SUBMISSION TO THE OMBUDSMAN’S INVESTIGATION INTO THE STATE GOVERNMENT’S COVID-19 LOCKDOWN OF PUBLIC HOUSING AT 33 ALFRED ST, NTH MELBOURNE

EXPAND THE INVESTIGATION

The Save Public Housing Collective (SPHC) proposes that the Investigation be extended to review the circumstances of the entire hard lockdown response at nine (9) towers in Flemington and North Melbourne.

In line with expressed community criticism, the SPHC agree that the state government response at 33 Albert St, Nth Melbourne – which the Ombudsman is attending to – is not isolated from the coordinated response at these nine towers.

WHAT SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED?

SPHC welcomes the Ombudsman’ investigation, noting the serious concerns residents and community members have articulated about the lockdowns in various media outlets. We support an investigation that commits to addressing:

  •  The discriminatory nature of the lockdown, by class, gender, race or ethnicity;

  •  Whether the stated ‘overwhelming’ police presence was a proportional and justified necessity;

  •  If the communication of procedure with residents, and community-based organisations, was in keeping with due process;

  •  If there was sufficient access to culturally appropriate nourishment, medical assistance and recreation; and importantly

  •  Whether Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) was adhered to by all government actors.

The Save Public Housing Collective proposes the investigation be also extended to include

  1. Identifying the government official or agency which initiated the intervention;

  2. The agencies and individuals, including Ministers and Ministerial staff involved in all aspects of decision making about the intervention; how the intervention was to be organised; and why it took the form it did with police arriving first;

  3. The description of the police’s involvement as being “community policing” and the justifications for it being called this;

  4. The use of the description “detention” for the extended lockdown at 33 Alfred St and why it was chosen over “quarantine”;

  5. The failure of DHHS to set up adequate supports until days after the police arrived for residents and those locked out from returning to their homes if they were out of the towers, having been at work or other reasons;

  6. Job and income losses as a result of the lockdowns and “detentions” and the compensation to be paid to affected residents;

  7. The lack of maintenance for lifts and its contribution to making the towers unsafe and contributing to the COVID-19 outbreak;

  8. Overcrowding in apartments in the towers and how the state government’s failure to enact plans to build more public housing to end this shameful failure to provide adequate, safe housing for all residents;

  9. The extent to which items 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 above constitute various aspects of Human Rights violations, directly expressed or implied by the

    Victorian Charter of Human Rights Act1

1 The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 doesn’t explicitly mention rights in relation to housing but, as section 5 Human rights in this Charter in addition to other rights and freedoms states:

A right or freedom not included in this Charter that arises or is recognised under any other law (including international law, the common law, the Constitution of the Commonwealth and a law of the Commonwealth) must not be taken to be abrogated or limited only because the right or freedom is not included in this Charter or is only partly included.

This provision of clearly indicates a legal and moral duty to comply with the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human rights and a number of legally binding conventions to which Australia is a signatory, such as:

  •  the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and

  •  the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)...
    Other binding agreements which expand on the rights contained in the Universal Declaration include:

  •  the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1965

  •  the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 1979

  •  the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or

    Punishment 1984

  •  the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989

  •  the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006.

All of these conventions make an explicit reference to housing rights.

10. DHHS’s plans that have been put in place since the lock downs; if are adequate; and if they include:

  •  On-going advice of COVID-19’s presence in all towers;

  •  Infection control measures; and

  •  Preventive cleaning measures in common areas, mail boxes,

    rubbish disposal, lifts and laundries.

SIGNED ON BEHALF OF SPHC:

David Kelly Kerrie Byrne Luciano Furfaro Warwick Neilley

Email address: savepublichousingcollective@gmail.com