Melbourne electorate
Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (14:52): (1206) My question is to the Minister for Housing. Labor is demolishing all 44 high-rise public housing towers across the state, including several in my electorate. Residents who are relocated are promised that they have the right to return once new housing is built. My question is: is this just a false promise from this Labor government that will never be delivered? I ask this because I have several examples in my own electorate from previous public housing demolitions, where residents have been promised the right of return, but when they try they are told it is not possible. In March I wrote to the housing minister about a family of five – two parents with three children who are now young adults. Their public homes in North Melbourne were redeveloped seven years ago. They are eligible to return to a four-bedroom apartment, but all they were offered were two two-bedroom units on different floors, because no four-bedroom units were ever built on this estate. So the children would have to live in one apartment and the parents in another one two floors down. This is a ridiculous situation, and I think the government well knows the thousands of families who are currently being displaced will never actually be able to return to these estates.