Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Port Melbourne public housing

Petition

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (17:14): I rise to speak on a petition regarding the demolition of the Barak Beacon public housing estate. I tabled petition 470 this morning on behalf of Margaret, Kerrie and the more than 650 other tireless community campaigners and supporters fighting to protect public housing in this state. Twelve days before Christmas in 2021 the residents at Barak Beacon were told that their homes were to be demolished, and a mere three weeks later people began to be pressured into moving out. This government have said that they delivered consultation to the community there. Residents, however, tell me that that consultation was only arranged after outside pressure, was restricted in scope and did not include preserving the existing buildings. This government has said that social workers have sufficiently supported residents to relocate. However, residents have told me that they were approached by housing services officers, not social workers, who seemed under-resourced and underprepared to guide residents through this process, particularly so, as there are a high number of residents in public housing who have trauma from past homelessness and insecure housing and are burdened by a higher incidence of health issues, requiring a skilled approach to this support. This government stated in 2018:

Public housing waiting lists were left to blow out under the former Liberal-Nationals Government, with more than 36,000 Victorians now on the Victorian Housing Register.

Yet now, in 2023, the public housing waiting list is over 120,000 people. This government proclaimed that their Social Housing Growth Fund, Homes for Victorians and the Big Housing Build projects will give more Victorians a roof over their head. However, we now know that Victoria’s social housing stock has only grown by 74 dwellings in the past four years. It is clear that the current approach to providing more homes for Victorians is not keeping pace with the crisis of need in this state, and it is costing us public housing sites as they are privatised. The Retain, Repair, Reinvest report by Office offers an alternative that is more economically, socially and environmentally efficient. I stand by petitioners in calling on the government to consider this report, and I do commend the Minister for Housing for recently arranging to attend a meeting with their representatives. The petitioners request:

… that the Legislative Council call on the Government to consider, investigate and respond to the feasibility study, report and plans by OFFICE regarding the Barak Beacon public housing estate, stop demolition activities on the estate so that any tenderer can consider the options put forward by OFFICE and allow all tenants to remain in their homes while the report and options put forward by OFFICE are considered.

I really urge the government to respond positively to this very reasonable request.