Greens write to Premier Allan, urge rethink on housing privatisation

The Victorian Greens have written to Premier Jacinta Allan urging her to adopt a more progressive approach to the state’s housing crisis than her predecessor Daniel Andrews.

When Premier Allan was appointed to the top job last week, she cited housing as the number one issue facing Victoria.

The Greens say the leadership change presents a critical opportunity for Labor to dump their privatisation agenda and commit to rent controls and building more public housing across the state.

Last month Daniel Andrews revealed that Labor’s plan to ‘fix’ the housing crisis would involve knocking down 44 public housing towers and handing over huge swathes of public land to wealthy developers.

The details were scant, leaving thousands of public housing residents in distress and painting a grim picture for the 125,000 people on our state’s wait list for housing.

In their letter to Premier Allan, the Greens have demanded answers on Labor’s plan and urged a rethink on their privatisation agenda.

And today, the Greens will be introducing a motion to Parliament requiring the state government to produce all documents relating to the plan.

Leader of the Victorian Greens, Samantha Ratnam, said the new Premier had an opportunity to come clean on this project, and commit to building the public housing the state desperately needed.

The Greens are also urging Premier Allan to come through for renters and implement urgent rent controls. The Greens will be second-reading their own bill for a two-year rent freeze followed by a cap on rent increases this week.

New data this week has revealed that Melbourne rents have gone up 18.2 per cent in the past year.

Quotes attributable to Leader of the Victorian Greens, Samantha Ratnam MLC:

“Last month Daniel Andrews revealed that Labor’s plan to fix the housing crisis involves knocking down 44 public housing towers and handing over huge swathes of public land to wealthy developers.

“He made zero commitments to build any public housing on those sites, despite there being over 125,000 people on our state’s wait list for housing.

“Our new Premier has an opportunity now to come clean on this project, and commit to building the public housing our state desperately needs.

“If this government instead decides to privatise these estates, it could mean the end of public housing in Victoria. And the only people that stand to benefit from this are property developers and landlords.”

Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens renters’ rights spokesperson, Gabrielle de Vietri MP:

“With 82 per cent of renters in housing stress, we want our new Premier to come through for renters in a way that Daniel Andrews failed to do.

“If Jacinta Allan continues Labor’s tradition of ignoring renters, she will be committing more renters to housing stress and homelessness. 

“We know that rent controls are supported by the majority of Australians and we’re urging the new Premier to support them too.”