Public housing sell-off
MELBOURNE -- The Victorian Minister for Housing Rob Knowles announced on September 7 that the state government will sell the Emerald Hill Estate in South Melbourne. A public outcry halted a 1973 attempt to sell the estate. The estate consists of 57 commercial properties with public housing units above. Tenants didn't any notification from the government, only hearing of the plans through the media. A 60-strong public meeting on November 8 vowed to fight the decision. Speakers drew attention to the fact that there are 54,000 households on the waiting list for public housing, 960 of them in South Melbourne. For more information call the South Melbourne Public Tenants Association on 9696 0005.
Inquiry finds Fraser Island neglect
BRISBANE -- Australia's most prized World Heritage areas were being seriously degraded through lack of funding and poor management, a Commonwealth Inquiry into World Heritage areas was told on November 15. Inquiry chairperson John Langmore said some World Heritage properties were "extraordinarily badly funded". Fraser Island was one of the worst examples, he said. Fraser was being referred to as "the Third World Heritage area", when compared with other well-funded sites such as Uluru, Kakadu or the Great Barrier Reef, according to Fraser Island Association spokesperson George Done.
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