Housing estate lockdown: What happened to 'together'?

The residents living in the Flemington and North Melbourne public housing estates are frontline workers, nurses, construction workers, teachers and valued members of strong, resilient and caring communities who have been, like the rest of Victoria, self isolating, getting tested and supporting each other throughout this pandemic.

It has been three days since the Premier announced the estate my family and I call home would be placed into a hard lockdown. Our family of four has received one small box containing food and apart from the packet of Weet-Bix and jar of jam, every other item had passed its expiry date. We have not had a visit from medical professionals and are still awaiting to be tested with no knowledge when or how that will occur.

About 500 police are patrolling the affected towers in Melbourne.Credit: Darrian Traynor

So far the only direct communication we have received from the government has been via police officers. While we have heard announcements of a co-ordinated effort involving doctors, social workers, mental health professionals and community leaders our only direct interaction with authorities to date has been with the police officers patrolling our floor and stationed out the front of our building.

Since the first round of lockdowns were implemented in March, I had made numerous attempts to engage and share my concerns with the Office of Housing and Department of Human Health and Services with no response. Our community from the outset was conscious of the lack of hand sanitisation stations for visitors and those entering the building, the difficulties in procuring personal protective equipment and the overcrowding of communal spaces like the laundry.

A police truck outside Flemington Towers on Sunday July 5.Credit: Darrian Traynor

We needed to be supported with a culturally appropriate public health response, which should have included the mass installation of hand sanitising stations, wide distribution of PPE equipment, translated information and guidelines, consistent cleaning of shared communal areas and dedicated testing arrangements. Instead my grandma, whose English is limited, was met with the sudden appearance of police at her building telling her she could not leave her home for any reason.

Najat Mussa

For a community that has lived through an extensive history of discriminatory policing the presence of large numbers of armed police has only led to further stress and anxiety. Interventions into this pandemic need to be proportionate and measured. Government and public health interventions can either strengthen the health and capacities of affected communities or they can cause harm. The scale of the policing we have seen in the past few days in Flemington and North Melbourne has caused and continues to cause harm.

Our community is one that has been, and continues to be ready to make sacrifices to address this pandemic. We don’t wish upon anyone to have to endure the distressing circumstance we are currently facing. We hope sharing our experiences and perspectives will lead to a drastic redesign of any future COVID-19 emergency responses.

The choice to deploy large numbers of public order police as the governments' frontline response has disempowered residents, local community networks and health responses. Instead of public order police, health and social workers, housing personnel and community leaders need to be resourced and empowered to communicate the Chief Health Officer's directions in partnership with residents and their communities.

We know that the fight against COVID-19 is ongoing and won’t end with this hard lockdown. We are calling on the government and officials to entrust and engage us meaningfully to be partners in any future response. By providing an ongoing forum for us to speak with professional health practitioners, creating a dialogue for our community leaders to engage with decision makers and resourcing us with interpreted and translated messaging we will share in a better outcome.

Our community has always been incredibly resourceful and had a collective approach to the many issues we face. To address the shortcomings during these difficult times, residents on the estate have been able to rapidly self-organise and implement mutual aid support structures. This community-based mobilisation has done everything from responding to the shortfall of food, provision of medical supplies, assistance in childcare, translation of health directives, referrals for mental health support and so much more. We urge the authorities to support us in these endeavours, collaborate and resource these initiatives that are grounded in community.

COVID-19 has also highlighted and further exasperated the pre-existing structural issues prevalent on public housing estates, particularly that of over-crowding. It is now more critical than ever for our governments to invest in expanding the availability of social housing.

Our community must be involved as genuine stakeholders for the planning and governance of this project to ensure that future housing options are responsive to community needs. We urge the government to immediately withdraw police from our homes, centre our voices in decisions and empower us to ensure the wellbeing for all.

Najat Mussa is a resident of the Flemington estate and studying a bachelors of community development.

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