Unlike domestic students in NSW, international students are not eligible for travel concessions. In 2006, this was determined to be racial discrimination, but still today the practice continues. For decades students, student organisations, universities and community groups have been campaigning for international students to be able to have equal access to travel concessions as their local counterparts. Now is the time for us to finally fix this - and end this discrimination in our laws. Urge the Premier to support the Bill to grant international students travel concessions - Sign the Petition here.  On 3 June 2020, Jenny Leong MP, Greens NSW Multicultural spokesperson and Member for Newtown introduced a Bill to allow international student access to travel concessions. International students and other non-citizens were also hit particularly hard during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, and were excluded from the income support and health care given to Australian citizens. Read about our work to support international students and non-citizens during the pandemic here. Jenny spoke in the NSW parliament on March 23, 2021 on the need for international students to be able to access travel concessions. You can see this speech here. 

Our office has shared concerns with the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre about the lack of support services available to residents in Alice St Public Housing. We’re really pleased to be now regularly attending outreach sessions with Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, and a range of other support services to ensure that the tenants can access support if they need it. The regular outreach will take place at Matt Hogan Reserve, Newtown on the first Tuesday of each month from 1030am-1230pm.

Newtown is in desperate need of public toilets - with the only toilets available currently in the train station (where you need to pay for a ticket) or in private businesses. This is simply not good enough for a large and busy part of the inner city. We are so glad to see that the Inner West Council is finally planning to install some toilets in Camperdown Memorial Rest Park. It is essential that this facility is gender neutral, so that they are inclusive of everyone in our community. Most modern gender neutral toilets are a series of single, separate cubicles with their own hand basin. Photo from Inner West Council Public Toilet Strategy (Part 7) which can be found here.   We will continue to campaign for public amenities in other key locations such as near the Brown St Community Hall.

Darlington Public School is getting a new school building! The above image shows concept art for the Darlington Public School redevelopment. The redevelopment will include a new library, new teaching and learning spaces, preschool classrooms, a new canteen, a new hall, covered outdoor learning areas, and new staff facilities. More details about the planned upgrade can be found here. We have worked closely with the school community to ensure that they are involved in the early stages of planning for the Darlington Public School Upgrade. You can find updates from the school here.

The site and area in Redfern known as The Block is highly significant in terms of Aboriginal cultural and social heritage in NSW and Australia. Redfern is recognized for its rich history of Aboriginal culture, activism and community building. This Pemulwuy Project development came at the end of many decades of plans and engagement by members of the Redfern Aboriginal community to maintain and improve Aboriginal housing on this site.  The approved plans for student accommodation on the site have radically altered the original intent of the land usage, by premising excessive student accommodation which will effectively diminish the Aboriginal cultural and social character and historical significance of The Block and all the Aboriginal community areas in its vicinity. The Greens submission to the Independent Planning Commission NSW in Nov 2018, opposed the Pemulwuy Concept Plan due to the provision of only a small number of affordable homes for aboriginal people and other facilities, and the provision of massive student housing of some 596 student beds with only 110 of these available as subsidized student housing for Aboriginal students. See media comment by Jenny Leong MP. More information on The Greens stance here and here.

After many years of community campaigning for Redfern station to be made accessible, Transport for NSW finally released it’s plan in November 2019 to provide an accessibility upgrade to Redfern Station. This plan involves building a new concourse and six lifts accessing Platforms 1-10 with entrances on Little Eveleigh Street and Marian Street but no access to Platforms 11-12 at this stage. The plan can be seen here. This plan was not supported by the local community and community groups for a range of reasons including impacts on local streets, resident amenity and pedestrian and cyclist safety due to the location of the new railway concourse as well as lack of connectivity within the precinct. You can read more about this here.   

Our office held concerns that the Community Rooms in Public Housing across the electorate were not reopening with Covid safe guidelines in line with the rest of the community in recent months. Our office wrote to the Housing Minister Gareth Ward and worked with the community to request that the spaces are reopened.  We were pleased to see that the Department of Communities and Justice have released Covid safe guidelines for community groups wanting to use the space. We have visited many community rooms across the electorate including at Surry Hills, Redfern and Newtown public housing blocks to ensure that they are reopening and available for tenants. We will continue to monitor the use of the community rooms so they are available for support services and tenant enjoyment. Photo taken at recent Alice St Public Housing outreach event.

Success! Finally another local railway station in the Newtown Electorate is going to soon be accessible to everyone with new lifts and a 2nd entrance underway. After strong lobbying by the local community and Friends of Erskineville over years, the Erskineville Station accessibility upgrade will soon be completed.  This is a big win for the community and Jenny was happy to be able to work with and advocate for this upgrade by representations to the government and by lodging a petition in Oct 2020 on behalf of the Friends of Erskineville for a 2nd entrance at Erskineville station.   Full details of the upgrade can be found here. Concept art for the Erskineville station upgrades. Photo: Transport for NSW After lobbying by local residents and Member for Newtown, Jenny Leong, Transport for NSW announced that Erskineville and St Peters stations will remain open during construction of the Sydney Metro, in a statement given to the Sydney Central newspaper. Erskineville and St Peters are currently on the Bankstown line, which is being re-purposed to become part of the privately operated Sydney Metro line. All other stations on the line will be closed during construction of the Metro, with trains being replaced by buses for years. We welcome the Transport for NSW announcement that Erskineville and St Peters will be serviced by trains from another line and will not be closed for the construction period. As a result of the work, commuters at St Peters and Erskineville will soon travel exclusively on the T4 Illawarra line, linking them directly to Martin Place and the eastern suburbs.  

Transport for NSW has finally announced an accessibility upgrade for St Peters Station, including new lifts and a family accessible toilet, to be completed in 2023. Full details of the upgrade can be found here.   In related news, after lobbying by local residents and Member for Newtown, Jenny Leong, Transport for NSW announced that Erskineville and St Peters stations will remain open during construction of the Sydney Metro, in a statement given to the Sydney Central newspaper. Erskineville and St Peters are currently on the Bankstown line, which is being re-purposed to become part of the privately operated Sydney Metro line. All other stations on the line will be closed during construction of the Metro, with trains being replaced by buses for years. As a result of the work, commuters at St Peters and Erskineville will soon travel exclusively on the T4 Illawarra line, linking them directly to Martin Place and the eastern suburbs.

The government via the NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) has proposed to redevelop the Explorer Street public housing estate in South Eveleigh. This proposal is based on the LAHC Communities Plus project formula which allows for only 30% social housing but 70% private housing on public land. This model is opposed by the Greens who are calling for an end to all privatisation of public lands and public housing. We reject the proposal to demolish the existing public housing in Explorer Street and Aurora Place in South Eveleigh to build high density large scale housing with 70% being sold off as private dwellings. We demand that public land is held by the public for the public and that the government properly maintains existing public housing while providing massive financial investment in more public housing to cover the needs of those 100,000 + people on the waiting list. See Jenny Leong’s Media release on the South Eveleigh Explorer Street redevelopment. See Jenny Leong’s Notice of Motion from Nov 2020.

The redevelopment of the Surry Hills Shopping Centre means that residents are living without their local grocery ships for a significant amount of time - the redeveloped shopping centre is due to opening in 2022. In the meantime, the City of Sydney Council is funding a FREE Village to Village Shuttle Services to allow people to access local businesses, hospitals, shopping centres, restaurants and universities. More information about the shuttle bus can be found here. Further background information here. Read more about what the redevelopment will look like here.

Our community knows - and loves - our inner city green spaces, and that includes the wonderful Moore Park. But as we know green space in our city is always under threat from those seeking to make more profit or serve vested interests. It's why we have long advocated for an end to parking on Moore Park and also why we have supported the campaign to open up half of Moore Park Golf Course as a public park. If you live locally and use Moore Park regularly, we would love to hear from you so we can share your views with the NSW Liberal/National Government - so send us a message!   ***   Submission to the Moore Park Master Plan Read our key points here.  Open Up Moore Park Golf Course 20 hectares of new public parkland in the inner city? Yes please! We have voiced our support for the City of Sydney to transform a part of the Moore Park Golf Course into a public park.  You can read our submission here. Currently, the plan by City of Sydney appears to be on hold due to opposition from the NSW Government and golfers.

The M4-M5 Link is an 8 lane tunnel being currently constructed by WestConnex from St Peters to Lilyfield. Below is a screenshot from the interactive map of the route which shows the depth of the tunnel at various locations. Key issues for residents are noise and damage to properties.   You can find out more about the M4-M5 Link here. 

After so many years of supporting the community's calls to make Stanmore Station more accessible, we're pleased that the Government is currently planning upgrades to the station. The plans include: two lifts providing access to all platforms family and easily accessible toilets on Platforms 1/2 accessible ramp from the station to Trafalgar Street regrading of the station underpass regraded station entrance and concourse on Douglas Street kiss and ride bay on Douglas Street new accessible parking space on Douglas Street.   Transport for NSW is asking for community feedback on the plan between Tuesday 1 February to Tuesday 15 February 2022.   To have your say use the online form, email [email protected] or call 1800 684 490.  

We know that the pandemic has had a significant impact on our local shops, local artists and creatives and the buzz of our local community. There are many more empty shops along King Street - and we know that many local neighbourhood high streets are struggling. It is critical that we do all we can to support our locals as well as ensuring the significance of Newtown to our vibrant city. Over the coming months we are keen to hear from you as to what would help revitalise King Street - and support our other local hubs. You can get in touch with our office here and share your ideas. You may also be interested to check out a report from 2017 on the work we did to protect the Newtown vibe in response to the Sydney Lockouts that shows how our community is able to come together in response to significant challenges.