Latest news with #HarrietShing
ABC News
03-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Victoria's Suburban Rail Loop Minister digs in on state's $34 billion funding plan for six new train stations
The minister for Victoria's Suburban Rail Loop is adamant it will be delivered within its $34 billion budget, but has refused to discuss back-up plans or exit strategies should Canberra reject a $9 billion funding request. In an interview with Stateline, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop Harriet Shing said work was continuing daily with the Commonwealth for stage one of the rail loop known as SRL East — six train stations between Cheltenham and Box Hill. The Victorian government is contributing a third of funding of stage 1 directly, while planning to raise another third from value capture — a levy on local development around each station — and is relying on the remainder to come from the Commonwealth. The Albanese government has already provided $2.2 billion for early works as part of a 2022 election commitment. Earlier this year, advisory body Infrastructure Australia said it had low confidence in the state's ability to build SRL East within the $30-$34.5 billion budget and requested Victoria provide more detailed analysis of its plans, including an updated cost estimate and exit strategies from the project. It said without assessing these updated results the Commonwealth should not consider paying the remaining $9 billion the Victorian government is asking for. "We're continuing to deliver the information that the federal infrastructure department needs and to engage with Commonwealth ministers and of course the prime minister," Ms Shing said. She said Infrastructure Australia recommended paying $2.2 billion for the SRL East project but then counselled the Commonwealth to ask for further detail, which Victorian departments were providing. "This is a conversation for a project of enormous size and scale and complexity and of course the federal government is doing its due diligence — as it should," Ms Shing said. She dismissed the need for an updated cost estimate for SRL East, saying construction was already underway according to costings made in 2021. "The contracts that we've entered into at the moment are on track. They are within those ranges," Ms Shing said. The SRL minister remained adamant in response to repeated questions about whether the Victorian government had a back-up funding plan if the Commonwealth decided not to stump up more cash. She emphasised the principle behind the project, saying that failing to build infrastructure for future generations would exacerbate existing problems. "It's irresponsible to describe the problems of a city that is growing at this rate — we'll be the size of London by the 2050s — and not to have any long-term plan to address those challenges of congestion and unfettered growth around the outside suburbs," she said. Ms Shing would not be drawn on exit strategies for the project if funding methods — via the Commonwealth or value capture — fail. "The only people who are talking about cancelling this project are the state opposition," she said. Ms Shing said she was confident the government would be able to raise $11.8 billion it needs via value capture (approximately one third of the cost) to fund SRL East. She said the funding method had been used in other parts of Australia to finance large scale projects such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Ms Shing explained value capture would involve the government extracting a portion of the profits that come from housing developments built in a 600 metre radius around each of the six new train stations. "So across the SRL precincts ... there will be 70,000 new homes delivered and we will see an enormous investment in employment precincts and jobs." How the government would extract wealth out of developments around the new SRL train stations, without creating a disincentive for developers is yet to be detailed. "Planning reform is another really important part of this work." Ms Shing said details on value capture plans would be revealed in coming months. Ms Shing said the SRL project was not just about rail but a broader vision to build for Melbourne's growing population. Doing nothing would push growth further into the city's north and west, she said. "These are areas that know only too well what a lack of access to infrastructure means for them and for their quality of life and opportunity," Ms Shing said. The minister declined, or was unable, to say how many people would use the SRL East train route when it opens in 2035, though she did say 460,000 people would use the SRL line once fully completed, which is decades away. She said the number of SRL East train users would be "as many as the timetable will allow". "The objective is to get to 'turn up and go' services, which then means across those twin tunnels we'll be able to have people accessing that to the greatest density possible using signalling that allows us to have high capacity trains — so, for more passengers — across a timetable that meets that demand," Ms Shing said. "When that timetable is developed we'll be able to see how many people will be using it."
ABC News
28-06-2025
- ABC News
Suburban Rail Loop travel times in Melbourne's east calculated by transport planners
Travel times across key spots in Melbourne's east would be up to 40 minutes faster under a completed first section of the Suburban Rail Loop project, data calculated by government transport planners suggests. Students travelling from Cheltenham to either Monash University in Clayton or Deakin University in Burwood would get there 40 minutes faster than on existing public transport options, and 24 and 29 minutes, respectively, faster than driving the route. People travelling between Box Hill and Cheltenham, home to the stations that will bookend the Suburban Rail Loop East, will save 30 minutes of car travel time, according to the report. The estimated travel times, which compare to both existing public transport and car-based options, are based on 2025 examples, but the $34.5 billion first leg of the orbital rail tunnel is not due to open until 2035. The report calculated future journey times along more than 40 routes, with a focus on population hubs, hospitals, medical centres and universities. It also showed how journeys to and from other parts of the city would be altered by the rail loop, with the inclusion of examples such as travel between Footscray and Deakin University in Burwood. The data suggests that journey would take 43 minutes — 6 minutes faster by public transport, and 11 minutes faster than driving. Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Harriet Shing, said the journey times showed the project would help Melbourne "grow well". "We know that at the moment people spend a lot of time in traffic, and they're having to go into the city before heading back out again," she said. As work progresses, the government has been compelled to defend the mammoth project amid issues including an Infrastructure Australia report casting doubt on the project's financial viability and concerns from residents in communities earmarked for major development. Monash University public transport expert Graham Currie said the estimated travel times laid out in the report were "quite conservative". "They've compared the railway to existing travel times by car," he said. The existing public transport journey times were calculated using the Public Transport Victoria app around 8am on a weekday, and the car travel times using Google Maps. The completion of SRL East will involve the construction of 26 kilometres of twin tunnels connecting six stations. Professor Currie said he believed residents in the city's east would support the project despite its cost and timeline. "The people that live in these suburbs have been car-dependent for a long time," he said. "They know the traffic's growing, and they're looking for an alternative, and this is a very attractive one. "It's expensive, though." The SRL project, first announced by the Victorian government in the lead-up to the 2018 state election, is due to be completed in three parts, with tunnel boring on SRL East to begin next year. It will be the most expensive infrastructure project in the state's history.
SBS Australia
18-06-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
'A housing disaster': The case against demolishing Melbourne's public housing
Days before resigning in 2023, former Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews announced a plan to demolish all 44 of Victoria's public housing towers. As Australia grapples with an ongoing housing crisis, plans to demolish the homes of 10,000 Victorians and rebuild them by 2051, has many experts and residents scratching their head. In April, the Supreme Court of Victoria dismissed a class action from tenants opposing the decision. Determined to be heard, the residents are launching an appeal. Louisa Bassini is the managing lawyer for Housing and Tenancy at the Inner Melbourne Community Legal Centre. She tells SBS that Homes Victoria failed to properly consider the human rights of residents, in making the decision without consultation. "Other grounds pertain to the group members' rights to have an opportunity to be heard. To this day, Homes Victoria still haven't consulted with residents and allowed them to put forward submissions regarding alternatives to demolition. And so our argument is that the trial judge erred in finding that this wasn't required and that this wasn't necessarily impactful on the outcome of Homes Victoria's program." Victorian Housing Minister Harriet Shing told SBS the towers are long overdue for replacement. "Well, anybody who's ever been in the towers or who calls the towers home will know that they're really noisy. They're cold in winter, they're hot in summer. They don't have access to the same sorts of ventilation, natural light or amenity that apply to every other form of housing around the state in terms of current codes of compliance." In the North Melbourne Public housing towers, residents say they found out about the decision via a note slipped under their door, informing them that their homes would be the first to go. Gabrielle de Vietri is the Victorian Greens Housing Spokesperson. She's also the state member for Richmond, which has more public housing towers than any other electorate in Victoria. On the day of the announcement, a public meeting was held for residents. "All they had heard was that they had received a letter under their door on the day that Dan Andrews made this announcement saying, we're going to demolish your home. We don't know when sit tight. And the distress in that room was absolutely palpable because there had been no other information communicated. There'd been no consultation with residents whatsoever." De Vietri says many of these towers are predominantly occupied by migrants and refugees. With decades of community building inside the towers, she says residents fear being cut off from their support networks. "And one elderly Vietnamese woman stood up and spoke on behalf of a group of residents that were all around an interpreter saying, we will chain ourselves to this building rather than let the bulldozers come in. This is our home. We are not letting it go. And they have built their community around this location. They have access to their doctors, they have their friends, they have their services, and they have their community there." According to a recent report from the Victorian Housing Peaks Alliance, Victoria needs an extra 80,000 social housing homes in the next decade to get the state back on track. The term Social Housing encompasses two broad categories, public and community housing. Public housing is owned and managed by the state government, whereas community housing is managed, and often owned, by private not-for-profit organisations. Harriet Shing says tenants have the same set of rights regardless. "Everybody in social housing, whether they are provided housing under the public housing system or under community housing, who's coming off the wait, who gets that housing as a result of that wait list and priority access is entitled to the rights that exist under the Residential Tendencies Act. They are the same irrespective of what part of the social housing system you are in." But, while tenants may have the same rights once they're in community housing, the private organisations that own the dwellings can lease up to 25 per cent to private renters, reducing the number available to those on the wait list. Rent prices in community housing are also not subject to the same rent cap as public housing, with tenants possibly facing a 5 per cent rent increase if moved to community housing. Louisa Bassini says this is not good enough. "So this is returning to the estates, subject to availability of community housing properties, which means that these people would no longer be public housing residents. They would be living under the management of non-government organizations and with fewer rights that stem from the policies of those organisations. It's inadequate given that they're being evicted, their homes are being demolished, and still there's no assurances that they can return as public housing residents to the estates." While there is general agreement that the towers are no longer up to building code standards, independent architects say there's no reason why the buildings can't be retrofitted. Nigel Bertram co-authored a report making the case for retrofitting and is a practice professor of architecture at Monash University. He says the plan to demolish is deeply flawed. "They're all built in a very similar manner. So their modularity, if you makes them very suited to retrofitting actually, because they're systematic. So if we could work out a system for one building, it can be used on multiple buildings. They're almost like a kit of parts out of the precast factory. Were put together in the same kind of way. So with similar structures." While unique changes and modifications that have occurred throughout the buildings over the decades, he says that can be dealt with. "It's possible to bring buildings up to standard to different degrees, certainly to the point that they're fit for habitation and fit for ongoing use into the future... If you think about the city as a whole, we have a whole lot of buildings that are very, very cherished buildings from the 19th century. They don't meet current standards either, but we don't use that as a reason to knock them down. In fact, we think very carefully about how to make them livable for contemporary needs and retain them." Aside from the social impacts on residents, he says the independent analysis has found retrofitting is not only cheaper, but better for the environment. "We put all those social factors aside, we didn't cost them, we didn't discuss them, we just looked at the numbers of what would it cost, what's required scope of works, and its embodied carbon. And we found that environmentally and economically it's cheaper and better to retrofit rather than rebuild." A number of similar reports have been released by architects and academics, arguing the case of retrofitting. But Harriet Shing says these reports are misinformed about the condition and structure of the buildings. "What I would say is that the sort of buildings referred to by that person constructed in the 19th century were not 26 stories tall. So the sort of engineering challenges that exist there in the first place are very difficult to compare with one and two story buildings or smaller apartment blocks, walk-ups, for example, of three or four or five stories. The second thing that's really important to note this is that communities have expressed a very, very clear desire not to be impacted by construction." Gabrielle de Vietri says their team has knocked on the doors of every public housing resident in the Richmond electorate. "Across all the estates, what we're hearing from residents is that relocation offices are... they're promising things that they can't deliver and they're threatening them with some pretty scary situations. So they're promising residents the right of return, which in fact, Homes Victoria's own relocation policy doesn't actually guarantee the right of return. And residents aren't aware that even if they do return maybe 7, 8, 9 years down the track, they're not actually going to be returning to public housing." The government says residents do have right of return, but only if they're deemed eligible. So, if someone's situation changes their eligibility for certain housing options, they may no longer have priority access to the housing they have now. While the government insists that clear communications have been made with residents throughout the process, groups representing tenants told SBS something different. Louisa Bassini says there are more than 800 households currently represented in the class action against Homes Victoria. "They are residents of the three towers that are the first occupied towers that are set to be demolished. But we think that the outcome of this decision has ramifications for residents of all of the towers across Melbourne. So those 10,000 people, I think, all are watching closely and have an interest in this process being a fair one because their towers are also set to be demolished under the program." Katelyn Butterss is the CEO of the Victorian Public Tenants Association. With a number of relocations already underway, she tell SBS that there have been mixed outcomes. "We have heard from some renters that they are quite happy and we've heard from some others that they just don't meet their needs at all, that the layouts aren't culturally sensitive for them and that they're struggling to fit their furniture in the homes." The Productivity Commission's latest annual Report on Government Services reveals just 2.9 per cent of Victorian households are in social housing – well behind the national average of 3.9 per cent. Katelyn Butterss says that one of the key concerns of the VPTA is that when these social dwellings are rebuilt, many won't meet the needs of families currently in the towers. "There are lots of larger families at North Melbourne and Flemington that we did a detailed piece of community engagement work with to really understand what their ambitions were for new homes to be rebuilt on the sites. And they had lots of very sensible and reasonable suggestions of things that they would like to see. And that included bedrooms that were large enough to have two single beds side by side, but the areas for older children available, if not in the apartment itself, then a common area that they could go and do homework quietly and very importantly, kitchens that are not open plan but are separated further from the rest of the home. Many cases for cultural reasons, but also to prevent the spread of cooking smells and to create an extra living space for larger families." Harriet Shing says that the government is determined to proceed with their plans and vows that communication and consultation with communities will continue every step of the way. "We will keep working with residents and with the community to provide them with accurate information. We will keep working to make sure that people have access to housing that meets their needs and we will keep working to make sure also that as the city grows and we head to a city the size of London, by the 2050s, we are providing a range of housing options for private renters, for people in social housing, for people looking to buy their own home and for people wanting to stay closer to where they grew up." But Gabrielle de Vietri says the Greens won't stop pushing back until this plan is scrapped. "So we're reaching out in as many ways as we can to try and stop this disastrous plan from happening because nobody agrees with the government's plan. Nobody agrees with their decision to demolish these towers, and nobody thinks it's a good idea. In fact, across the political spectrum and across experts and service organizations, residents and community, everybody agrees that it is a disastrous idea because any plan that starts with demolishing 7,000 homes in a housing crisis is not a housing plan. It's a housing disaster."
News.com.au
03-06-2025
- General
- News.com.au
‘Inhumane': North Melbourne public housing residents protest ahead of demolition
Selling off public housing is inhumane and tells war-fleeing refugees that Australia does not want them, a Melbourne housing advocate says. For a second day on Tuesday, residents and supporters tried to stop workers entering the public housing tower on Alfred St, North Melbourne. The public housing towers are slated for demolition, to be replaced with charity-owned community housing and 'affordable' apartments. Notable Melbourne housing advocate Jordan van den Lamb told NewsWire the process for getting residents out of Alfred St had been inhumane. The replacement public houses were too small for families, and the relocations on offer were away from residents' existing support networks, he said. On Tuesday, dozens of residents and supporters protested outside the housing towers, Mr van den Lamb said. 'They're not building any three-bedroom homes. This stuff is like 'we're going to demolish a three-bedroom home and replace it with three one-bedroom apartments. 'What message does that tell to someone who's got a large family and is fleeing war? … 'We don't care about you. We don't want you to live in public housing'.' Residents were unwilling to speak to NewsWire for fear of jeopardising their applications for a new home. The apartments at the new, redeveloped Alfred St site will be leased to the private sector for 40 years. Housing Minister Harriet Shing has criticised Greens politicians – who were at the protest on Monday – for spreading fear. 'No demolition works are scheduled while people are living in the towers,' she said in a statement to NewsWire. 'While we're getting on with delivering modern and accessible homes for people on the social housing register, the Greens continue to spend their time spreading misinformation and creating fear without offering actual solutions.' A notice issued on Friday informed residents that workers in high-vis and hazmat suits would be arriving during the week to 'carry out concrete investigations in empty apartments'. Four towers at the nearby Flemington Estate are also set to be demolished. Some residents of Flemington Estate and Alfred St towers have already left their homes, relocated to other public houses. A chorus of remaining residents want all relocations to be sorted before any preliminary works are done on the buildings. 'Commencing works while residents remain in their homes is premature, inappropriate, and deeply disrespectful,' a joint letter from tenants to Homes Victoria says. 'We are still living in this building. Regardless of how many residents remain, this is our home, not a construction site. 'The presence of workers in hazmat suits, disruptive noise, restricted access and diminished privacy in the name of redevelopment planning sends a clear message that the wellbeing and dignity of the remaining residents are being ignored.' Days before retiring from politics, then Premier Dan Andrews announced Melbourne's 44 public housing towers would be knocked down and redeveloped. The residents – numbering somewhere between 10,000 and 13,000 – were not informed before Mr Andrews donned high-vis and made the announcement to the media. The plan is part of a massive 'urban renewal' push. The project has a deadline of 2051 and promises by the end the state will have 10 per cent more social houses. Social housing is an umbrella term for public housing and community housing. Public housing is state-owned and community houses are owned by not-for-profit organisations. The redevelopment scheme also includes 'affordable housing' – units capped at 90 per cent of market rent.
ABC News
23-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Firefighter and presumptive rights campaigner Simon Lund farewelled at funeral
Victorian firefighter Simon Lund has been farewelled at a funeral in Gippsland today, after spending his dying days campaigning for a better deal for others like him with a terminal illness related to their work. More than 500 people, including some of the state's top fire chiefs and local Labor MP Harriet Shing, attended the service at Churchill in Gippsland. During the eulogy, family friend Kellie O'Callaghan described Mr Lund as "the kind of person who left a mark on every life he touched". "He was loyal, kind, principled and loving. It wasn't just a job, it was a calling," she said. CFA acting chief fire officer Garry Cook presented Mr Lund's wife Tracie and their three children with one of the organisation's highest accolades — a Chief's Commendation for exemplary service. "I wish I could pick up the phone and say, 'Lundy, it's Cooky, you deserve this'," he told the service. In her tribute, Ms Lund said her husband's legacy would live on through their efforts to change the state's presumptive rights legislation for other fire staff. "When the Hazelwood mine fire devastated our community, we stood together," she wrote in her eulogy, read out at the funeral by Ms O'Callaghan. Funeral attendees sobbed as Mr Lund's casket was driven away in a vintage fire truck, through a guard of honour formed by more than 100 CFA members. Mr Lund worked at the CFA as a senior technical field officer for more than 25 years. In his role, setting up communication gear at command centres, he attended some of the biggest fires in the state's recent history, including the toxic Hazelwood mine 56-year-old was diagnosed with stage 4 oesophageal cancer last year, which his doctor attributed to his exposure to smoke, fumes and ash from fires, including chemical fires and the mine fire. The Firefighters' Presumptive Rights Compensation and Fire Services Legislation Amendment (Reform) Act 2019 ensures Victorian firefighters diagnosed with certain cancers are entitled to compensation. The act includes a list of 18 cancers and an associated career period that paid and volunteer firefighters, as well as vehicle and equipment maintenance employees, must have served to qualify under the scheme. However, professional, technical and administrative employees are not eligible — and as Mr Lund worked in an IT role, he was not covered. Instead, he had to go back and find old pay slips and time sheets to prove 25 years' worth of exposure to risk from fires to make a successful WorkCover claim. A week before he died on May 12, Mr Lund told the ABC the law needed to change. Ross Sottile is a lawyer at Maurice Blackburn who worked with Mr Lund and his family to get a WorkCover claim approved. "Presumptive legislation is beneficial legislation that makes the WorkCover claim process simpler, so what it does is it presumes that someone's work or volunteer service and their cancer condition are related," he said. "Although [Mr Lund] had ticked off that he had the correct cancer under the presumptive legislation and he had the correct service period in terms of the years that he had spent with the CFA, the definition of firefighter just did not cover his role." Mr Sottile said not only were workers then faced with having to prove their cancer was work-related under a WorkCover claim, but they were missing out on crucial entitlements. "In doing that, it's a delay in workers accessing crucial entitlements to medical expenses and weekly compensation so that they can focus on things like getting treatment, instead of worrying about the financial burden of getting treatment and paying for mortgages," he said. Mr Sottile said the current definition of firefighter under the act did not allow for the practical realities many fire staffers faced in the field. "I think when the legislation was drafted, it just didn't take into account all these other sorts of workers that are actually on the ground alongside our firefighters," he said. The Australian Services Union is campaigning for the legislation to be expanded to cover all professional, technical and administrative staff who attend incidents, or are exposed to contaminants. Victorian branch secretary Tash Wark, who attended Mr Lund's funeral, said the union was also negotiating with the CFA for a better staff tracking system. "So when exposures have occurred, there is an easy pathway back for people to be able to demonstrate what roles they have performed, when," she said. "Simon's greatest legacy will be his fight to change presumptive laws to include his training and administration colleagues to ensure they are covered," she said. Minister for Emergency Services Vicki Ward declined the ABC's request for an interview. In a previous statement, a spokesperson for the Victorian government said it would "continue to monitor whether Victoria's presumptive compensation legislation appropriately reflects the increased risks some emergency service workers can face due to their service".
