The NSW government yesterday announced the Pemulwuy Project would go ahead and claimed it could deliver 300 jobs and more than 9000 square metres of commercial uses, shops and community and cultural space — as well as the much-disputed 62 homes.

SYDNEY’S derelict Block, the centre of Aboriginal activism in Australia after it was established in the Whitlam era, may finally get the makeover its owners have been seeking for the past decade.

The NSW government yesterday announced approval for a $60million redevelopment of the inner-city site — but the head of the organisation behind the plan admitted he did not know where the money to finance the project would come from.

The long-decaying ghetto, rife with drug dealing and crime, sits on some of Sydney’s most valuable real estate, due to its location near the CBD.

The Block has been in limbo for much of the past decade as the Aboriginal Housing Company, which owns it, has been locked in a spirited dispute with the state government over its redevelopment proposal, known as the Pemulwuy Project.

The sticking point has been the desire by the AHC to build 62 homes on the site, replacing the largely derelict or boarded-up homes built in the 1970s and since trashed.

Previous planning minister Frank Sartor refused to countenance the rebuilding of the homes, claiming that concentrating large numbers of socially disadvantaged and troubled people in one area would simply repeat the mistakes of the past.

The NSW government yesterday announced the Pemulwuy Project would go ahead and claimed it could deliver 300 jobs and more than 9000 square metres of commercial uses, shops and community and cultural space — as well as the much-disputed 62 homes.

NSW Planning Minister Kristina Keneally, joined by Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt and local federal MP and Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek, said the concept’s approval provided an opportunity to rejuvenate the area.

“This $60m project will deliver a boost to employment in the Redfern area through the creation of around 200 construction jobs and 100 ongoing positions once complete,” Ms Keneally said.

She said the AHC was the owner of the land and had put forward the proposal just like any other private developer.

“They now have the certainty to go ahead and organise finance,” she said. “The AHC have pointed out they are not looking for handouts. They wanted approval so they could go forward with this visionary project and organise the finances. It is up to them.

“They have not entirely ruled out approaching state and federal governments, but they have said they want to look at private finance first.”

AHC head Mick Mundine said he did not yet know where the money would come from and estimated the completion of the project was probably five years away.

“The dream will come true; we will get the money,” Mr Mundine said. “The Block was degraded, it was down in the gutter. If we can do what we can do here we’d be a good role model for a lot of black organisations out there.”

Credit: John Stapleton