Tuesday, 29 October 2024

 Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (12:40): (708) My question is to the Minister for Housing. And just to help things along, yes, I am still here and no, I do not want a private briefing; I want public information. Minister, just over a week ago hundreds of us gathered at the Flemington public housing estate –

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Order! Dr Ratnam, could you start again, please, from what you said after ‘I am still here’ and all of that?

Samantha RATNAM: After I said I want public information? Yes, I am absolutely happy to.

Minister, just over a week ago hundreds of us gathered at the Flemington public housing estate to protest your and your government’s plans to destroy this public housing community, displace hundreds of people and privatise public land. We have been speaking to residents weekly who tell us they are feeling very pressured by Homes Victoria to accept unsuitable and unaffordable housing to move into. One young mum told me that she is only being offered community housing with higher rent that she cannot afford. Another told me about agreeing to move, only to be left at the eleventh hour by Homes Victoria, who are not installing the mobility railings she needs to move in. Others report feeling very harassed, with menacing phone calls pressuring them to leave by Homes Victoria. Minister, what are you doing to hold Homes Victoria to account for this unacceptable treatment of public housing residents?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:42): Dr Ratnam, it is good that in your last week here you are in a position to put on the record that you have not in fact accepted any one of the dozens of invitations that I have extended to you. Dr Ratnam, I would draw your attention to the multiple references I have made in this place and the multiple references in correspondence sent to you. Dr Ratnam, what I would say, yet again, is that what you have used the public process for is to commodify and to weaponise the impact of change and transition on people who are being told by you for improper and inaccurate purposes that they will not be provided with the things that we are providing to them – that is, a right of return; that is, housing which is in communities and locations which people identify as matching their needs and their aspirations.

Dr Ratnam, what I would say to you is that if you were actually serious about addressing the needs that communities legitimately have for information that provides them with the solace that they deserve rather than using this as an opportunity for cheap political points to be made before you exit stage left, then you would have done so, including by reference to accepting one of the many opportunities that I have afforded you, including through my office and including through correspondence. And I will quote some of my correspondence, Dr Ratnam: ‘Please contact my office if you wish to take up my standing offer of a briefing on public or social housing.’

Dr Ratnam, we are working alongside and with communities who deserve housing which is better than the old towers. Dr Ratnam, people deserve better than towers which make them –

Samantha Ratnam: On a point of order, President, on the relevance of the minister in responding to my question, I am happy to repeat it, but I asked a specific question and I would appreciate a relevant answer.

The PRESIDENT: I think the minister was addressing the question.

Harriet SHING: Dr Ratnam, Homes Victoria has undertaken hundreds of conversations and hundreds of appointments with people. One of the challenges that Homes Victoria officers have is that where information is provided to residents, quite often they return full of doubt and uncertainty because a member of your outfit has spoken to them. If you were serious about providing members of the community with accurate information, then you would have accepted the dozens of offers for a briefing to be able to actually represent your community with the – (Time expired)

 Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (12:45): Minister, I highly encourage you to visit the sites, like we have very frequently, and hear the distress firsthand from those residents, because that is what they are telling us directly. Minister, we are also hearing very concerning reports from residents living in the public housing in Richmond that your government wants to demolish and privatise that they are feeling pressured to sign documents that they do not wish to. Some report only being given a single page and being instructed to sign it without ever having seen the remaining pages. Many residents have told us across the estates that interpreters were not provided and they are unaware of what document they have signed. Minister, what interventions are you making to ensure that Homes Victoria is not coercing residents to sign documents that will force them from their homes and communities?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:46): Dr Ratnam, the documents that are provided to residents are provided alongside a suite of other information. You perhaps may not know about the work that Homes Victoria is undertaking, because you have never actually taken up one of the dozens of offers for a briefing on social housing. Thousands of conversations have occurred. A right of return exists. Offers are made, including in documentation provided to residents, of interpreters, of legal representation and of multiple meetings and conversations and discussions. Dr Ratnam, you would be well served in your outgoing days in this place to actually read the documentation that people are being provided. Again, correspondence, communication, inreach and outreach have been provided on a regular basis. What a shame that you commodify this uncertainty for your own improper purposes.