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25.01.2022 This was a speech https://www.facebook.com/AlisterHens//652092319039248given by Mr Henkens SC MP highly critical of the Draft Housing Strategy which was placed on public exhibition in May 2020 and also overwhelmingly opposed by residents. He wrote as late as Tuesday this week before the Draft Housing Strategy was approved (now rescinded by 5 councillors (Spencer, Pettett, Kay, Ngai and Kelly) urging residents to support refusal of the Draft Housing Strategy and to scale i...t down and targeting the very five councillors who supported his public submissions and put up the changes he wanted in the amended draft strategy put before the Council on Tuesday. However, the five councillors (who Mr Henskens had trust in to support his views) above refused to accept the amended strategy (without explanation other than to the late receipt of the Mayoral Minute)) put forward by the Mayor (an amended housing strategy which accorded to the Minister's letter to the Mayor on 8 September and Mr Henskens and Mr O'Dea's submissions to Council) and have now put the amended housing strategy approved this week by Council at risk due to council's overnight receipt of what could only be perceived as contradictory a Message (also containing a veiled threat to Council) from the Planning Minister completely contradicting the information he put in a letter to the Mayor on 8 September. The Minister and our two MPs have some explaining to do to the residents of Ku-ring-gai who do not want to see the repeat of the overdevelopment that the Labor government forced on Ku-ring-gai in 2004 .i.e. over 13,000 new high density dwellings built in just 15 years and a 20% population increase with no supporting infrastructure!! See more

25.01.2022 Latest newsletter to members.

25.01.2022 Would this letter have anything to do with the the decision of the five Ku-ring-gai councillors rescinding the approved Draft Housing Strategy which conformed to the Minister for Planning's letter to Ku-ring-gai Mayor on the 8 September and the submissions in support from Jonathan O'Dea and Alister Henskens to Ku-ring-gai Council ? The Ku-ring-gai Community deserve an explanation https://www.urbantaskforce.com.au//200915-Ltr-Robert-Stoke

23.01.2022 Let us hope this is a turn around in the policies of the State Government who has allowed logging of native forests and the habitat of koalas. This needs to be state wide not the small area they are proposing if we are to save our iconic Australian species from extinction. "Jeff Angel, director of the Total Environment Centre, said the draft plan was the last chance to protect and regenerate remaining endangered habitat before the area is engulfed in urban development. "Mo...st of the Georges River Koala National Park long fought for by local and state environmental groups is close to being a reality," he said. "This keystone area should be completed in the next five years, not by 2040 as envisaged in the plan." Labor's environment spokeswoman Kate Washington said the local community and Labor had supported the creation of a 4000-hectare Georges River national park. "This is half the size it needs to be, so this announcement shows just how desperate the government is for a headline without taking the necessary steps to deserve that headline," she said."

22.01.2022 A letter from the President of Save Our Suburbs Hi SOS members and friends An amazing exchange of correspondence clearly demonstrates the extent to which the State Government is in the iron grip of developers....Continue reading

20.01.2022 Liberal Catherine Cusack prepared to stand up for the protection of koalas on private land while Gladys and Barilaro are more interested in clearing land than saving koalas! In an emotional speech to parliament, Ms Cusack said there had been a steady "stripping" of environmental controls from the planning and environment portfolios typically held by Liberals that had been transferred to the Nationals' control. "My faith in the processes has been shattered," Ms Cusack said,... adding her lower house counterparts had voted on a bill that was "not what you thought and intended". The Herald reported on Wednesday, tensions over koala policy threatened to flare up again between the Liberals and the Nationals before Mr Barilaro intervened in support of Mr Stokes's concern about unsanctioned provisions being added to the bill that Liberals voted on before they realised their impact. In particular, Mr Stokes is understood to have objected to additional "allowables" that would have removed the need for farmers to gain planning consent for their activities even if they involved destroying endangered ecological communities.

19.01.2022 All eyes will be on the State Government to properly fund ICAC The SMH article states: "The head of the ICAC has taken the unprecedented step of appealing directly to Parliament for urgent changes to the authority's funding model because it "threatens its independence". Chief commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Peter Hall, QC, wrote a special report to the heads of the NSW Houses of Parliament last week, citing "solid and uncontradicted" legal opinion the current model undermined the ICAC's independence."

19.01.2022 http://www.newgeography.com//006836-coronavirus-and-office An American perspective on COVID-19 and density The article states : "COVID has been especially severe in cities due to what the demographer Wendell Cox labels exposure density brought on by insufficiently ventilated places like crowded housing, subways, elevators, and the office environment. The virus’s fatality rate has been between three and six times higher in dense urban areas than in the suburbs or the count...ryside. No surprise then that among current remote workerswho tend to be clustered in cities where a higher percentage of occupations can be done remotelyroughly 60%, notes Gallup, want to stay at home or close to home. Even fewer still are likely to want to take public transit, which has been widely linked to high infection and fatality rates in the pandemic........These current trends toward remote work and greater concern about density exposure and related risks of urban living contradict many of the bold predictions made over the last quarter century. We are a far cry from a decade ago when developers like Sam Zell were boldly predicting rapid densification, with many people choosing to crowd into micro-units in a process tied to widespread claims about the end of suburbia. This was always a gross exaggeration: Throughout the last few decades the suburbs have retained their demographic and economic predominance. As a Harvard study recently confirmed, suburbia has actually been gaining ground over the past 40 years." See more

18.01.2022 Thank you Elizabeth Farrelly for your insight. She states: "In NSW, a decade of dramatic underfunding and a palpable fear of scholarship have brought our oncefine system to its knees. We have a listing system that is unstrategised, a department demoralised, a Heritage Council dominated by lawyers and bankers and a government determined to treat heritage as an impediment. We also have a heritage minister although the portfolio is too paltry to appear in his title determined to demolish the heritage-listed Willow Grove for a museum supposedly devoted to Parramatta’s heritage. ‘‘It used to be,’’ one expert told me, ‘‘that rapacious developers wanted to bulldoze heritage and our job was to stiffen government resistance. Now it’s government that connives at the destruction".

18.01.2022 https://www.bigrigs.com.au//pacific-highway-truck-ban-pro/ FOKE has had a number of emails from Ku-ring-gai residents with concerns over the increase of trucks and buses on the Pacific Highway since the opening of the NorthConnex. If you are concerned here is your opportunity to write to Alister Henskens SC MP to put your views [email protected] and to copies of emails to [email protected]

17.01.2022 MINISTER STOKES ELECTORATE FACES NEW CLEARING LAWS- this new legislation will also affect Ku-ring-gai! NSW Govt to legislate clearing trees in Sydney's metropolitan rural lands Under the guise of bushfire protection, the NSW Govt will today legislate to allow mass clear-felling of Sydney's Metropolitan Rural Lands. Property owners will be able to clear 25m from their boundary without a permit in any of the Metropolitan rural zoned lands, RU1 through to RU6. This draconian ne...w legislation will allow properties that are 50m wide to be totally clear-felled. Planning Minister Rob Stokes own electorate will suffer badly as the map below shows. All of those narrow blocks on either side of Mona Vale Road at Ingleside that are just 30m wide can become a tree-free zone. Just how much more of Sydney is Minister Stokes going to sacrifice? It seems this time his own electorate is about to find out. It is absurd that the Metropolitan Rural Lands are not exempted from this law. Write or email his office to let him know the Metropolitan areas must be made exempt. Anything else is unforgivable. [email protected] (02) 9999 3599 Rob Stokes Matt Kean MP Adam Marshall MP See more

16.01.2022 Angus Thompson in the SMH writes "A Sydney council that caused a ripple effect across Sydney and raised the ire of Planning Minister Rob Stokes over the rejection of its housing strategy has doubled down on a move to abandon dwelling targets set by the Greater Sydney Commission. Ku-ring-gai Council became split over a push by mayor Jennifer Anderson to discard its draft housing strategy following criticism it allowed buildings up to 20 storeys high and advice from Mr Stokes ...Continue reading

16.01.2022 Stokes starts to talk some sense.....""The antidote to housing affordability in Sydney, according to this report, seems to be just make everything taller," he said. "It completely fails to consider the congestion costs, the amenity costs, the heritage costs, the overshadowing costs, the wind tunnelling costs. Of course we need more housing but it's not right to say it should all be two-bedroom houses in high-rise apartment buildings."

16.01.2022 Dick Smith has forwarded this article written by Crispin Hull in response to a KPMG report.

15.01.2022 The breakneck pace of new housing development is stymieing a push to plant more trees to counteract the urban heat-island effect, experts warn.

15.01.2022 Having received a copy of the Minister's message to Council today it appears our concerns were very valid. The letter we sent to Alister Henskens MP yesterday following the rescission motion moved by 5 Ku-ring-gai Councillors. I have not received a reply from Mr Henkens to date. Dear Alister ... Thank you your letter. I want to assure you that I took your advice and spoke with a number of councillors prior to the council meeting. You are now probably aware that five councillors (Spencer, Kay, Kelly, Pettett and Ngai) moved a recission motion late last night to rescind the Mayoral Minute which had been passed to the relief of many in the community. I understand that the Mayor with her 14 years of council experience would have first consulted the staff before putting the motion and decision to ensure it was capable of delivery to the State Government. I understand that part of the motion supported your recommendation with respect to dwellings over the next 10 years. I am very fearful that the recission motion and month’s delay could place council’s decision now at risk! Thousands of submissions were received by council in the last two weeks supporting the Minister’s letter and your submissions to council. I am aware that the Minister for Planning is being lobbied by the Urban Taskforce to change his decision. https://www.urbantaskforce.com.au//200915-Ltr-Robert-Stoke Minister Stokes’ letter was clear and very much supported by the community, that existing capacity and controls was sufficient for Ku-ring-gai as the previous decade of development had already added a high 20% to the area's population. Surely nothing has changed with regard to this directive of only 2 weeks ago. Are my concerns justified that a delay could put the proposed Draft Housing Strategy which was passed last night, now at risk? Kind regards Kathy President Friends of Ku-ring-gai Environment Inc" "

15.01.2022 Minister Rob Stokes explains the Koala policy for NSW "The koala policy is based on science, reason and democracy. The political debate about the koala policy should be based on the same ideals. The fundamental question remains: why would anyone not protect our koalas?... We are in the midst of a global pandemic, and we have clear, strong laws to protect koalas. So why on earth is Mr Barilaro trying to weaken koala laws why now, why ever?"

14.01.2022 DEVELOPER LOBBY GROUP WARNS NSW PLANNING MINISTER "IT IS NOT TOO LATE FOR YOU, MINISTER ..." It seems the developers' lobby group Urban Taskforce didn't like Planning Minister Rob Stokes writing a nice letter to Ku-ring-gai Council advising them "The Members of Parliament representing your local area have been correct to identify that the target discussed with the Greater Sydney Commission is not a legal requirement upon Council by the Government". Minister Stokes letter con...tinued "Council is responsible for deciding the number of dwellings in its local housing supply target and how it is accommodated within the local government area" and that "Council should carefully consider whether the housing target determined with the GSC accords with the expectations of the community". Urban Taskforce apparently got hold of a copy of that letter and wrote to the Minister telling him "It's not too late for you, Minister, to re-assert the need for population growth spread fairly across all Councils". "It now appears, through the letter that has been sent (by the Minister to Ku-ring-gai Council), that you have simply let them off the hook", Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest told Minister Stokes. Minister Stokes took the developers' lobbyist's advice and the result was the Minister's warning sent to all councils that BPN posted on Friday, "Minister 'threatens' to remove councils planning powers". Let us make it quite clear, BPN does not think that a developers' lobby group should be advising any Minister on how to conduct their portfolio. Urban Taskforce made in quite clear on 8 April 2020 just what is happening within the planning system, saying "It is no-wonder that the NSW Treasury has been the agency driving planning reform in NSW". BPN certainly does not think that is how any planning system should be run. Planning should be the remit of the Planning Minister not any other Minister, not even the Treasurer. No Council, and particularly Ku-ring-gai residents, should allow the character of their suburbs to be irrevocably destroyed by emboldened developers and their lobbyists. We encourage Ku-ring-gai residents to write to their Liberal Members of Parliament expressing their concern at this unprecedented attack on their democracy and on their shire. Otherwise Urban Taskforce will next be demanding Minister Stokes repeal his Department's recent changes to the Seniors Housing SEPP in thirteen Local Government Areas. Comments Write a comment... Jane Hearn That is an amazing straight out threat to the minister and the community. Time ABC did a four corners report on urban taskforce who just like Murdoch welds too much power in NSW.

14.01.2022 FOKE's latest newsletter

11.01.2022 Please act and share.

11.01.2022 FOKE's latest newsletter.

11.01.2022 MINISTER 'THREATENS' TO REMOVE COUNCILS PLANNING POWERS "If councils don't want to lead planning for growth at a local level, it will simply mean the Government will need to take more direct action" says NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes. Minister Stokes 'offers' to do the planning work for Ku-ring-gai Council if they aren't going to participate in "taking responsibility to plan for and manage growth across Greater Sydney". Let us be very clear Minister Stokes - this is not a ...collaborative approach. This is telling local councils if they don't do what they're told the NSW Government will take control of their council planning. Only developers believe that the current "collaborative approach" has worked well. Most Sydney residents view the Government's approach of bulldoze the 'burbs and toss up the towers is not benefiting them in any way. See more

11.01.2022 Tony Recsei's article in Newgeography "High Density and Sustainability" http://www.newgeography.com//006840-high-density-and-susta

09.01.2022 While the clear links between viral disease emergence and wildlife and habitat destruction are now well established, Australia is failing to invest COVID-19 stimulus funds in nature conservation. In fact, we're going in the opposite direction. Fast-tracking controversial resource development projects that will likely harm our already very fragile environment. "We have yet more evidence regarding the origin, emergence and impact of pandemics from a new report by the Intergov...ernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Not only do novel zoonotic diseases pose an existential threat to health and welfare but without preventative strategies, we are likely to see even more outbreaks in the future. The report is unequivocal: The underlying causes of pandemics are the same global environmental changes that drive biodiversity loss and climate change. See more

09.01.2022 Letters in response to the Minister's threat to take over the planning for Ku-ring-gai! Stokes’ blunt threat to council misses the point It needs to be pointed out to Rob Stokes and his cheerleader developer mates that in resisting state government-led destructive over-development of their area, Kuring-gai councillors are doing ‘‘what they are elected to do’’ carry out the will of the overwhelming majority of people who elected them while working within the legal framework ...the government itself devised (‘‘Planning Minister threatens to intervene in council approvals’’, September 30). He’s not ‘‘encouraging them to hand over their powers’’. He’s threatening to take them. It’s no wonder we distrust our politicians when they continually abuse our democratic system. Elisabeth Goodsall, Wahroonga How dare Stokes threaten Ku-ring-gai council for not toeing the line on their plans to turn Sydney into a high-rise slum for investors on the back of developer donations and lobbying. Yes, Minister, communities are passionate about local planning angry, in fact, that it is the NSW government that has been responsible for the loss of so much heritage and character, mature trees and defective residential towers. The NSW government has also left social and affordable housing to the poorly regulated market. How about your government take responsibility for that, Minister? Marie Healy, Hurlstone Park

08.01.2022 Minister Kean stated: If we don’t move at all, if we don’t move fast enough or head in the wrong direction then NSW and Australia could find itself on the wrong side of megatrends like rising carbon-based protectionism while other economies steal our march in new clean technologies and industries, Mr Kean will say. There is a real risk that we become a rust bucket state. He said the state should borrow to fast-track new projects such as hydrogen or new low emissions industrial precincts. "Not just because it’s good for the environment but because it’s good for the state, the country, and it’s the kind of economy our kids will prosper from," Mr Kean will tell the summit.

07.01.2022 Miniter Stokes coming under increasing criticism over misinformation and confused housing targets Brickbats fly at old housing targets ‘DEVELOPERS’ DISNEYLAND’ EXCLUSIVE Andrew Taylor...Continue reading

05.01.2022 It is clear the Urban Taskforce is taking a very keen interest and keeping the spotlight on Ku-ring-gai and how the Minister responds considering Minister Stokes threatened to intervene in Ku-ring-gai's planning . A quote from the latest Urban Taskforce letter to its members.......... "Housing Targets will this be a tale of two cities? On Tuesday night Campbelltown Council quietly adopted their Local Housing Strategy. Campbelltown’s Housing Strategy broadly aligns with th...e 5-10 year housing targets set by the GSC by planning for an additional 4,700 to 8,200 dwellings to be delivered between 2021 and 2026. It is a very different story on the northern side of the City. In case you missed it, Ku-ring-gai Council refused to adopt the draft Strategy reported to Council by their own planners. The planners’ Strategy set out the plan to deliver on the GSC's modest 6-10 year local housing targets of 3,000 to 3,600 additional dwellings. Instead, Council resolved to limit new housing in Ku-ring-gai over the next 6-10 years to existing zoned capacity, equating to just 250 additional dwellings. Minister Stokes warned he could appoint a planning administrator to Ku-ring-gai Council, and in Thursday’s Sydney Morning Herald accused the Council of "throwing their toys out of the cot" for attempting to abandon GSC housing targets. NSW Opposition Labor MLC Adam Searle challenged Mr Stokes to hold his ground against the council saying other parts of Sydney had taken a lot of development and not received their fair share of infrastructure. Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest was quoted in the article: "Is the Minister for Planning going to allow a council on the north-west fringe of the city to effectively give the future development of Sydney and the target set by the Greater Sydney Commission the bird?" Tom Forrest CEO

05.01.2022 A brighter future for Lithgow. Please act and share!

05.01.2022 What this article fails to mention is that the Planning Minister Rob Stokes appeared to change his tone only after Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest sent a letter to the Minister which said the following: "It appears that Ku-ring-gai Council has protested that they simply do not want to assist with the economic growth of Greater Sydney and they complained to their local MPs. It now appears, through the letter that as been sent, that you have simply let them off the hook." "If c...ouncils don’t want to lead planning for growth at a local level, it will simply mean the government will need to take more direct action. If Ku-ring-gai Council doesn’t want to take on that responsibility, they are welcome to ask the government to do the work for them," Mr Stokes wrote. In a newsletter on Monday, Cr Anderson - a former staffer to one-time federal Liberal leader Brendan Nelson - said Mr Stokes' letter appeared to threaten government intervention, and represented a "stark contrast" to his earlier response. Asked by the Herald whether she had responded to it, Cr Anderson replied, "I never respond to anything that even remotely appears to be a threat." See more

04.01.2022 Please help support the heritage listing of the Killara Bowling Club and Killara Tennis Club. The clubs were founded by JG Edwards the "Father of Killara" and are 105 years old and part of Killara's rich heritage and history. Please share the petition with friends and family.

04.01.2022 Both the federal and NSW Government has done such a good job at rewriting legislation to favour property developer and mining interests that sooner or later big business interests won't even see the need to donate to our big political parties. Nevertheless, this article highlights why political donation reform is so necessary and overdue. "At the same time, the High Court also struck down a 2018 federal law that said property developers could ignore state laws banning them fr...om making general donations to political parties. (Yes federal parliament really did pass a law overriding state anti-corruption powers!) The High Court said federal parliament had no power to regulate political donations that merely might be used for federal campaigns. The legislation passed last week overrides state bans on property developer donations in two ways. First, it introduces a new provision to replace the 2018 federal law struck down by the High Court. This provision allows property developers (and others banned from making donations under state laws) to ignore state laws banning them from making political donation where the donation is for federal purposes. Second, the legislation allows property developers and political parties to ignore state laws requiring that donations be disclosed. In NSW and Queensland, donations of $1,000 or more need to be disclosed. Under the new federal law, only donations of $14,300 or more made by property developers for federal purposes need to be disclosed. See more

04.01.2022 FOKE's latest newsletter.

03.01.2022 It is clear the State Government and the Minister for Planning has gone into damage control over the Minister's debacle! To be told one thing by the Minister and then to have it retracted just two weeks later - that is the real issue for the people of Ku-ring-gai! There has been no explanation by MPs Jonathan O'Dea or Alister Henksens for the Minister’s complete backflip other than to criticise and lay the blame at the Mayor and council, which is divisive in the extreme!... Where is the transparency and explanation from the Minister as to what has occurred in the past two weeks for his complete contradictory advice ? The people of Ku-ring-gai deserve accountability and transparency from the State Government as to the reason for the Minister’s reversal! It is clear the State Government has been in the grips of the developers for many years. One only has to read the public communications from developer lobby groups which indicate the level of influence lobby groups have had in changing State planning policies direction and legislation.

03.01.2022 Minister for Planning's Double Speak - Draft Ku-ring-gai Housing Strategy Letter to Ku-ring-gai MP Dear Alister... We wrote to you yesterday with respect to the five councillors that moved a recission motion following the Mayoral Minute being adopted by Council on the Draft Housing Strategy. The was no explanation from the five councillors as to the reasons for their filibuster or delay or their refusal to adopt the Draft Housing Strategy for which they had received thousands of submissions in community support. Did they know something that Ku-ring-gai residents, the Mayor and other four councillors did not know? Are you aware if they were they tipped off regarding the pending Minister’s Message which Council received yesterday just the following day after the Council supported the proposed amended Draft Housing Strategy - a strategy that would not only conform to the Minister’s letter of 8 September but also to your submissions and that of Jonathan O’Dea to Council? If you are aware, we look forward to your explanation as to what may have occurred within the last couple of days. The people of Ku-ring-gai deserve better from our politicians than to be told one thing then told another! Kind regards Kathy President Friends of Ku-ring-gai Environment Inc. PO Box 403 KILLARA NSW 2071

03.01.2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwOvBv8RLmo Amanda Gorman poet laureate "Ëarthrise" The following poem by Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of the United States Amanda Gorman(link is external) was read from stage at the Los Angeles Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training on Tuesday, August 28, 2018....Continue reading

03.01.2022 It looks as if the elimination of the COVID-19 virus will be a long battle. The evidence is mounting that high density facilitates its spread. Research from the United States reveals an alarming rise in the death rate from COVID-19 as density increases. This reports THE DEATH RATE per thousand residents in the HIGHEST DENSITY urban areas to have been EIGHTEEN TIMES that in the lowest density urban areas... {Perspective: US. Covid-19 deaths, Wendell Cox 10 July 20, newgeography) Will these facts stop the NSW government from forcing high density onto communities? Unlikely. In spite of vigorous opposition by resident action groups such as OVERdevelopment yesterday Planning Minister Rob Stokes revealed 6688 more dwellings in buildings up to 42 stories high are to be imposed in St Leonards and Crows Nest.