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Truly sharing Sydney's Olympic Spirit

By Gary Moore - posted Tuesday, 15 August 2000


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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About the Author

Gary Moore is Director of the Council of Social Service of NSW.

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