The aboriginals have moved out ... now Redfern will have great potential: The staggering sales pitch used to sell luxury apartments in one of Australias indigenous heartlands A four-year-old real estate advertisement has emerged revealing the use of Aboriginal people moving out of the area as a selling point for luxurious apartments. The suburb of Redfern has long been the indigenous heart of Sydneys inner city but since residential development has started taking over the urban goldmine - a website used the fact that there would be less Aboriginal neighbours as a hook for potential buyers. The shocking ad has sparked outrage from the indigenous community with many describing it as ‘sickening’, ‘despicable and ‘straight out racism’. However, Developer DeiCorp, who employed Great Fortune Investments (GFI) in 2010 to assist in the sale of the 18 Dei Cota apartments, say they knew nothing about the ad until Tuesday and has since been taken down. The ad on GFIs website, which primarily targets Asian buyers, talks about the good rental return and convenient location before attempting to lure keen buyers with the fact that they wouldnt have Indigenous Australians as neighbours. The aboriginals have already moved out, now Redfern as the last virgin suburb close to city, it will have great potential for the capital growth in the near future, the ad said. DeiCorp owner Fouad Deiri told Daily Mail Australia that he is mortified about the line and he would never have endorsed the advertisement as he prides himself on his companys relationship with the indigenous community. When our office moved here in 2000 the first thing we did was knock on Mick Mundines door at the Aboriginal Housing Company, he said. We would never do anything to harm that relationship. Mr Deiri, who has not employed GFI for years, said the ad had clearly not been thought through properly. It is not in Deicorps character to condone that - the ad was simply not expressed correctly but we knew nothing about it until yesterday. DeiCorp has been appointed by the Aboriginal Housing Companys to construct its Pemulwuy Project, a $70 million redevelopment of the area known as The Block in Redfern. The project will include student housing and 62 units of affordable housing earmarked for Aboriginal people. Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council chief executive Nathan Moran told Daily Mail Australia that he finds it hard to believe that Deicorp were unaware of the advertisement. Hopefully Deicorp will be held to account and not just deflecting it on to say it was someone else’s problem, he said. That’s more arrogance than anything to claim that they didn’t know. We are go gutted as the community rep body for all Aboriginal people in the area that this had been in the public domain for so long – it’s a very deceitful way of doing business in the community. Mr Moran said he was horrified by the news that he described as deplorable and despicable. I find that unacceptable that someone would be trying to work with our community at the same time as marketing other opportunities based on our community being moved, he said. Its the most sickening end of trying to work with people in good faith. Mr Moran is just one of many leaders in the indigneous community expressing outrage about the advertisement. Long-time Aboriginal activist and lawyer, Sol Bellear, who also lives in Redfern, described the ad as laughable and added that this kind of mentality has been around for years. Even changing the names from east Redfern to west Redfern and that sort of stuff - and the funny thing about it is the postcode remains the same and this was before the gentrification, he told Daily Mail Australia. I don’t know where these developers get off coming up with that – that’s just straight out racism - Redfern is a multi-cultural village - there are people of all colours there Mr Bellear insisted that although some Aboriginal people have moved out of the area due to the exorbitant rent - the indigenous community was here to stay. Redfern has been the ideological address for Aboriginal people from all over Australia and we don’t intend to move, he said. Anyone who wants to move to Redfern, and the surrounding suburbs, is quite welcome but Aboriginal people will always be there - so if you don’t like Aboriginal people don’t move there. We are a great mob of people to live with so come and enjoy our company. He also called on Redfern locals to show leadership and be a shining example. I would like to throw down that challenge to the residents of Redfern to get rid of those sorts of comments that are out there and become world leaders in race relations. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2867912/Property-advertisement-claims-Aboriginal-people-moved-Redfern-property-sales-pitch-luxurious-apartments.html
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 09:54:51 +0000
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