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19 JULY, 2023
Hands off our homes By Jennifer Pittorino Hobsons Bay councillors have called for state government intervention to help residents of an industrial estate who face eviction from their homes following the sudden enforcement of a 30-year-old zoning decision. Council received a petition from the distraught residents during a highly emotional council meeting on Tuesday, July 11. More than 100 people live in Techno Park Drive, Williamstown, which sits adjacent to a Mobil fuel storage site on Kororoit Creek Road. The residents received letters from council in May telling them to cease living at Techno Park immediately. The residents protested outside the council chamber on July 11 to support their petition, which has been signed by more than 600 people. The petition reads, “council’s decision to threaten people with eviction and legal action now, in a time of housing crisis, is heartless, bureaucratic, arbitrary, and wrong”. Cr Daria Kellander showed her support for the community as she struggled to hold back her tears, moving a motion to accept the residents’ petition. “As a lifetime resident of Hobsons Bay, I have always known that people live at Techno Park Drive, it’s been no secret,” she said. “These residents are already doing it tough, residents at Techno Park Drive include children, elderly residents, migrants, LGBT+ and first nations people. “I feel powerless in changing an outcome for these residents, I’m not going to accept this as being OK because it’s not OK.” Directing her speech to the gallery, which included Techno Park residents who were also in tears, Cr Kellander added: “We’re in the midst of a housing crisis and a cost of living crisis. “There are many locations across Hobsons Bay and Maribyrnong where homes are literally across the road from petrol tanks, you can throw a stone from your front door and hit one in these locations, and the homes at Techno Park are no different. “I have family and friends who lived in these homes when they emigrated to Australia as refugees, they were built as homes. “Housing is recognised as a human right in
Techno Park residents facing eviction. (Supplied)
the universal declaration of human rights, I’ll let that sink in.” Techno Park Drive has housed migrants since it was built in the late 1960s, but the land was rezoned as an industrial area in the late 1980s, meaning no one could legally live there. The land was rezoned because of its proximity to the Mobil refinery. However, people have been living in the apartments in the three decades since.
A council spokesperson told Star Weekly council was aware that people have been living illegally at Techno Park Drive. “Although Mobil is no longer refining fuel at its Altona site, it remains a state-significant fuel terminal and a major hazard facility that stores fuel,” the spokesperson said. “The risk to people living in the immediate area if there is an incident is too great, rezoning this land [to residential] would not be
appropriate given the significant safety risks. “It would be unconscionable for council not to act and ensure people are not living in the area, we understand this will cause hardship for some residents and we have encouraged them to speak with us if they need more time to relocate. We will do what we can to assist them with relocating.”. ■ Continued: Page 3
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