Everyone deserves access to a safe and secure home. But successive Liberal and Labor governments have sold off public housing for private profit and failed to adequately invest in maintenance to keep public housing dwellings in good condition.

The public housing waiting list has blown out of control, with more than 50,000 approved applicants waiting up to a decade for homes that may never materialise. 

Meanwhile, too many public housing tenants face unacceptable wait times for basic maintenance and are forced to live with significant health and safety risks like leaking roofs, broken stoves, mould, rats, and dodgy plumbing.

The Greens want to see immediate, massive investment in public housing so that everyone on the waiting list has a home and all public housing properties are properly maintained.

Jenny Leong MP, Greens Member for Newtown has asked the Minister for Transport to expand planned upgrades for Redfern Station to include lifts for platforms 11 and 12 to make it fully accessible.

The Aboriginal Housing Company has submitted modified plans for the Pemulwuy Project which includes aboriginal affordable housing and student housing on The Block. These plans and the submissions regarding this new proposal are currently being reviewed by the Independent Planning Commission and you can find details here.

Read in Parliament on 10 November 2016:

"I draw the attention of the House to the achievements of the Redfern All Blacks rugby league football club. The club was officially founded in 1944 and is the oldest Aboriginal rugby league football club in the country. This year the Redfern All Blacks men's team won the trophy in the grand final of the Sydney Combined Competition and very recently also won the prestigious Koori Knockout competition for the second year in a row. The Redfern All Blacks women's team made it to the semi‑final of the Sydney Metro Women's Rugby League Division 1 and were also champions at the Koori Knockout, winning the women's competition.

I congratulate all of the players, team officials, volunteers and supporters who have been part of a great year."

Link:

• Redfern All Blacks

Redfern community member and public housing tenant representative Charlotte Dobrovits has been recognised as the 2017 Newtown Electorate Local Woman of the Year.

Each year the NSW Government recognises the outstanding contribution made by women across the state to industry, community and society. Local Women of the Year are selected by their local MPs.

Published in the Central Sydney Magazine, 5 October 2016

By Heather McNab

Revealed: Drug dogs sniff out troubling trend for Redfern

RESIDENTS in Redfern are more likely to be targeted by drug sniffer dogs than neighbouring suburbs after revelations the area is among the highest for searches that come up empty-handed.

Figures released under a Greens’ Freedom of Information request show that in the last two years, police performed 1313 searches in the area – far more than the Newtown, Surry Hills or Kings Cross police commands.

Around 150 residents joined a public meeting at The Factory in Waterloo on Thursday 11^th February, to voice their concerns about the future of public housing in Waterloo.

The cause of concerns is the announcement by the NSW Government late last year that two thousand Waterloo public housing residences will be demolished to make way for a development built around the new metro train station.

Today NSW Greens Aboriginal Justice and Police Spokesperson, David Shoebridge MP, and Member for Newtown and NSW Greens Human Rights spokesperson, Jenny Leong MP, expressed serious concern at actions taken by the police in an attempt to shut down a peaceful protest marking the tragic death of Aboriginal boy TJ Hickey in Redfern.

The matter is in the NSW Supreme Court this morning at 10am.

Greens MP for Newtown Jenny Leong will visit a number of events across the electorate of Newtown on Tuesday, January 26^th, recognising Australia’s long and lasting Aboriginal history, and welcoming new Australians from across the seas to the local area.

Ms Leong will join the Invasion Day 2016 march, which begins at The Block in Redfern, and also visit the Yabun festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Festival in Victoria Park Camperdown.

Today the NSW Government has announced a Sydney Metro station at Waterloo.

Member for Newtown Jenny Leong says that it’s reasonable that the local community has concerns about the implications of the decision, particularly around public and affordable housing, and transport accessibility.