Tuesday, 14 November 2023

 Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (14:50): (416) My question is to the Minister for Housing. Ahmad is a constituent of mine who recently moved into a public housing tower in Carlton. Before that he was homeless for five years. My office worked with Ahmad, his wife and his daughter for more than 12 months before he was able to finally get into public housing, so imagine Ahmad’s shock when Labor announced it plans to demolish the building now, along with every other public housing tower in Melbourne. Residents do not know when they will be moved or where to. There is no guarantee that the homes they will be moved to will actually be public housing. Residents are being relocated away from families, jobs, schools and medical care to make way for the estates to be rebuilt, with the majority private expensive apartments. My question to the minister is: does Labor plan for any of the housing rebuilt on these estates to actually be public housing? Because right now to people like Ahmad and his community it feels like just another way for developers to make money and for Labor to abandon their responsibility to provide and manage public housing here in Victoria.