Save western Sydney’s former ADI Site. Website of the ADI Residents Action Group
NSW Government complicit in developers dodgy job figures

Delfins dodgy job figures exposed


The issue: Based on communication with Judith Field of Delfin Lend Lease, May 2006.

  • Delfin Lend Lease need to create 5300 jobs to meet State Planning Legislation (SREP 30, EPS 2000 and the St Marys Development Agreement).

  • The St Marys Development Agreement states that the NSW Planning Minister must establish an Employment Development Strategy Committee, to comprise members from Penrith Council, Blacktown Council, Department of Planning, Department of State and Regional Development and the Premiers Department. This Committee is to monitor Delfin Lend Leases Employment Strategy to ensure they create 5300 ongoing jobs.

 

  • Delfin Lend Lease have cleverly set up an Employment Agency (Ropes Crossing Skilling and Employment Centre) to fudge their job target figures. 

  • Delfin Lend Lease claims that its Employment Centre has found 333 jobs in 12 months. They are claiming the 333 jobs found are jobs created by their development and therefore can be counted to reduce its 5300 jobs target. How can this be allowed as they admit they are only acting as brokers in this process “...Essentially we act as a broker with existing service providers and give jobseekers help with job applications, job-seeking skills and training..." (Arthur Ilias DLL) see their media release 

  • The Ropes Crossing Skilling and Employment Centre has not created any jobs they are merely linking people to jobs created by others. There is no difference in what Delfin is doing than say the Salvation Army Employment Plus. 

  • The Ropes Crossing Skilling and Employment Centre is not a registered Job Network Member nor does it have a Job Placement Licence.

  • It is scandalous that the NSW Government condones this rort and has even rewarded the developer with a prestigious Western Sydney Industry Award. NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, and Minister for Western Sydney, Diane Beamer recently presented Delfin Lend Lease with a prestigious Western Sydney Industry award for its Ropes Crossing and Skilling Centre. This is galling to say the least and a slap in the face for all legitimate Employment Agencies. It again demonstrates the NSW Government has no idea what the developer is up to and blindly supports them at every opportunity.

  • The sham continues. Self employed people that move to the ADI Site and operate a home-based business from their house will be counted as a job created by Delfin Lend Leases development and written off against the 5300 jobs target. This is OK if the business was registered with Fair Trading or the Australia Tax Office on or after the date they commenced residing at the ADI Site. It is not OK for Delfin Lend Lease to claim these home based business jobs as ones they created if the business was established before they took up residence at the ADI Site. Some home based businesses might contribute several jobs. The self employed Plumber is one job, his wife is the book keeper, that's two jobs, and his son is his apprentice that's three. Now if they had established that home based business many years ago at a previous address in a different suburb then their jobs cannot be considered as new jobs simply by the fact that they have changed address and now live at the ADI Site. That Plumber could move house once a year so if he has moved 10 times in 10 years how could anyone claim 10 new jobs were created - only one job has been created. This is the rort that Delfin Lend Lease are up to. That intend to count any home based business employee as a job they created regardless of whether or not the home based business was registered before the date they resided on the ADI Site. Simply, a rort.

  • And more, Delfin Lend Lease can also meet their 5300 jobs target by claiming any job created on 'surrounding land' (land within the Blacktown and Penrith LGA) as one of theirs. This is outrageous yet it is allowed under SREP 30. How could they be allowed to get away with claiming any job created within such a vast area as one of theirs, one generated as a result of the economic spin offs of the development of only 5000 houses. This is absurd that the NSW Government has allowed this.

  • ADI RAG can’t see Lend Lease creating 5300 jobs without fudging the figures. They claim that they are hoping to create 600 jobs from the 30.3 ha Dunheved Industrial Precinct. That equates to 19.8 jobs per ha. In total there is 68.7 ha zoned as Industrial land at an average of 19.8 jobs per ha that equals only 1360 jobs Lend Lease is hoping to create on its total Industrial lands. This leaves a shortfall of 3940 jobs to be created to meet its 5300 target.

  • The 5300 jobs does not include construction jobs. The 8000 construction jobs they claim will be created by the development is a separate issue. Again it is hard to work out how they will achieve such job figures.

     

    This whole process needs to be investigated and the EDS Committee overseeing it needs to be accountable to the public. Approval for the ADI Site was given on the promise that this would be a ground breaking model urban development. The one by which all others were to be judged. The NSW Government promised 5300 ongoing jobs and they need to prove that they will be delivered. It always seems the case that the promise of jobs is trotted out by politicians to appease the public, to win support for a development. But after we have trashed our environment and our quality of life who is meant to ensure that trade off - the promise of the jobs - is delivered. It appears no one. 

    Let Frank Sartor and Morris Iemma know what you think of this

     

Employment planning history

When planning commenced for the ADI Site one of the key priorities was that there would be no net increase in the current regional deficit between workforce and job supply as a result of allowing the development. 

In other words there must not be more employable workers living on the site (resident workforce) than there are jobs created on the site and generated off site as a result of the economic spin offs of the development of the ADI Site. 

Employment studies for the site have determined that Delfin Lend Lease must create 5300 jobs to match the resident workforce. The accuracy of this figure is questionable considering a majority of homes will be occupied by at least 2 income earners.

SREP 30, the ADI Sites planning instrument, is very generous to the developer in allowing them to come up with 5300 jobs. It states: "The total number of jobs generated by development on land  to which this clause applies (including jobs generated on the surrounding land) is to approximate the number of workers who will be resident on the land to which this plan applies after the development has been carried out."  

The St Marys Environmental Planning Strategy 2000 (EPS 2000) accompanies SREP 30 and outlines strategies to meet the aims of SREP 30. Lend Lease had to: develop an Employment Development Strategy for the whole development to be lodged with the first Precinct Plan. They have done this. They also have to conduct a review of the development strategy to see if it is working at some future stage. An Employment Development Strategy Committee made up of Penrith and Blacktown Council, Planning NSW, and the Department of State and Regional Development is to be formed to advise Lend Lease if they fail to meet employment creation targets and to be consulted with during the review process.

 

Source: Penrith Press

 

Delfin Lend Lease Media Release (www.ropescrossing.com.au/llweb/ropescrossing/main.nsf/all/news_20060522)

22 May 2006

Ropes Crossing Skilling & Employment Centre wins award

After just 12 months of operation, the Ropes Crossing Skilling & Employment Centre at St Marys has won the category Regional Excellence - Outstanding Community Contribution by a Large Business at the 2006 Western Sydney Industry Awards.

The Centre is an Australian-first community initiative of Delfin Lend Lease and is focused on providing local jobs for local people. It is one of many initiatives at Delfin projects across the country aimed at developing strong communities through employment, education and training.

The Centre provides local jobseekers with access to facilities, advice and information to assist them to find local employment. It identifies training solutions to address the skills shortages identified in the local labour market, particularly in the trades and services industries.

In the 12 months following its launch in April 2005, the Centre helped local residents find 333 jobs – the equivalent of more than one job every working day - and 77 ongoing training placements.

Project Director Arthur Ilias said the Centre had attracted interest from other companies and government agencies both locally, interstate and overseas who were interested in the Centre’s model.

“As well as securing more than one job every working day, we’ve facilitated employment or training for more than 85% of our members. These jobseekers are people of all ages, backgrounds and education levels looking for work in a wide range of industries, including construction, manufacturing, administration, service and retail.

“Essentially we act as a broker with existing service providers and give jobseekers help with job applications, job-seeking skills and training.

“Some of the people who have gone through the Centre have been long-term unemployed simply because their skills did not match the jobs on offer. They are hard-working, enthusiastic people, but because of changing labour market needs, they couldn’t get work. We have assisted them to find training or work experience in other areas.

Ropes Crossing Skilling & Employment Centre will also help co-ordinate 8,000 construction jobs and more than 5,000 ongoing jobs for local residents as a result of the Ropes Crossing residential community. Delfin Lend Lease’s 1,545-hectare St Marys development will include up to 5,000 homes contained within three distinct villages, each bordered by the 900 hectare Regional Park.

 

 

 

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