Members of Hobart community organisations seeking affordable premises for their activities would have cast a wry (or aggrieved, angry, envious) look at Oatlands on reading a Mercury report of a new community centre opened there. Particularly so as it was Premier Lara Giddings who unveiled this $200,000 facility last weekend – the same Premier, and her education ministers (present and past), who rejected making premises available for a much needed community centre to serve suburban Hobart.
I’m referring to the issue voiced here on the Giddings Government’s decision to get rid of the old State School building off Macquarie Street, South Hobart, a heritage place that was used by Adult Education until shut by David Bartlett in 2009 and empty since. The decision to sell the place came despite many community organisations saying it’s ideally located for their needs. The South Hobart Progress Association has campaigned for community retention of the building, but its efforts to see the Premier, minister Nick McKim and his predecessor, Lin Thorp, fell on deaf ears.
But quickly to recap on Oatlands: the Mercury reported that the Premier braved the cold to open the centre, and Southern Midlands Mayor Tony Bisdee said the centre would offer a permanent home to the various community organisations that would use it. “It has been difficult finding a permanent home for some of the organisations,” he added. The same applies in Hobart.
Oh yes, the report also mentioned that the Giddings Government has funded the Oatlands centre with a $95,000 grant, and a three-year rate subsidy on a $150,000 loan for the town council (and full praise for the town’s leaders in achieving their objective).
Premier Lara said the centre would help rejuvenate Oatlands – but what about the situation of Hobart community organisations faced with having to use unsuitable premises and escalating rents? The situation worries the Tasmanian Council for Social Services, which has backed retention of the old Macquarie Street State School.
The Government advertised it for sale by tender, no doubt looking for the highest bidder to help ease its seriously depleted coffers. Tenders closed last week but apparently none lodged satisfied the Government and it is being readvertised.
