The End is Nigh

As of the 27th of Nov 2010 Winnellie Newsagency as a shop in the Winnellie Shopping Center will no longer exist. This can be put down to a few small factors and the obvious giant one, the removal of people out of the base housing.

I am not able to continue on due to and enormous drop in revenue and a continuing increase in rents, these 2 factors are the most crippling and have forced me into the decision, my house or my business, in this climate the house is the obvious choice.

I will continue the delivery run in the short-term as I sort through the complexities of closing down, this will maintain some services at least, in the longterm I may only be the start of the rot for the center, only time will tell.

THE FIGHT CONTINUES

The Save Eaton Campaign is still going to continue and I will still support it, there are some important things that need to change in regards to Defence’s handling of this matter, the saving of the houses is only the beginning, there needs to be a fundamental change in the way Defence makes these decisions so that people like myself have enough notice to make the changes that will ensure survival. We are only the thin edge of the wedge, what about all the people who live around here as well that will lose services because someone didn’t feel that we needed to be informed of the changes, how would the people making these decisions feel if they came to work one day and realised that all their hard work for the last 10 or 20 years was stripped away from them without so much as a heads up ?     They could have told us  2 years ago when these decisions were made and we would have had a chance of surviving as a business.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Irony is something I have been dwelling on for some time now, I have been continually coming up with new examples of it, here’s the latest…

Defence puts a great deal of effort avoiding collateral damage in the war zone, they develop new methods, equipment and new weapons to ensure that there is minimal risk to civilians and property, no mean feat really and I think what they do is what we all would expect of them. It’s a shame that in our own country that they have failed miserably in showing the same concern for people when making decisions on the magnitude of removing 395 houses.

Save Eaton

I have been involved with a group that we have called ‘Save Eaton’, that being the RAAF Base Houses and obviously the Suburb as well, we are going back on the trail of trying to save the houses as the needs of the many(Territorians) in this case should outweigh the needs of the few(Defence).

The group consists of local business affected by the removal of the houses, Local housing organisations, Ludmilla School council and other concerned individuals. Our main aim is to drive local community support to a National level to save these houses and insist change to occur for the benefit of the community and not just the narrow-minded views of a few in Canberra.

We are only in the early stages so far and hope to get a public meeting up and get this campaign going strong. It should be noted that we have the continued support of both Dave Tollner and Natasha Griggs in this effort, it should also be noted that will need Territorian’s support in this matter and would hope that you will register your support at the website…..WHY I hear you ask?    Well its simple, the housing problem is starting to hit a crisis point in Darwin, not just with people looking for accommodation but also with Public and in particular Crisis Housing which now is at 12 months on the waiting list…..and we want to destroy a whole suburb to satisfy the needs of a few….Business is struggling particularly with retention rates of people at all time lows due to the high cost of living, and to compound that people do not have the spare cash to spend and things, therefore throwing another punishing blow to small and medium business. All this has a flow on effect to everything around us, costs go up, less money is being spent and fewer services will be available until it all hits the fan.

Our objective in the end is to eventually put 395 houses back into play and therefore release some of the pressure that is building up on people, I know it’s not enough but it is a good start and the cost of doing it this way is but a fraction of what Muirhead and the like will cost and will also be very popular with Buyers, Renters and Public housing alike, surely that is a good reason to go with supporting this initiative.

Goto www.saveeaton.com and register your support today or ring 0408 254184  

We ask nothing of you but your support, we would like this to be a Bi-partison action  and so bring all sides to fight for what is good for Territorians, time will tell on that one, but we can dream.

Who really cares??

No. of Houses vacant on Raaf Base Darwin

 

Its got to be a worry when people come into your shop and say that they are leaving town because they cannot find affordable housing in Darwin and here we are with 124 houses that are vacant and will eventually be demolished because some autocrat in Canberra deems that to be a good idea.

Still Defence chooses not engage the businesses or community in regards to this matter.

Still the Local “Labor” Government chooses to sit on their hands and do nothing but comply with edicts from south, and all the while we have to decide as to whether it is a good idea to even risk spending more money to move elsewhere or just close………….bloody pathetic!!!

Independence

The last 10 or so days have been difficult to sit and watch, the longer the stalemate continues the more likely as a business we are to call it a day, so I have decided to vent a little.

To my way of thinking the Independents should have made a decision by now, this constant horsetrading is ridiculous, if anyone believes it will make a difference they should probably get a reality check. The worst part is that everything they appear to be fighting for is largely regional, not National, so we continue down the same road, just in a  different clapped out car…….. So much for the ‘Aura’ of Independence!

We have not been able to talk to Defence due to this ‘piss-farting around’, I cannot  get a clear picture to work with and make some sane decisions as to our future. I don’t want to appear to be impatient but we have been doing this for nearly 8 months and I am getting tired of all the ‘too and fro’.

While we cannot talk to Defence, we cannot get a grip on our future, this is not just about me, there are 8 other businesses in limbo at the moment and need some kind of answer one way or the other. Standing around waiting for something to happen is expensive and incredibly frustrating.

We have a good offer to move but the problem is that approx $50k is required, if I were to commit that and it all go wrong, then it is the long grass for me, the risk is enticing and also nerve-wracking at the same time. Couple that with the demands of Tattersalls for moving and Shopfits and I ask myself why would I bother at all with this madness! When speaking with Tattersalls I got the impression that nothing will move quickly at all, therefore hindering anymore quick decisions. Tattersalls require a ”National” shopfitter to do the Tatts counter, and require 10 weeks just to make a decision about moving the shop, and I thought public servants were slow.

I have canvassed one shopfitter for a new counter and so far the process is moving forward, I will talk again to Tattersalls next week when I have gathered more information for them, we don’t want to close, but how long before moving becomes more trouble than it is worth, we have to use a shopfitter from another state……….BLOODY MADNESS.

I have also started looking at other avenues for revenue streams that will help with the move, we can’t rely on traditional Newsagency thinking anymore we have to expand on our goals, we will look more to online services and other Service type businesses for change, newspapers and Magazines can no longer  be the basis of our business, this is going to require more long hours and sleepless nights to make it work. One of the perks of moving out will be the better environment to work in and the new building  with a roof that doesn’t leak in the wet, the problems will be the change of address and complete change of demographic, this alone scares the bejesus out of me.

The good thing to come from our other suppliers has been the positive response from them in regards to us moving, and that has spurred me on……… this does help with the positive thinking needed for such a change and I am grateful for their support.

Never Rains…….

Well we had a win with Natasha Griggs on Saturday, one duck down, this I feel is going to be a slow and laborious process. So I open the paper and there it is…..Barry Doyle, quoting Natasha as saying that she now doesn’t think that the houses can be excised from the Base……a round with Mike Tyson in the ring would be easier to deal with than reading that first thing. My enquiries say this has been taken out of context ie. ‘that if a Labour Govt got in’.

This by no means over, but we have got a start, the Liberals need to form Govt for us to ever have a chance, and I think they are going to have to be pragmatic to achieve this…….heres hoping from my point of view.

Unfortunately we have to wait for people to finish horse trading to know who to lobby if the Coalition don’t succeed, do we target the Greens, Independents or do we go after a slightly bruised Labor Party…….we seem to be caught in a constricted place with very few moves, we havent given up yet, we are simply restrategizing…….if anyone has some ideas we would be pleased to hear from you as there is a way to go on this issue.

We are still going to have to contend with Defence, however we have seen some signs of life in regards to the housing, whether that has anything to do with us is anyones guess……but you never know. There are some suggestions that they will come back to us……when is the big question??

I have however decided that one way or the other that some things are going to change, we will start negotiations with a developer this week in regards to moving to a new site, this is only a sniff to see if it is worth the grief, I will also be laying some demands on the current Landlord in regards to rent and air-conditioning, both need to be sorted especially with the build-up coming. If all this fails I will be having Christmas without worrying about Newspapers….this still sounds sooooooo good!

Bugger All

 

The Chamber of Commerce on Monday 16 Aug had a Lunch and Question Time with both Damian Hale and Natasha Griggs, I unfortunately was unable to attend. However some of my colleagues where and one of them was able to record it, so I was able to watch it and see for myself  what actually happened.

What I would really like from Damian is a solid position in regards to the houses and the businesses that are affected by this decision, he seems to beat around the bush a lot when asked this question, ” we support Defences position and the houses have to go”, but the ” after the election we will work to help these businesses” seems to contradict that very statement, perhaps he is trapped within Labors position and cannot extricate himself, if this is the case then clearly state this, you were able to go against Labor policy on Muckaty Station, surely as taxpayers we are also entitled to the same representation in this matter. Or maybe we should take the same thing out of that and treat our future as a forgone conclusion.

Recently it has occurred to me that we have become more accepting of bad decisions or poor judgement of our elected representatives, I wonder if this not because we just don’t have the time anymore or whether we doubt our ability to change what is going on.

If one thing has come out of this fight with Defence it has been the decisions made by bureaucrats and politicians that have both baffled and astounded me, I appreciate that our political system is adversarial, but I wonder when that actually started to impede good judgement and smart decisions in relations to our lives.

By this I mean that we elect people and send them to Canberra and expect them to consider all the facts when making decisions on our behalf and at least expect that those decisions will actually improve our lives, not make them harder. I would at least expect that bureaucrats would at least look at everything including the collateral damage they might inadvertently inflict on others and consider them in those decisions, or at least give us sufficient warning that this is coming.

From my inquiries, I have worked out that Defence probably would have made a decision on the Housing as far back as 2005/6 when Lyons was put into motion, this was intimated by Damian in his answer on Monday as well, it seems the decision the reevaluate the standards for Defence housing in 2007 would have been part of this process,  if this is the case,  this makes their decision to keep us out of the loop even harder to swallow.

I wonder why it would have been so difficult to at least inform businesses in the area that this was coming so that they could plan more appropriately for the future.

Unfortunately it appears the politicians have decided that this does not seem to suit them and they would rather that these things do not come out untill it is a forgone conclusion, this malaise would appear to be starting to infect government departments as well.

So what comes of all this?  Not a lot I suspect, we have to fight our battles and hope at sometime things might change for the better, whatever the election brings I suspect our future rides on the people who have all the say and none of the responsibility no matter who wins the election.

Hansard

Today I have been reading Hansard from the 10th of Aug, pretty good stuff, the amazing thing for me is the Govt inaction on housing and their bleating about how much they have done, it should be noted that they have less than 400 projects on the go and some of them will not be completed untill 2012, not really good enough people.

Another problem is they seem to agree that the RAAF base houses would be good to save but they think the CLP suggestion that it could relieve Territory Housings problems that they would inevitably cause a “Cornwallis Circ” like problem, pretty weak argument. I wonder if all those people waiting on the list agree with you and maybe the problems with Cornwallis circ had more to do with poor management than anything.  

If you intend to build 1200 homes on a possible 2500 blocks in the next couple of years for low-cost housing then I think your problems are going to be bigger than a few places on the RAAF Base, your logic is somewhat flawed I think. Perhaps you should also consider that the vast amount of problems from Territory Housing relate to under resourcing and poor staffing as aside from overloading which already exists, perhaps the solution for Territory Housing would be to actually give it resources to act with like a few houses from Eaton. 

They also seem concerned about Defence saying they want the land but are not sure themselves what Defence want it  for?  They keep using words like ‘Strategic Purposes’ and ‘Contingencies’ so as to deflect from actually answering the question, the only reason it is complicated for the Govt is because they allow it to be by doing nothing.

Delia Lawrie also supported the amendment brought forward by Gerry Wood that the govt support the saving of these houses, strange that she then qualifies this statement by not wanting to save them in situ but removing them, this helps no one and continues the problems of Housing shortages and still leaves the 8 businesses high and dry.   Thanks Delia!!

It should be argued that when John Howard suggested that Defences ‘Strategic Issues’ needed to be taken into account, I am pretty sure he didn’t mean to lie down and let them have their way always, there has to be give and take in everything and Defence have to accept that as a given. The Territory Govt needs to stand up and fight back occasionally,  as voters we demand this of our representatives, Labor or CLP.

 I am more prepared to believe that the Govt are actually reluctant to challenge Defence on these houses because of political concerns rather than good governance.

Defence Support Hub

I have recently come across a proposal for a Defence Support Hub , the interesting thing about this is the placement, well away from everything that already exists and  importantly its sole purpose to support the Defence force. I wonder when Defence maybe changes its mind in 5, 10 or even 15 years time as to its needs will it give Industry and local businesses appropriate notice of these developments, like they did us. I recognise that we do not represent what Defence regards as support industries, but perhaps we deserved more than just being hung out to dry with no consultation at all, I hope the people who support this proposal don’t end up with the same grief we are getting.

For what it is worth I am not against the proposal, just suggesting that caution should be shown by business when dealing with people that dont consider others in their deliberations now or into the future.

Irony’s Side Effects

The next nine days are going to be hard work for me, the future of my business hangs on an election. I find a curious irony in this though, this  is maybe madness setting in or maybe enlightenment or perhaps a side effect of both, who knows?  

In this I mean if Labor were to win I would have to close the business as the houses will be de-commissioned and that represents too big of a loss for us to continue, however my stress levels will inevitably come down and I will have something I haven’t had for 6 years, a life, allbeit living in the long grass.

If the Liberals win I will maybe stay open depending on the time line for action, therefore continuing my elevated stress levels and lack of a life, crazy isn’t it?  So what is best for me?  I was starting to wonder that somewhat, but the loss of 15-20 years of hard work getting me here is a hell of a deterrent to giving up yet, and so Irony joins the fray clawing away at my sanity along with stress and a little madness.

The best perk in all this is that my weight loss program is getting a kick along from all the stress, had to be something good in all this!!

Isnt Irony something?

Unbelievable

Sometimes words cannot explain how I feel after reading about the Damian Hale’s solution to Housing in Darwin.

Has he considered we are not all stupid, was there not a similar proposal at the last Election by the Labour Party in regards to this and what happened there?? Nothing at all. More importantly where is all this land coming from, and when will it be released for this to start?  Where in the CBD are we planning all these pseudo slums, I am sure people who have paid a bomb for their places will  be overjoyed to see these places popping up next door to them, assuming there is room for them somewhere. As a policy there seems to be more holes than a sieve.

I was of the understanding that there would be solution in this release for the problem that Ludmilla School was facing in regards to student numbers, maybe I got that wrong? Apparently they can hang on until Bagot is redeveloped, that will in itself be interesting as much as 1/4 of it comes into the section of the ANEF map that excludes development for residential housing. Further more I have been informed that could take as long as 5 years to get that particular project up and running, it seems a long time for Ludmilla school to hang on when the Raaf Base will be empty in 3 years, coupled with that Defence Establishment Berrimah is also  removing families, not to mention 7 RAR that is  being sent to Edinburgh in SA, how many families is that over the next 3 years and how do they propose to fill that hole.

The argument that the Land is actually Defence land is not strictly true, it is in fact Commonwealth Land and ”inalienably belongs to the whole nation’, and  is subject to the Governments requirements whatever they may be, whether Defence want it or not. For the NT News Editorial to suggest that Defence would never give up land quietly you have to wonder who they have been talking too, and why they think Defence will not respond to the Governments wishes . I have never suggested that Defence be put in a position that forces their hand, what we have always wanted was consultation with them. We have been put in this position of choosing sides due to fact that Defence was in stealth mode and failed to keep people informed of developments, ‘Interested Parties’ like us at Winnellie Shopping Centre.

Also we have Barry Doyle from NT News commenting on the houses and costs associated along with noise problems, Actually Barry a good percentage of them are at civilian level, and as for noise problems, there is always the ‘buyer beware clause’ and more importantly the planes will not be based in Darwin at all,  it should be said that without those houses that up to 8 businesses will have to either close permanently of move away from the area therefore denying the people left here the services that currently exist including defence personnel.

As for moving them the cost will be somewhat higher, the quotes we got were actually at least $50,000, plus any other associated costs. However this does not fix our problem, it only mitigates the Governments problems, perhaps we are not really an issue for them.

Food for Thought

I have just come into possesion of a report that dates back to 1984,  this was in relation to ‘Improvements to On-Base Housing, Raaf Base Darwin’.

Having read this I decided that maybe I might apply some of the logic that was being put into play back then in regards to RAAF Base Housing, they effectively had 3 options for what to do with them.

Option 1 was to renovate

Option 2 was to build new

Option 3 was to lease appropriate properties locally

As they needed to bring up to a suitable standard 248 out of 394 houses, they basically decided on option 4, which was a combination of 1 and 2. This seems to have been decided on what was the most cost effective way of going forward with the most benefit. This a simple view of what was decided and the Report can be viewed from the link supplied.

I decided that I would just apply in a simplistic manner what the costs would be from a similar process today, the numbers I have used are basic and do not necessarily represent actual costs but a rather an estimate based on known information.

Approx 326 Houses are actually in a position that can be redeveloped, the other 69 are currently within the ANEF zone that precludes any Redevelopment so we wont include them. I also have allowed 12 years as the Average life as that is what DHA lease agreements max out at for new houses.

Option 1. Renovation estimated that $200,000 would probally be sufficent to bring houses up to an appropriate standard.

326 x $200,000 =$65.2 M

Option 2. Redevelopment i.e. Build new houses

326 x $500,000 = $163 M 

I chose $500,000 as a round number for a DHA standard House

Option 3. Leasing at current rents Approx $700.00 per week for houses

$700 x 52 weeks x 12 months x 326 houses =$142 M

These options have not allowed for the rent that people pay.

Options 1 and 2  in combination were recommended back in 1984 as they represented the best value at the time in regards to the problem the housing was presenting. I appreciate that times have changed and so have policies, but I wonder if the fiscal responsibility that was on display then by the Labour Govt is still being shown today in the decisions being made by the current Govt. 

I know that Defence wants the land but they have continuously declined to say what for. This stubborness to engage in the debate has only hastened the political intervention in this issue.

In the current situation with the businesses is that we have been sidelined until after the election as Defence have now said that because of that they cannot engage. I wonder if that in itself is not a ploy, they could easily be using this time to work out suitable solutions with business, locals and local govt who are affected by this and have options ready for the New Govt whoever they may be. This would have enabled all parties to continue to be in discussion, instead we are left with politising this issue because we have no other path to go down.