Premier Chris Minns has lied on live radio during the Ben Fordham show this morning, making false allegations against Greens MP Sue Higginson and stoking community division in Lismore during an emergency.
Greens MP Sue Higginson and member of the Lismore Community said "It is deeply offensive that the NSW Premier would use his platform to spread lies and division in my community of Lismore. The most disappointing part of this is that he had to run back to Sydney before telling lies about me, and punching down on a community that he knows nothing about,"
"Up until this morning, every single person that has been part of the debate about community members occupying vacant buy back homes in Lismore has wanted to make sure that people are in safe and secure homes. Premier Minns has shattered that by trying to score political points against a community that is still recovering. This morning on 2GB radio he unilaterally declared that he will knock down and demolish beautiful old timber homes in North Lismore to satisfy his insecurity as he punches down on some in my community,"
"The facts are, the community at Pine St evacuated themselves from the homes they have been living in on Thursday - well before Cyclone Alfred was ever supposed to make landfall. I was there and saw for myself. Unlike Chris Minns' false and inflammatory claims, these people created no risk to themselves, the SES, or any of the community as a result of occupying homes that were supposed to be relocated after the 2022 floods,"
"The people living in these homes in Lismore have made it clear that when there is a plan for the homes to be relocated, that they would peacefully and willingly leave so that the relocation can occur. They have offered to facilitate inspections for potential buyers and have cared for and restored these properties that would otherwise have been left by the Government to fall apart,"
"The Pine St community are locals, families, students and other people that are making use of unused homes in the middle of a housing crisis. The fact is there are people who are still living in Pine Street who have done so for decades, they are not leaving their homes. It's telling of the kind of man Chris Minns is when he seeks to demonise the fact that many in our community welcome and seek to accommodate people who are living rough, backpackers and activists,"
"Chris Minns has declared war on this small part of my community, and I am struggling to believe that after he has returned to the comfort of his own home in Kogarah, when some in my family are still isolated in flood waters in theirs, he has then gone to 2GB to raise a lynch mob of supporters. His attacks on the community and me this morning seem to have been carefully planned and coordinated, and they are designed to drive community division, not find solutions,"
"In times of crisis leaders should not be swanning around disaster zones elevating some and punching down on others, the fact is we are all in this together. The Premier of NSW this morning has chosen to use his platform to lie about me, and lie about my community. I get that we all have jobs to do and the Premier and I have slightly different politics, but to lie, bully and punch down at a time like this is something I did not know he had in him," Ms Higginson said.
Comments by Chris Minns that are untrue:
"Sue Higginson, from the Greens at the recent estimates, said that the attempt by the reconstruction authority to turn off the water, which is what you would do to try and get people out, was an infringement on these individual human rights."
"(Sue) Wants the squatters to stay. That's certainly what she was saying to Mal Lanyon, who's the Reconstruction Authority chairman at the recent Estimates Committee hearing,"
"During the days leading up to Alfred, we had to issue evacuation orders to CBD of Lismore, South Lismore, North Lismore, and in particular these streets in these communities. So we had SES personnel going through those streets to homes that had been bought by the taxpayer because they were dangerous to live in and make sure that no one was living in there illegally."
"I think they've got the collective has got a representative, the leadership, and they demanded a whole bunch of conditions from the New South Wales government. Like they jump the queue when it comes to social housing."
"We know that there's a housing and major housing issue in Byron Bay in some of those communities, but this is not going to be solved by putting people in dangerous situations, and it's not going to be solved by overseas visitors, tourists, backpackers moving into government owned land who are obviously trespassing and putting people's lives in danger."
