Jonathan Sriranganathan criticised over social media post on squatting

Brisbane Greens councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan has been slammed after appearing to encourage people to squat in empty homes, even highlighting streets and suburbs likely to have unoccupied dwellings.

Controversial Greens councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan has come under fire after appearing to encourage people to squat in empty homes, even highlighting streets and suburbs likely to have unoccupied dwellings.

In a lengthy post on his Facebook page this week, Cr Sriranganathan detailed a method people could follow using Census data to “find a suitable place to squat”.

“Thousands of homes across Brisbane were sitting empty on the night of the 2021 Census. Cross-checking that against real estate vacancy rates, census form non-completion estimates, and the number of people who were away from their ordinary place of residence on census night, it seems clear that a significant proportion of those dwellings are investment properties that have been empty long-term,” he wrote.

Brisbane City Greens councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

“It would be far better if these homes were occupied by people who need housing, rather than left empty.”

Cr Sriranganathan went on to detail how people could use a “useful tool” to break down the data into small blocks of only a couple of streets.

“For each (dataset), you can see how many unoccupied homes there are in that neighbourhood,” he posted.

“This is a helpful way of identifying the neighbourhoods that might have particularly high numbers of empty dwellings and where you’re more likely to be able to find a suitable place to squat.”

He went on to name an area in Highgate Hill, saying “there are about 230 dwellings, with 22 unoccupied”, while in a precinct in Kangaroo Point “there are 200 dwellings but only 5 unoccupied”.

Adrian Schrinner has described Cr Sriranganathan’s post as ‘sickening’. File picture: Matthew Poon

“If anyone with time on their hands to sift through some data can help me identify which neighbourhoods in the inner-city have the highest percentages of unoccupied dwellings, I’d be very interested to look into that.”

Lord Mayor Adrian Schinner slammed the post as “sickening”, and accused the Greens councillor of “misusing his position to promote the idea of people illegally squatting in someone else’s home”.

“Everyone has a right to safe and secure housing but, by the same token, no one should have to worry about the security of their home while they’re away visiting family, in hospital or working overseas – like many in our defence forces,” Cr Schrinner.

Cr Sriranganathan ended his post with “obviously I would NEVER encourage anyone to break the law and this is just hypothetical advice”.

“Posting about squatting (which is unlawful), but then claiming he would never encourage anyone to break the law is incredibly disingenuous,” Cr Schrinner said.