An update on the
campaign.
On 10.12.15, a group from Friends
of Public Housing Victoria were invited to attend the Nick
Xenephon launch in Victoria of his new national
political party.
The Nick Xenophon Team has the snappy acronym – NXT.
The candidate for Higgins is Nancy Bassett and we were pleased to hear her speak on the importance of public housing. She spoke to the audience about the transferring of public housing titles, and the responsibility of government to ensure that we retain public housing - now and for the future.
Not only did she get the language right, ( no confusing ambiguous
terms ) she nailed the issue ( the stock transfers ) and made it clear that the ongoing provision
of public housing is a governmental responsibility, and the future
depends on it.
Wow!! How
refreshing to hear honest, plain speaking common-sense regarding
this urgent issue from a
political candidate.
During the 'question
and answer' session, when the topic of public housing was again
raised,
Nick Xenephon made the point that once these properties
are gone they are gone forever.
We recently had
White Ribbon Day to draw attention to the shocking national problem
of domestic violence. Where are all these ( mainly ) women and
children to go in order for them to be safe -if there is no
housing available !?
We need
public housing. We need to stop the scandalous practice of
giving away publicly owned titles, and we need to increase the stock.
In the present
political climate, most politicians studiously avoid talking about the
transferring of public housing titles to private interests – which
is, of course, the privatisation of a public asset. The stock transfers are
still the
big elephant in the room.
But
no-one has the
right to keep such a vitally
important thing
a secret
- especially in
the face of escalating homelessness and when
there are such compelling
arguments to hang on to public housing.
So
let's congratulate Nancy
Bassett from the Nick Xenephon Team for her courageous stand regarding the future of public housing - for
not skirting the issue of
the stock
(or asset) transfers,
and for
her support of government owned and managed public housing.
The launch of NXT
in Victoria was a vibrant function. We stayed and
talked to the team afterwards about how the privatisation of public
housing is being covertly orchestrated without the public tenants or the general public even knowing about it !!
We also spoke of the rights of public tenants which are being bulldozed along with so many publicly owned properties.
PUBLIC HOUSING TITLE TRANSFER?
As a member of Friends of Public Housing who came along on the night it was encouraging to hear a senator's candidate get it right on public housing.
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