The big brown stain on the WA government’s housingefforts
Story by GaryAdshead
• 3h • 3 min read
Brownlie Towersdestruction main picture WAtoday.© WAtoday
You need look no further than a25-hectare parcel of land in the heart of Bentley, nine kilometres from Perth’sCBD, to understand why the West Australian government has failed to keep upwith the demand for social and affordable housing.
The site between Drummond and Pollock streets known as Brownlie Towerswas an example used by Labor as it huffed and puffed about remedying theprevious government’s inaction before demolishing the housing complex in 2019.
Former housing minister Peter Tinley left voters in no doubt whenprovided a Dorothy Dixer during question time in the state parliament on April12, 2018 by Labor MP Cassie Rowe.
She referred to the “unprecedented revitalisation of the area” and howit will “create jobs, deliver affordable housing”.
Tinley, a former army officer with a booming voice, rose to his feet andbegan eviscerating his political enemy.
“The McGowan government will get on with the failures of the formerLiberal-National government and do what it could not do in 8½ years,” thethen-minister proclaimed.
“We will activate a 25-hectare site and create between 1500 and 2500dwellings. We have rebadged it and called it Bentley 360. We are going out toexpressions of interest in the very near future to find a joint venture partnerfor a multimillion-dollar project.”
He went on to say that MPs had undoubtedly heard similar promises madefor the Brownlie Towers site before, but this time the commitment wasunwavering.
More than six years on, and the government has done absolutely nothing.
Take a look online at a satellite image of the vast area of land soclose to the city centre and all you’ll see is a big brown stain on Labor’shousing policies. So much talk, so much money and so little to show for it.
New Housing Minister John Carey blames the pandemic for stalling any redevelopment.
But that’s just an excuse, because everyone remembers how Labor went outof its way to ensure the homebuilding and construction sectors stayed fullyoperational during COVID.
Reporters regularly attended press conferences on home and apartmentconstruction sites to hear former premier Mark McGowan announce hundreds ofmillions of dollars more in building grants, rebates and concessions for newproperty buyers.
That taxpayers’ money benefited elements of the private buildingindustry while the government failed to roll up its own sleeves and ensurepublic housing needs would be met.
If redeveloping the Brownlie Towers site was so crucial in 2018, whywasn’t it a matter of urgency for a government in 2020 or 2021?
COVID provided it with the licence to spend money on keeping housingconstruction alive in WA, but the government failed to use that licence tofollow through on its own promises.
Instead, the Brownlie Towers saga is back to the drawing board completewith a new line of spin from the government.
“Bentley redevelopment project moves into streamlined delivery,” was theheadline on a press release in February.
What does that even mean?
“A new masterplan for the former Brownlie Towers site in Bentley will bedeveloped in consultation with the local community and relevant stakeholders,”Carey said.
He claimed the pandemic had “changed the economics in deliveringlarge-scale redevelopments”.
Well, Metronet and the billions of dollars in cost blowouts hisgovernment is prepared to absorb suggests otherwise.
Decode Carey’s new Brownlie Towers mantra and what you really have is aquestion of priorities. The redevelopment was a prime concern in 2018, whenTinley wanted to score political points. It’s just a stone in the government’sshoe now.
How Carey, in 2024, can re-heat some of Tinley’s hollow words though iscynical to say the least.
“These are the first steps towards the creation of an inclusivecommunity at Bentley, as part of an important broader urban regeneration project,”he said.
First steps? They were promised in 2018, minister.
