Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Last night, in an extraordinarily misleading speech, the Prime Minister misrepresented me three times. First, he said that I oppose investment in public housing. The Greens in fact secured investment in public housing and are calling for more. Secondly, the Prime Minister said the following:

The Member for Melbourne told the House:

North Melbourne's and Carlton's towers will be the first to go. People will be kicked out of their homes within the next few years. It's wrong to destroy these vibrant and diverse communities. The people there have a right to a home—a public home.

The Prime Minister then misrepresented me and misled the House by going on to say:

That sounds okay except that no-one is there because they're derelict.

In fact, there are hundreds of people living in those towers, and the Victorian Labor government wants to demolish the homes of thousands of my constituents in public housing in North Melbourne and Carlton, with 33 Alfred Street in North Melbourne listed as the first to go.

Thirdly, in claiming that I was incorrect, the Prime Minister told the House:

What we're doing … is upgrading them into more homes for public housing …

And he said:

… people who live in public housing should live in quality public housing—

which he then said that I disagreed with. In fact, Labor has made no commitment to move these residents into public housing, just as I said. In fact, Victorian Labor has said they want non-government and private sector development on the land. In misrepresenting me, perhaps the Prime Minister made a new guarantee to Melbourne public housing residents that there'll be more public housing homes—

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