May Open Forum showing the film State of Siege

The state Labor government is gone, but the legislation is still there.

The hard-hitting new documentary State of Siege, which raises some very serious questions about the power of developers under current NSW legislation, is to be screened at the next Thursday Forum in the popular monthly series held by Sustainable Living Armidale (SLA).

The film sets out how in 2005 the NSW government amended the planning law to allow developers of large projects to bypass local government approval altogether and apply directly to the State government for what in practice amounts to a rubber stamp, since almost no such applications have ever been rejected. It details how planning reforms, won in the 1970s by the legendary Jack Mundey and the Builders’ Labourers Federation with their famous green bans, have been whittled away, leaving landowners and local councils powerless to fight against destructive and unsympathetic development. At the time, the BLF’s green bans were critical in saving from destruction some of Sydney’s most historic areas, including the major tourist attraction The Rocks.

While this documentary is set in Sydney, it carries a powerful message which is relevant across the entire NSW state. The film contains interviews with  many well-known personalities, including Jack Mundey, Dick Smith and former Independent MP John Hatton, and compares the NSW Labor government with the corrupt Askin government of the late 60s and early 70s.

State of Siege will be showing at the next SLA Thursday Forum on May 5 at 7 pm at Kent House, 141 Faulkner St (opposite Central Park) followed by light refreshments. All welcome, a gold coin donation appreciated.