Over the past 12 months, public contention over specific Olympic
sites has emerged, bungling by SOCOG over ticketing and fiscal
management has been revealed, Indigenous concerns have risen, and new
Olympics related laws severely restricting public movement have been
passed by the NSW parliament.
This environment has produced a number of direct Olympic public
protest organisations, which are placing their issues directly in front
of the growing world media presence in Sydney, as the Games draw close.
What is the Sydney Olympics social impacts record?
In September 1999, NCOSS released a scorecard of NSW Government
performance. We rated the management of social impacts at 6 out of 10.
We rated the quality of the Olympic legacy on the community at 5 out
of 10.
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With the opening ceremony now only a few weeks away, we have upgraded
our social impact score to 7 out of 10, but we have little reason
to change the community legacy mark.
What has happened with some key issues?
Employment
The Games are generating new job opportunities, particularly short
term jobs in key service industries. This momentum builds on 6 years of
economic growth in NSW and continuing favourable economic conditions.
A key question is whether job and training opportunities are being
obtained by the unemployed, especially those who are the long term
jobless or who reside in communities where unemployment rates remain
double or triple the NSW average.
For those unemployed living in several parts of Sydney, there is
partial joy. At the same time, it is clear that a combination of
employer expectations, job take-up by those already in the labour market
and a lack of concerted and timely Government action has seen these
employment opportunities not adequately taken up by those most in need.
Housing and homelessness
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Statistical evidence confirms the significant increase in Sydney’s
housing prices since the mid 1990s. There is also strong evidence of the
growth of households in housing related poverty during this period, and
the substantial number of people, particularly in the private rental
market, who now pay more than 50 per cent of their disposable income in
regular direct housing costs.
The second half of the 1990s has witnessed a persistent growth in the
number of homeless people across Australia, but particularly in Sydney
and NSW. Official figures clearly show that many people have to be
turned away from overstretched supported accommodation services.
The same period has, of course, seen a further reduction in Sydney’s
stock of boarding and guest houses and major urban consolidation
projects leading to massive housing gentrification in several parts of
Sydney.
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