Twenty days to Co.As.It. another "slap in the face" of the community

Over the last few days, Co.As.It. has been quick to rebut Sydney Morning Herald’s sensational article about a “mystery developer” purchasing the Italian Forum Cultural Centre and Piazza.

In defence of our media colleagues, the article published on 5 April 2023 did not claim that the not-for-profit group would hold the Cultural Centre “in perpetuity”. It rather alluded that in the public eye, the 2.8 million sale to Co.As.It. on 28 November 2014 was meant to keep the site in question for its original intended grant to the Italian community and safeguard it against private developers and speculators.

tuo acerrimo nemico. E, come ciliegina sulla torta, la parola "coerenza" sembra quasi un optional nel dizionario della politica del Bel Paese.

Ah, e poi ci sono le promesse elettorali: un catalogo infinito di idee brillanti e rivoluzionarie, destinate a rimanere impresse solo sui manifesti e nei discorsi infuocati dei candidati.

Le elezioni diventano così una specie di mercato delle pulci, dove i partiti si scambiano voti in cambio di promesse allettanti, che puntualmente vengono dimenticate una volta ottenuto il prezioso scranno al Parlamento.

Ma nonostante tutto questo, l'Italia è un paese pieno di risorse e di talenti, che continua a brillare nel mondo grazie alla sua cultura, la sua storia e il suo inimitabile stile di vita. Forse è proprio questa la sua forza: la capacità di sopravvivere e di reinventarsi, nonostante la politica.

Così, mentre il sipario si chiude su un altro atto della commedia politica italiana, noi, spettatori incantati e disincantati, ci prepariamo a gustare un'altra fetta di pizza, un sorso di vino e un bel gelato, pronti ad assistere al prossimo spettacolo, nella speranza che un giorno, forse, la politica del nostro paese possa diventare un po' meno ironica e un po' più efficace.

This somewhat inconvenient truth is reported in the NSW Parliamentary Hansard, with the group ‘Italian Friends of Labor’ awarding in 2015 a recognition medal to the President of Co.As. It., Mr Lorenzo Fazzini. The man was lauded for his work in ensuring that “the Italian Cultural Centre in the Italian Forum in Leichhardt remained for use by the Italian community” and for many other distinguished achievements.

Similarly, on 4 December 2014 Inner West Independent Newspaper CityHub reported how “Leichhardt Council and particularly the Mayor, Darcy Byrne, had a very strong opinion that the Forum should have only been sold to this one Italian group. He took it upon himself to see that Co.As. It. would be the only buyers considered” even if higher bids were submitted to the liquidators.

At the time of the controversial sale, CityHub reported that “Leichhardt Council was never going to allow anyone to buy the property other than Co.As.It. This is simply not a transparent process and unfair to all – other than Co.As.It.” According to Mr Byrne, this was the only way to “prevent the Cultural Centre being privatised.”

But where is the Mayor now?

According to the Herald, Inner West Council found out about the Redstone takeover through the media and an unnamed spokesperson said Council would “look carefully at the sale with a view to ensuring public and cultural activity continues”.

Meanwhile, under the latest proposed sale agreement, Co.As. It. is understood to be providing the new owner and north-shore investor Robert Petterson “guidance on a development masterplan and overall vision” for the future of the Italian Forum Cultural Centre and Piazza. As noted in the Daily Telegraph, Redstone, is also set to “provide Co.As.It. with 20 days a year of cultural use for the Italian Forum to keep up its community events and activities.”

Co.As.It. however has been incapable of living up to its promise to implement a “business plan for future use of the site the Italian Forum” so vehemently argued for by Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne in 2014. Why should the group now be given exclusive rights to use the premises for its own events and activities for 20 days a year?

Clearly, the sale of the Centre has proved that, differently from the 2014 arguments put forward to the media gathered by Co.As.It. General Manager Thomas Camporeale at Casa d’Italia, Co.As.It. was not a “cultural organisation” but instead “a service provider in the area of aged care and community services.”

This same question was raised a decade ago by Mr Sol Michael, at the time a member of the Italian Forum Business Management Committee who believed Co.As.It could not fulfil the conditions of the covenant. After 10 years, the not-for-profit group has successfully cashed in almost four times the initial purchase price.

“The covenant - Mr Michael had said - requires the premises be used for cultural events for the whole community, not just Italian cultural events. It also requires the forum to be available to the public, which will not happen under Co.As.It’s plan.”

The 1989 covenant on the land granted also specifies that the Cultural Centre and Piazza are to remain “open to the public of all reasonable times and kept in good repair and condition.”

The land of the Italian Forum was given to the Italian community in NSW by Premier Neville Wran in 1988. A source who has preferred to remain nameless believes, therefore, that the Cultural Centre and Piazza should be open to all for community use without any preferential conditions to Co.As.It.

“The Italian community in NSW is much more than Co.As. It. They do not represent the Italian community. There are many small to large Italian groups and associations across the state and all of them should have the same opportunity to access and utilise on equal foot the facilities of the Cultural Centre and the Piazza for events of cultural significance. The 20 days are simply the last of many slaps in the face.”

In its press release, Co.As.It. noted to have “received an unsolicited offer from Redstone for the purchase of the cultural centre and piazza at the Italian forum as well as 33 Norton Street, Leichhardt.” Obviously, some concerns remain for the wider Italian-Australian community in NSW, such as “why was the community not made aware of the Redstone offer? Should Co.As.It. have been open to other offers from among the organisations or groups in the italian-australian community? We have Italian Clubs who could have potentially made an offer.”

A local Italian newspaper published a short news piece stating that Co.As.It. will soon begin a “transparent” consultation process on the future of the Cultural Centre and the Piazza. This important information is nowhere to be found in the official press release published by Co.As.It. on their website.