The Victorian Greens have slammed the Victorian Labor government for claiming in court that they have no documents which back up their plan to demolish and privatise the public housing towers at North Melbourne and Flemington.
The Victorian Labor government has refused requests from the Supreme Court to produce documents backing up their reasoning for demolishing the towers which the judge has labelled as "startling".
The Victorian Labor government was requested to provide these documents as part of the discovery process for the ongoing class action being led by residents from the North Melbourne and Flemington towers.
It comes just a few months after the Victorian Labor government refused to produce 146 of 158 documents to Parliament related to the demolition and privatisation of all 44 public housing towers, denying access under executive privilege.
The Victorian Greens Acting Spokesperson for Public and Affordable Housing, Gabrielle de Vietri accused the Victorian Labor government of ongoing secrecy and lack of transparency over their plan to demolish and privatise the towers.
She said that it's unbelievable that Labor would steamroll ahead with this disastrous plan without a shred of evidence to back it up.
As stated by the Victorian Greens Acting Spokesperson for Public and Affordable Housing, Gabrielle de Vietri:
"Labor is denying documents to courts, parliament and the public - they're clearly hell bent on concealing the true reason they're demolishing and privatising all of Victoria's public housing towers.
"This half-baked plan has never been about the residents. It's just a way for Labor to hand over prime public land to private developers for massive profits. Any plan that starts with demolishing 7000 public homes in the middle of a housing crisis, is not a housing plan, it's a housing disaster.
"The Premier owes us an explanation. This plan will displace more than ten thousand public housing residents in the middle of a housing crisis, yet they're steamrolling ahead without providing a shred of evidence to back it up. Where we see communities, they see dollar signs.
"The plan to demolish and privatise all 44 public housing towers has never stacked up and it's clear that Labor has something to hide. It's only a matter of time until their house of cards falls down on them."
