Sirius business

The Sirius Building in Sydney is a brutalist concrete monstrosity of a thing slap bang in the middle of the city's primest of prime real estate. It is 79 units of social housing - now empty - that looks like 79 piss-poor building blocks stacked on top of each other.

I like it.



But it is for the chop. Cleansed of those who once lived there and not up to modern building codes the argument that it should be demolished was east t make. The land will sold off for a squazillion dollars, money that will of course be used to fund social housing elsewhere, sold to developers who will of course provide some social housing in Millers Point within whatever replaces it.

I can do the maths. The sale will generate enough cash to build a load of social housing somewhere else. I get it. And I'm over here displacing someone else, so have to shoulder my own little bit of blame for the economic cleansing of Sydney's nicer suburbs. (As it happens I try to sleep at night by reminding myself that I grew up in charity housing, then realise this makes me the pin-up boy for the if-you-just-try-hard-you'll-do-well mob that haven't done the maths; makes my head hurt.)

I don't want to live in a city that is utterly segregated along wealth lines. It isn't healthy for society.

This picture makes me a little sad. Those plants belonged to someone. Whatever is on that washing line was someones washing.

We don't need another fucking casino.