Rally planned to oppose demolition of Melbourne’s public housing towers

A major protest is planned for Saturday, August 2, as public housing residents and supporters mobilise against the Victorian Government’s controversial plan to demolish 44 public housing towers across Melbourne.

The rally, titled “Hands Off Public Housing,” will begin at 11am at the State Library of Victoria. Organisers say they expect hundreds to march through the city past Homes Victoria and finish at Parliament House, sending a strong message to state politicians to halt what they describe as a “destructive privatisation agenda”.

The government’s redevelopment plan, announced last year, would see 6660 public housing units demolished and replaced over the next 15 years. While the government argues the towers are ageing and unsuitable for modern living, residents and campaigners warn that the plan will displace more than 10,000 people and reduce secure public housing stock amid a worsening affordability crisis.

Opponents say that much of the replacement housing will be managed by community housing providers rather than remaining as public housing, and they fear the bulk of new dwellings will be sold or rented at market rates.

The rally’s organisers – including the Save Public Housing Collective, the Renters and Housing Union, Stop the Demolition, the Black Peoples Union and others – argue that this plan represents an irreversible sell-off of public land to private developers.

“The Victorian Labor Government is determined to demolish and privatise public housing and sell off public land to their greedy developer cronies,” the event listing states. “This is an attack on all of us, but will hit First Nations people, asylum seekers, disabled people and the poor the hardest.”

The rally comes as a Victorian parliamentary inquiry scrutinises the demolition plan, after the government refused to release documents underpinning its decision – even to the Supreme Court during a recent human rights challenge.

Critics have also raised concerns about the role of private consultancy firms advising on the plan, and about meetings between government ministers and superannuation funds expected to invest in the redevelopments.

Recent direct actions have already disrupted early demolition works at the 33 Alfred St towers in North Melbourne, with residents vowing to keep resisting on the ground. •