Now that the local council elections are drawing near and the candidates are stating their support and positions on Callan Park it’s worthwhile recalling our local State Member, Verity Firth’s position and promises on Callan Park made prior to the last state election.

Before the election the Friends of Callan Park sent out an invitation to all the local candidates to state their position on Callan Park. Verity Firth (Labor), Rochelle Porteous (Greens) & Peter Shmigel (Liberal) all sent responses stating their position.

In Verity’s response she stated “I am 100% committed to ensuring that the (Callan Park) Act is followed in it’s entirety.”

Verity went on to further state “I would also like to see principles of sustainability adopted at the park and support the concept of a Callan Park Trust.”

“Ultimately, we need a community-driven Master Plan so that everyone can be involved in determining the future of our park.”

It would also be worthwhile for all members of the community with concerns for Callan Park to email Verity Firth and ask what she is going to do to honour her promises made prior to her election to state parliament.

You can read the full transcript of Verity Firth’s statement here. (PDF 960k) State Election Statements

Contact details for Verity Firth can be found on the ‘Take Action’ pages or by clicking here. Contact a politician

Also of interest is the short video ‘Callan Park - A community victory under threat’.  A Greens campaign video made prior to the last NSW State election.

Issy Wyner, the veteran Inner West campaigner who died recently, initiated the first campaign to save Callan Park land from being sold off to developers when he was mayor in 1989-90. That initial battle was won. There have a number of battles since - and Issy was in them all.

He was in the front row of the public meeting at Balmain Town Hall on July 7 last year to protest Frank Sartor’s proposal to hand over Callan Park to Sydney University. For Issy, Callan Park was important as public open space and as a facility for mental health treatment.

I can recall Issy and his comrade Nick Origlass warning, in the wake of the Richmond Report, that Rozelle hospital should not be closed because the necessary community accommodation and support services for people with a mental illness were not being provided.

That was in 1984. We’re still waiting.

For those of you who haven’t yet read it there’s a link to an interesting story about the fight to save Ku-ring-gai written by Michael Duffy and published in the Sydney Morning Herald on the 2nd of August.  There’s also a link below.

Democracy that leaves people’s views out of the equation