Building unions, Labor branches clash with state on housing towers demolition

A bloc of influential construction unions has joined more than 30 Labor branches in contesting the government’s redevelopment plans for Melbourne’s public housing towers, setting the stage for a challenging state Labor conference this weekend.

Senior Labor insiders anticipate that housing, the war in Gaza and concerns about state budget cuts are among the issues likely to spark the most debate at the conference on Saturday and Sunday, when about 600 party delegates converge on Moonee Valley Racecourse.

The housing tower at 120 Racecourse Road, Flemington is one of the first three set to be demolished and rebuilt.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Labor for Housing, a pressure group within the party, has been gathering support – including from the unions and party branches – for a motion that includes seeking 8000 additional public housing dwellings by 2028. It will also demand an increase of up to 50 per cent in the number of public homes built in the first two stages of the 30-year plan to rebuild Melbourne’s 44 towers across the state.

The motion – which has been discussed with Premier Jacinta Allan’s private office – also seeks a government guarantee that no public land will be sold to private interests as part of the government’s plan.

Labor has faced criticism internally and is being attacked by the Greens in key inner-city seats because it wants to partner with the private sector to turn homes for 10,000 people across these sites into homes for 30,000 people.

Under the government’s plan, only 11,000 of the 30,000 people living in the redeveloped estates by 2051 would be in social housing – an increase of just 10 per cent. The remaining 19,000 residents were expected to be private owners and “affordable” housing tenants. The definition of affordable homes in this context has not been outlined.

Then-premier Daniel Andrews announced the plan as part of his landmark housing statement in September, spruiking the redevelopment as the biggest urban renewal project in the nation’s history.

Labor for Housing’s motion has been backed by more than 30 party branches and the building industry group comprising the CFMEU, Electrical Trades Union, the Plumbing and Pipe Trades Employees Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.

The group of construction unions, representing 85,000 workers, last year vowed to shut out Labor MPs from Big Build projects if duck hunting was banned, and in 2022 agreed to a green ban that would have stopped workers redeveloping the John Curtin Hotel in Carlton. Both campaigns were ultimately successful.

Zach Smith, the CFMEU national secretary and building industry group spokesman, said the current public housing proposal was “way too timid”, as tens of thousands of people remained on the public housing waitlist.

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith at Labor’s national conference last year.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“The government says social housing numbers will be up 10 per cent by the time construction ends, but frankly, that indicates they’re just not taking Victoria’s housing crisis seriously enough,” Smith said.

“It is the united view of Victoria’s construction unions that building new homes on these large inner-city parcels of land is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to alleviate the housing crisis.”

Construction unions attending the weekend’s conference are also expected to put forward their own motions related to public housing.

Labor for Housing co-convener and co-founder Julijana Todorovic said the issue was contentious, but the group was confident of reaching a compromise with the government.

“This is a compassionate government that cares about people’s homes, but the current proposal for 10 per cent uplift of social housing is not good enough,” she said.

Todorovic said existing government sites that used a ground lease model had increased social housing dwellings by between 31 and 46 per cent. These contracts lease land to companies to build, operate and maintain housing on government land for 40 years, but the land does not change ownership.

“It is critical that the land remains in public hands, otherwise it will be for future generations to buy back the assets like we’re seeing with the SEC,” Todorovic said.

“We also need the federal government to come to the party on this. These sites are the perfect projects for their $11 billion [housing] commitment announced Saturday.”

Julijana Todorovic, the co-convener of Labor For Housing, at a CFMEU rally last year.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The draft motion demands that the state government “deliver significantly more than a 10 per cent uplift of social housing dwellings across the 44 sites, with an aim to increase the number of social housing dwellings in the first and second tranches of redevelopment by 50 per cent”.

It calls for an additional 8000 social housing dwellings across Victoria in addition to the 8000 committed in Labor’s housing statement.

But it stops short of calling for a rethink on the contentious proposal to demolish all 44 towers by 2051.

A Victorian government spokeswoman said the redevelopment is the largest urban renewal project in Australian history and will boost social housing by at least 10 per cent.

“It will deliver modern, fit-for purpose housing that every Victorian can be proud to call a home,” the spokeswoman said. “The Big Housing Build is already delivering more than 12,000 new homes across Victoria with more than 9,300 homes underway or complete - this is a 10 per cent uplift in the total number of social housing stock in Victoria.”

Tuesday is the deadline to submit motions that will be brought forward at the state Labor conference.

Motions about Israel and Palestine were put forward at last year’s conference, but the issue is expected to come to a head again, with tensions rising since Israel began bombing Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack. Protests have since erupted around the world and Australia.

Two Labor sources, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly, said there was internal division, particularly within Labor’s Left, about whether deals would be sought to limit debate over the issue. They said any push to limit debate would likely frustrate unions and rank and file members.

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