Millers Point residents protest auction sale

Issue 

Residents and supporters of the Save Millers Point campaign protested outside the auction of another public housing property on October 8. About 30 protesters gathered outside Ray White Real Estate in Double Bay, holding placards and chanting, "Aristocrats, shame on you."

Millers Point public housing tenants' spokesperson Barney Gardner said: "Once again, this callous and greedy state Liberal government are selling off another of our 'assets'. This public housing property is being auctioned, whilst 57,000 are on the waiting list and countless numbers of our most vulnerable people sleep rough."

A statement by campaign supporter John Dunn on October 9 said: "Last night, an 1840s terrace at 30 Argyle Place, Millers Point, sold for $1.7 million, which was far above the expectations of the agents and the government ... There have been six house sales since the March 19 announcement [by the Coalition state government] to relocate all residents and sell all property in Millers Point within two years. All the houses sold since that time were already empty on March 19, and in fact three of them had been offered previously through auction marketing programs.

"It appears the government is very intent on emptying the [293] properties it owns in Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks, but much less interested in selling them. The government has remained silent on its reasons for emptying these properties. The economics of selling them and destroying a community do not stack up.

"It appears the government wants few witnesses to its actions in Millers Point. They are on track to sell only a tiny proportion of the properties they have emptied, but they are on the brink of crushing a community that is strong, diverse and supportive."

"It is time for the government to face the people whose community in Millers Point it is destroying, and to begin to provide answers," Dunn stated.

[Click here for more information on the Save Millers Point campaign.]

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