Gather underneath St Joan in front of the State Library. Feel free to bring musical instruments and so forth, some simple street theatre is planned although still working on the details. There will be a planning meeting in the Small Hall at Jika Jika Community Centre, cnr Plant & Union Sts in Northcote very near Westgarth Station, Sunday 27 October, 1pm. Call Jeremy on 0455 728 403 for more information.
As for the issue: Both major parties want to privatise public housing, it is part of the National Housing Agreement of 2009 to which all states have signed up to. That is the dominant position of the Greens too, although in fairness the Victorian Greens have been more supportive. But a debate or even recognition of this issue in the mainstream media has been impossible to achieve up to now. The Victorian Liberal government is yet to release its new housing "Framework", but they have been quite clear about the gist of it which is to privatize public housing and demonize and humiliate public housing tenants.
The aim to is to _give_ public housing stock away to the private housing associations - a housing association is a cross between a business and a charity combining the worst features of both. This policy is based on the lie that public housing does not pay its way; the DHS's own figures show that rents exceed total rental operating costs by $100 million, despite successive governments' mismanagement.
Public housing it is not at bottom a welfare measure, it is a housing measure. Part of its purpose always has been to hold down prices and rents in the private market; the market left to itself cannot provide affordable housing in our society. Australia has a housing crisis and public housing is a large part of the solution to that.
The privatisation madness must stop. If we win this we can turn back the privatising tide, if we lose then public schools may the next to go.....