2024-08-16
The Victorian Parliament has denied Labor the support to pursue legal action and force evictions of public housing residents in North Melbourne and Flemington as a Greens motion passes the Upper House with a chorus of support from across party lines.
It follows revelations that Labor has signed a $100 million contract with John Holland to demolish public housing towers in North Melbourne and Flemington, despite residents still living in the towers and an ongoing class action.
The Victorian Greens spokesperson for Public and Affordable Housing, Samantha Ratnam said that the fact that Labor opposes this motion speaks volumes to their utter contempt for public housing residents who are still living in the towers and it exposes their intention to use the contracts being signed as legal grounds to force evictions.
She added that in the midst of the worst housing crisis in living memory, we should be building more public housing on public land, yet all that Labor wants to do is sell off our public land to private developers for massive profits and tear down our existing public housing.
Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens spokesperson for Public and Affordable Housing, Samantha Ratnam:
“The Parliament has come together today, with politicians of all stripes to deny Labor the mandate to pursue legal action against residents and force them from their homes.
“The fact that Labor opposed this motion speaks volumes about their complete and utter contempt for public housing residents as they’re clearly looking to force evictions and rip their communities apart.
“This is completely heartless to the residents, many of whom have lived in the towers for decades, and still have no certainty about their future and where they’re supposed to go as Labor steamrolls ahead with this devastating plan.
“We’re in the middle of a housing crisis where there are 120,000 people on the public housing waitlist. Meanwhile, Labor wants to evict public housing residents and demolish their homes.
“Labor has been caught out selling off public land to private developers for massive profits - it’s impossible not to think they’re just going to do the same to all 44 public housing towers now that they’re clearly trying to force evictions and steamroll ahead with the demolition.”