Latest news with #HarrietShing
News.com.au
2 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
‘Inhumane': North Melbourne public housing residents protest ahead of demolition
Selling off public housing is inhumane and tells war-fleeing refugees that Australia does not want them, a Melbourne housing advocate says. For a second day on Tuesday, residents and supporters tried to stop workers entering the public housing tower on Alfred St, North Melbourne. The public housing towers are slated for demolition, to be replaced with charity-owned community housing and 'affordable' apartments. Notable Melbourne housing advocate Jordan van den Lamb told NewsWire the process for getting residents out of Alfred St had been inhumane. The replacement public houses were too small for families, and the relocations on offer were away from residents' existing support networks, he said. On Tuesday, dozens of residents and supporters protested outside the housing towers, Mr van den Lamb said. 'They're not building any three-bedroom homes. This stuff is like 'we're going to demolish a three-bedroom home and replace it with three one-bedroom apartments. 'What message does that tell to someone who's got a large family and is fleeing war? … 'We don't care about you. We don't want you to live in public housing'.' Residents were unwilling to speak to NewsWire for fear of jeopardising their applications for a new home. The apartments at the new, redeveloped Alfred St site will be leased to the private sector for 40 years. Housing Minister Harriet Shing has criticised Greens politicians – who were at the protest on Monday – for spreading fear. 'No demolition works are scheduled while people are living in the towers,' she said in a statement to NewsWire. 'While we're getting on with delivering modern and accessible homes for people on the social housing register, the Greens continue to spend their time spreading misinformation and creating fear without offering actual solutions.' A notice issued on Friday informed residents that workers in high-vis and hazmat suits would be arriving during the week to 'carry out concrete investigations in empty apartments'. Four towers at the nearby Flemington Estate are also set to be demolished. Some residents of Flemington Estate and Alfred St towers have already left their homes, relocated to other public houses. A chorus of remaining residents want all relocations to be sorted before any preliminary works are done on the buildings. 'Commencing works while residents remain in their homes is premature, inappropriate, and deeply disrespectful,' a joint letter from tenants to Homes Victoria says. 'We are still living in this building. Regardless of how many residents remain, this is our home, not a construction site. 'The presence of workers in hazmat suits, disruptive noise, restricted access and diminished privacy in the name of redevelopment planning sends a clear message that the wellbeing and dignity of the remaining residents are being ignored.' Days before retiring from politics, then Premier Dan Andrews announced Melbourne's 44 public housing towers would be knocked down and redeveloped. The residents – numbering somewhere between 10,000 and 13,000 – were not informed before Mr Andrews donned high-vis and made the announcement to the media. The plan is part of a massive 'urban renewal' push. The project has a deadline of 2051 and promises by the end the state will have 10 per cent more social houses. Social housing is an umbrella term for public housing and community housing. Public housing is state-owned and community houses are owned by not-for-profit organisations. The redevelopment scheme also includes 'affordable housing' – units capped at 90 per cent of market rent.
ABC News
23-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Firefighter and presumptive rights campaigner Simon Lund farewelled at funeral
Victorian firefighter Simon Lund has been farewelled at a funeral in Gippsland today, after spending his dying days campaigning for a better deal for others like him with a terminal illness related to their work. More than 500 people, including some of the state's top fire chiefs and local Labor MP Harriet Shing, attended the service at Churchill in Gippsland. During the eulogy, family friend Kellie O'Callaghan described Mr Lund as "the kind of person who left a mark on every life he touched". "He was loyal, kind, principled and loving. It wasn't just a job, it was a calling," she said. CFA acting chief fire officer Garry Cook presented Mr Lund's wife Tracie and their three children with one of the organisation's highest accolades — a Chief's Commendation for exemplary service. "I wish I could pick up the phone and say, 'Lundy, it's Cooky, you deserve this'," he told the service. In her tribute, Ms Lund said her husband's legacy would live on through their efforts to change the state's presumptive rights legislation for other fire staff. "When the Hazelwood mine fire devastated our community, we stood together," she wrote in her eulogy, read out at the funeral by Ms O'Callaghan. Funeral attendees sobbed as Mr Lund's casket was driven away in a vintage fire truck, through a guard of honour formed by more than 100 CFA members. Mr Lund worked at the CFA as a senior technical field officer for more than 25 years. In his role, setting up communication gear at command centres, he attended some of the biggest fires in the state's recent history, including the toxic Hazelwood mine 56-year-old was diagnosed with stage 4 oesophageal cancer last year, which his doctor attributed to his exposure to smoke, fumes and ash from fires, including chemical fires and the mine fire. The Firefighters' Presumptive Rights Compensation and Fire Services Legislation Amendment (Reform) Act 2019 ensures Victorian firefighters diagnosed with certain cancers are entitled to compensation. The act includes a list of 18 cancers and an associated career period that paid and volunteer firefighters, as well as vehicle and equipment maintenance employees, must have served to qualify under the scheme. However, professional, technical and administrative employees are not eligible — and as Mr Lund worked in an IT role, he was not covered. Instead, he had to go back and find old pay slips and time sheets to prove 25 years' worth of exposure to risk from fires to make a successful WorkCover claim. A week before he died on May 12, Mr Lund told the ABC the law needed to change. Ross Sottile is a lawyer at Maurice Blackburn who worked with Mr Lund and his family to get a WorkCover claim approved. "Presumptive legislation is beneficial legislation that makes the WorkCover claim process simpler, so what it does is it presumes that someone's work or volunteer service and their cancer condition are related," he said. "Although [Mr Lund] had ticked off that he had the correct cancer under the presumptive legislation and he had the correct service period in terms of the years that he had spent with the CFA, the definition of firefighter just did not cover his role." Mr Sottile said not only were workers then faced with having to prove their cancer was work-related under a WorkCover claim, but they were missing out on crucial entitlements. "In doing that, it's a delay in workers accessing crucial entitlements to medical expenses and weekly compensation so that they can focus on things like getting treatment, instead of worrying about the financial burden of getting treatment and paying for mortgages," he said. Mr Sottile said the current definition of firefighter under the act did not allow for the practical realities many fire staffers faced in the field. "I think when the legislation was drafted, it just didn't take into account all these other sorts of workers that are actually on the ground alongside our firefighters," he said. The Australian Services Union is campaigning for the legislation to be expanded to cover all professional, technical and administrative staff who attend incidents, or are exposed to contaminants. Victorian branch secretary Tash Wark, who attended Mr Lund's funeral, said the union was also negotiating with the CFA for a better staff tracking system. "So when exposures have occurred, there is an easy pathway back for people to be able to demonstrate what roles they have performed, when," she said. "Simon's greatest legacy will be his fight to change presumptive laws to include his training and administration colleagues to ensure they are covered," she said. Minister for Emergency Services Vicki Ward declined the ABC's request for an interview. In a previous statement, a spokesperson for the Victorian government said it would "continue to monitor whether Victoria's presumptive compensation legislation appropriately reflects the increased risks some emergency service workers can face due to their service".
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Exit strategy' call amid doubt over rail loop benefits
Fresh doubt has been cast on the cost of a major infrastructure project that will take decades to complete as an assessment found its benefits had been "overstated". An Infrastructure Australia report on Melbourne's Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) urged the state government create an "exit strategy" in case the orbital train line cannot be delivered. It called on the Victoria government to release up-to-date costings as the $34.5 billion price tag for the first section of the line from Cheltenham to Box Hill, known as SRL East, was calculated in 2020 before construction costs soared. "Based on the information provided, we have low confidence in the cost estimate for SRL East, presenting a major risk to the SRL East project and the SRL Program as a whole," the report says. The proposed 90km orbital rail loop is intended to run from Cheltenham in Melbourne's southeast to Werribee in the outer west via the airport at Tullamarine. It's due to be completed in four stages over several decades. The Victorian government is relying on the Commonwealth to fund one third of SRL East and so far it has handed over $2.2 billion. The report found the economic benefits of the first two sections had been "overstated" and calls for more rigorous assessment to justify why the rail line is a priority for the state. The independent statutory body also urged the federal government to hold off committing more money until Victoria hands over further analysis, updated costings and financial documents including its funding strategy. Suburban Rail Loop Minister Harriet Shing said the state government was working with Infrastructure Australia but did not expressly commit to providing the requested information. She said the project was within the expected price band and the government stood by the loop after taking it to two state elections. "To be really clear, the Infrastructure Australia report is the basis upon which the recommendation occurred to release $2.2 billion (from the federal government)," Ms Shing told reporters. "As we deliver long-term projects an orbital rail loop around the city, we will see benefit, not just for the people who immediately access the benefits of living and working closer to rail." Opposition major projects spokesman Evan Mulholland described it as a "damning assessment" and urged the government to halt construction and review contracts immediately. "This is sobering reading, it's a blistering assessment of (Premier) Jacinta Allan's vanity project," he told reporters. "It obliterates the SRL business and investment case that was cooked up back in 2020."
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hunt for machete killers amid calls for immediate ban
A political fight is brewing over speeding up an Australian-first machete ban after another slaying involving the deadly weapon. The Victorian government will move laws in state parliament this week to ban the sale and possession of machetes from September 1 to combat their rising use. The proposed ban came too late for a 24-year-old man, who was stabbed to death on Friday night by a machete-wielding group near the Marriott Waters Shopping Centre in Melbourne's southeast The victim from Clyde was in a Lyndhurst car park when he was ambushed by up to 10 men, with some carrying machetes. He was rushed to hospital, where he later died. The man was the fourth person to perish in a machete-related murder in Victoria over the past six months. His killers remain on the run. The state opposition has seized on the brutal murder, declaring it will move to amend the government's legislation to make the machete ban immediate. Victorians could not wait another six months for the weapons to be outlawed as there would be more home invasions, carjackings and murders in that time, Opposition Leader Brad Battin said. "We need to make sure that we don't see the murder that we saw on Friday night again with machetes on our streets," he told reporters on Sunday. "We need to make sure that families aren't waking up and seeing young offenders in their house with machetes." Victorian minister Harriet Shing said the Lyndhurst attack was devastating and machetes would have no place on the streets under the ban, although there would be limited exemptions for hunting and agriculture. She indicated the state government was not considering bringing forward the ban or accompanying amnesty period, which would run from September 1 to November 30. "When the UK introduced this ban it took them around 18 months. We intend to do that ban in six months," Ms Shing said. "I'm looking forward to receiving confirmation from the leader of the opposition that he would support these provisions when they come before the parliament this week."
