It was a close 5-4 vote, but Liverpool City Council has reversed its decision on the premises of the old Liverpool Bowling Club in Bigge Park and demolition will now go ahead as planned.
With two councillors absent, Cr Wendy Waller (Labor) and Cr Sabrina Mamone, there was little debate at the extraordinary meeting, which was held in the shadow of yet another protest outside the civic centre yesterday from 1pm.
Voting for demolition were the mayor, Ned Mannoun, Gus Balloot, Tony Hadchiti, Mazhar Hadid and Peter Harle and against Ali Karnib, Geoff Sheldon, Anne Stanley and Peter Ristevski.
The decision to proceed came despite a call from Dan Rose of the Gandagara Land Council that demolition should only occur after proper consultation with the original owners of the land in Bigge Park.
Mr Rose eloquently addressed council before it voted in the matter.
“Our ancestors have been here 40,000 years,’’ Mr Rose reminded councillors.
“We just ask that you stop and talk to us before you go ahead,’’ he said.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Our people have written to the council CEO to outline our concerns and we hope you take these into consideration.’’[/social_quote]
The extraordinary meeting was called last Friday in a bid to rescind a decision two days earlier that put on hold demolition of the club premises.
Last week the music shell in Bigge Park was demolished, which was described by some people as an outrage.
It is all part of council plans to make improvements to Bigge Park, one of the oldest public parks in Australia, having been enacted in 1810 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie.
Those opposed to quick demolition were mainly concerned that there had not been enough consideration of the possibility of turning over the building to help Liverpool’s homeless.
Once last week’s decision was rescinded, Mayor Ned Mannoun put forward a motion, which while giving council the authority to proceed with demolition, also asked for the establishment of a homeless task force. Council will also write to both the State and Federal Governments on the homeless issue.
The council also approved a proposal by the mayor to review council’s community consultation process.
Some councillors had expressed concerns council wasn’t consulting enough with the community in recent times.
The actions of Ned Mannoun require some serious scrutiny…why is he rushing to demolish buildings all over Liverpool? We deserve to know the truth behind all this…Liverpool deserves better!