Kirrawee Brick Pit Development Proposal

Mr BARRY COLLIER (Miranda—Parliamentary Secretary) [4.52 p.m.]: There are 29 shopfronts in Oak Road Kirrawee. To the west of that small shopping strip is the Sutherland central business district, complete with more than 110 shops. To the east of Kirrawee lies the bustling Gymea village, with more than 100 shops. A further 1.6 kilometres east a very large Westfield Shoppingtown dominates Miranda. One end of the Kirrawee shopping strip is currently a construction zone with the Cronulla rail duplication well underway. The other end of the Kirrawee shopping strip is the old Kirrawee brick pit site. This 4.5 hectare former quarry owned by Sydney Water has not been used for 30 years, and much of the site is now a large hole in the ground which fills with water when it rains.

The Kirrawee shopping strip has long lived in the shadow of Gymea, Sutherland and Miranda and continues to struggle after losing its only bank in 2000. In 2001 I launched the Kirrawee Living Centres project, to which the State Government contributed $500,000. The outcome, following 20 months of extensive community consultation and approval by council, was the Kirrawee Master Plan. Backed by the council's economic development committee, the Master Plan provides a sustainable and economically viable plan for the future of Kirrawee, including the brick pit site. The plan for the site provides a mix of residential and much-needed employment land, and 20 per cent of the site is a public park. After appropriate rezoning the new owners have lodged a development application with council for a staged development.

The proposed $120 million development, stage one, includes two full line supermarkets, Woolworths and Coles, associated shops, possibly a bank, 65 apartments, car parking and the park. The new owners say their proposal, when completed, will employ 600 people in full-time equivalent positions, bringing in $13 million per annum for the local economy. They argue that the proposal will provide convenience for local residents, who do not have a large supermarket in Kirrawee but now have to go to Sutherland, Miranda, Sylvania Southgate, Menai Marketplace and Kareela for their weekly groceries. Sutherland Mayor, David Redmond, and other councillors apparently oppose the supermarket proposal and have done so since rumours first began circulating and even before the development application was lodged. Contrary to their arguments, and like it or not, I am advised by the Department of Planning that a zoning does, in fact, allow supermarkets on the site.

But by far the most vocal opponents of the supermarkets on the site are not the council, not the 28 shopkeepers of Kirrawee but the shopkeepers of the very much larger Gymea and Sutherland shopping centres. Gymea Chamber of Commerce President, Mr Ron Stapleton, and Sutherland Chamber of Commerce Treasurer, Mr Dennis Cato, are running a short-sighted, self-interested scare campaign against the proposed supermarkets at Kirrawee. Mr Stapleton, whose family owns very successful butcher shops in Gymea and Sutherland, told the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader on 1 May that the Kirrawee supermarkets would "kill off local shopping strips" and "destroy local shops and businesses" and "be a disaster for local businesses". In his letter to me Mr Dennis Cato said:

The project will be detrimental to all retail centres in the Shire but devastating to Gymea, Kirrawee and Sutherland centres.

That is very interesting because there are development applications for not one but two supermarkets in the Sutherland centre. So it is okay for Sutherland but not Kirrawee. Interestingly, while Mr Stapleton and Mr Cato say they speak for Kirrawee, I cannot find one public statement in the local newspaper, the Leader, from any shopkeeper at Kirrawee about the brick pit supermarket proposal. Unlike Messrs Stapleton and Cato, I do not want Kirrawee to be the poor relation any longer. Kirrawee has been through a tough time, it has lost its bank and it has been patient with the station upgrade. Now it is time for Kirrawee to become the vibrant twenty-first century shopping place it has the potential to be. I have spoken to Kirrawee shopkeepers and written to all Kirrawee households, but I will canvass that at a later time. Recently I uncovered a report entitled "Development appraisal of the Kirrawee Town Centre Master Plan" by independent consultants, Hill PDA, dated August 2002, which states:

Whilst Kirrawee is trading viably, it lacks a bank and a modern style supermarket—IGA, Coles, Woolworths or ALDI. These are anchor tenants and there is nexus between them and the specialty shops. Hence they generate the vitality and increase the viability of specialty retailers. Without these anchor tenants there will be considerable loss of trade to Gymea, Miranda and Sutherland.

It continues:

The pulling power of Miranda, Gymea and Sutherland is likely to keep a check on the feasibility of Kirrawee expanding.

Of course, the decision on the proposed supermarkets on the Kirrawee site is for the consent authority, Sutherland Shire Council, after consideration of all relevant factors, including traffic, building heights, and floor space ratios. But rather than giving a blanket "no" to the proposal and kowtowing to the bleat of misguided self-interest in Gymea and Sutherland in the lead-up to the council election, I call on all councillors to really focus on the future of Kirrawee. The people of my electorate and I do not want to see the Kirrawee brick pit site as a hole in the ground for another 30 years. As I said, I do not want Kirrawee to continue to be the poor relation.