For decades, Radical Women have been fighting against injustice. We fight with Indigenous populations when the government comes to steal their land. We walk the picket lines with workers as they battle their bosses. We defend abortion clinics against religious zealots and their rightwing backers. And we are proud to now stand beside you to stop the destruction of yet another vital service by the government that is supposed to protect our interests.
I stand here today, fighting our oppression, not just as a political representative, but because I, too, am oppressed by our inhumane system. I am oppressed as a transsexual, as a woman, as a queer, as a young person and as an unemployed and disabled worker. And as all these pressures and more weigh us down, the government twists the blade even deeper as it steals the very houses we live in.
This is a government, which cries poor — after wasting billions on a needless ferris wheel that doesn’t even turn, a pointless ticketing system that doesn’t work and an unwanted imperialist war. This is a government whose only interest in its own constituents is our vote. A government that shamelessly and repeatedly exploits us all: women, workers, young and old, immigrants, queers and the disabled, in service to their capitalist masters. As this government now comes in for the kill against the very roofs over our heads, we say “Enough, Enough, Enough!”
For too long, public housing, both in this country and around the world, has been only for the poor, the sick and the disenfranchised. For too long in this “lucky country,” the only luck that the most desperate among us can hope for is to have a secure, safe, affordable home — after waiting for “only” a decade.
And as the “Australian dream” becomes an Australian memory, people now, more than ever, want, need, and deserve to enjoy a warm and comfortable home that will not bankrupt their forever shrinking back pocket.
Right now, all around the world, this scenario is playing out as governments slash, steal and sell public homes for profit. And so we stand here with you on the front lines, because we believe that a safe, affordable, livable home should not be a luxury for some, but a right for all.
