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Morning all, Huw here.

In this week’s newsletter, I’ve put together a short history of public housing in NSW.

While public housing might not be something you consider very North Shore, we have had a number of estates across the area, most notably Kirribilli’s Greenway.

Specifically, I’ll be looking at a former housing estate in Macquarie Park that is now being converted into a mix of private, affordable and social housing.

But first, the headlines:

🗞️ The news 🗞️

What we’re hearing

HMAS Penguin to remain in public hands after government backs down on sale

A plan to sell off a small Balmoral military base has been canned by the federal government, with Defence Minister Richard Marles announcing on Monday the property will be split between military use and a protected heritage site.

  • The forested area will be managed by Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, a government agency that remediates former defence sites and opens them to the public. 

  • The trust also manages Cockatoo Island and North Sydney’s Sub Base Platypus.

What happened: Defence Minister Richard Marles announced in February the Australian government would sell a number of its defence properties. He said many defence sites were “vacant, decaying, underutilised and costing millions of dollars to maintain”. 

Among the 67 sites proposed to be sold (or partially sold) was the HMAS Penguin naval base in Balmoral.

The quote:

❝

Bankstown!?

An aghast passenger’s response after hearing where their train was headed, overheard at Chatswood Metro station.
What we’re hearing

North Shore teacher charged with allegedly producing child abuse material

A school teacher has been arrested in Hornsby and charged over allegedly producing and possessing child abuse material.

NSW Police attached to Ku-ring-gai Police Area Command attended a home in Hornsby on November 3 after reports “electronic devices at the property allegedly contained child abuse material”.

Police say a review of one USB “allegedly identified covertly filmed footage of females in public places”. They claim other footage allegedly “depicted similar conduct within a school environment”.

Investigators removed multiple electronic devices from the house for forensic examination. On these devices, detectives allegedly identified “several recordings captured on the grounds of a school in Wahroonga, where the man was employed as a teacher”.

Two days later, on November 5, police arrested a man and charged him with producing child abuse material, possessing child abuse material and five counts of intentionally recording an intimate image without consent.

He was refused bail at Hornsby Local Court, which he will face again on November 18.

NSW provides 24/7 phone and online counselling for anyone whose life has been impacted by sexual violence, including friends and family.

Call the 24/7 helpline at 1800 424 017, or visit the Full Stop website for more information.

What’s on?

Events to check out this week 🎟️

Before we get into the news, here’s some events and things to do that caught our attention this week.

📹 Show me 📹

This week, we looked into a major redevelopment in Macquarie Park. What was once a large public housing estate is in the process of being converted to a mix of private, affordable and social housing.

Why is that happening?

Find out in the video below.

🌏 Across the country 🌏

The national story

Protein powder is more expensive and cheese is to blame

Australians are paying more for protein powder because global demand for whey, a by-product of cheese-making, has outstripped supply.

How: Whey—the main ingredient for protein powder—now costs around four times what it did in 2023.

Gym-goers, high-protein snacks and weight-loss drugs like Ozempic have all driven up demand.

Money wars: Australia doesn’t produce enough of the specialised whey used in protein powder and relies heavily on imports from the US, where a trade fight with Canada is adding further pressure on prices.

The National Account’s Archie Milligan has the rundown:

That’ll be all from me today.

As always, if you have a news tip, an idea for a story or think there’s something I should be covering, hit reply to this email or reach out at [email protected].

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Cheers,

Huw

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