against inappropriate development in Sydney for 
some 17 years. She made repeated attempts to become Mayor, but 
was always thwarted, in some cases by boundary changes that 
altered Sydney's local government boundaries.

The Carr State Government currently controls the Showground site 
directly, but Ms Moore wants to regain control of it. Because the 
Carr Government has stripped responsibility for many major sites 
from local government, it now has a major workload in processing 
development applications for those sites, including the old 
Showground.

State Planning Minister Craig Knowles therefore would like to 
return certain responsibilities to the councils concerned, but he 
has indicated he would not relinquish control of the Showground 
except for minor matters such as signage, minor works and 
temporary events.

The Carr Government's period in office is littered with huge 
development deals which reek of corruption in high places, and 
which it approved despite widespread public objections. None has 
been more notorious than the showground deal, the outcome of 
which is a bill of some $80 million to NSW taxpayers, effective 
loss of public use of this immensely valuable site for 40 years, 
and use of the site to impose US culture in its worst possible 
form on the peoples of the world.

Meanwhile, the local Australian film industry is being stifled by 
mass production of mindless US blockbuster movies such as those 
produced at Fox's Sydney studios. The final blow for this 
industry is expected to come from the infamous US-Australia trade 
deal, which will ensure no government assistance is provided for 
the development of local film culture.

It remains to be seen how long Carr can hold out against the 
combined forces in opposition to his development policies. 
However, given the huge scale of public resentment that has been 
generated by these policies, it is extremely unlikely to last 
beyond the next state election.