Victoria Barracks Sale: Labor Fails on Housing Commitment
Labor's planned fire sale of Victoria Barracks sites ignores the obvious solution: converting this prime publicly-owned urban land into social and affordable housing for those locked out of the market.
Selling to the highest bidder while Australians sleep in cars and tents exposes the government's misplaced priorities.
Greens Senator and Defence Spokesperson David Shoebridge said:
"Labor is planning to sell off prime public land to developer mates while families can't afford a home.
"Victoria Barracks could house hundreds of families in real public homes, flogging it for luxury private developments would squander this opportunity.
"We built hundreds of thousands of public homes in the past. Defence Housing does it now. After all Labor's bluster about taking action on the housing crisis why are they ignoring this critical opportunity?
"A few 'affordable' apartments for 10 years isn't a plan, it's crumbs from the table while developers feast on our public land.
"Done right these sites could deliver literally thousands of homes, protect heritage and provide beautiful and much-needed public parklands.
"Labor selling this land without any regard to the desperate need for public housing and the strong community support for the built heritage and green open space is a three way betrayal.
"These buildings are located towards the centre of cities where housing affordability is hitting hardest and driving ordinary people into hours-long commutes.
"Keep Victoria Barracks public. Build bold. Build green.
"If Labour was serious about public housing, they'd prove it at Victoria Barracks. I call on them to at least try rather than just flogging off more public assets to the highest bidder.
As stated by Greens spokesperson for housing Barbara Pocock:
"We are in the middle of a national housing crisis, we have people on decades-long waiting lists for a roof over their head and a severe lack of public and affordable housing.
"The solutions to the housing crisis are simple, but this isn't it. Instead of flogging off land to private developers for massive profits, what we need is direct public investment in social and affordable housing.
"Labor needs to start treating housing as a human right rather than a game of monopoly, and to make the best use of prime publicly-owned land.
"We need affordable housing in central city locations with access to green space - not the privatisation of prime public sites.
"Labor can find the money and political will to build public housing for US troops and foreign defence contractors - but not for Australians. Instead it offers a fire sale to salivating developers and privatisation pirate profiteers. We say no."
https://greens.org.au/news/media-release/media-release-victoria-barracks-sale-shows-labor-not-serious-housing
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