2024-04-09
The Victorian Greens have said Premier Allan’s plan to privatise and demolish 44 public housing towers is in tatters, following reports of dissent from within Labor’s own ranks.
The plan – which was announced as part of Labor’s housing statement last year – would see all of the towers demolished and the majority of the land privatised, leaving thousands of public housing residents displaced from their communities.
However, according to The Guardian, a number of Labor members intend to pressure the state government to keep the land in public hands, and build much more public and community housing.
This follows a class action filed against the government by public housing residents, and the recent establishment of a parliamentary inquiry into the plan which was proposed by the Greens and supported by both the Opposition and progressive cross-bench.
Leader of the Victorian Greens, Samantha Ratnam, said it was clear the plan had been half-baked from the beginning yet Labor had refused to listen to calls from public housing residents, the Greens and the broader community to stop the privatisation plan in its tracks.
But now that the Premier has had a vote of no confidence from within her own party, Ms Ratnam said it was time for the government to scrap its plan to destroy public housing and privatise large swathes of these estates, and instead commit to building much more public housing.
Since the announcement of the disastrous plan, the Greens have talked to hundreds of residents who want the land kept in public hands, and 100 per cent public housing on these sites.
Instead, Labor plans to dislocate residents, demolish their homes, privatise the land and wash its hands of any responsibility.
The Greens have previously called on the government to build 100,000 public homes in the next decade to ease the state’s worsening housing crisis, and for the establishment of a public builder to make it happen.
Quotes attributable to Leader of the Victorian Greens, Samantha Ratnam MLC:
“Labor's mass privatisation of public housing sites is making the housing crisis worse.
“There are over 120,000 people on the public housing wait list in Victoria yet this government's solution is to knock down all of our towers, hand the majority of the land over to private developers and outsource its responsibility to make housing affordable.
“We've spoken with hundreds of residents since this devastating plan was announced who are confused, heartbroken and want answers. People who have called these towers home for decades and do not want to be displaced from their community.
“With public housing residents against the plan, an ongoing class action, an imminent parliamentary inquiry, and now a vote of no confidence from Labor members themselves, it’s time for the Premier to rethink this plan.
“The Greens won't accept the contempt Labor is showing for public housing. If this demolition and privatisation goes ahead it could mean the end of public housing in Victoria.”