Affordability: Sydney Rental & Social Housing

Came across this US video of homelessness America – Down and Out 

 

The scenes may be from the US of A but the song remains the same. More and more people have access to less and less resources , while a few greedy people who do little have more and more of the worlds resources. 

 

Aboriginal Hostels Ltd Tony Mundine Hostel

 Affordability is at the root of the Occupy message and Occupy Sydney occupy in the seventh least affordable City in the World. The City of Sydney orchestrated “Homeless count” fudges the numbers of homeless in the Sydney City area. The count is done over a two hour period (midnight to 2am) and only in public spaces. Many homeless people choose to sleep in the day -its safer,especially for the elderly. Missing from this statistic are the many homeless who sleep on private property, or the numerous long term homeless who sleep on the City Rail System.

 

 The “solutions” pro-offered by the government marginalisation industry are often “Jail you pay for”. For example the Tony Mundine Hostels charge students a whopping $168 per week, leaving them a mere $80 per fortnight from their Centrelink allowances to pay for transport clothes and essentials. Hostels such as Matthew Talbot (Vinnies) and Foster House (Salvos) impose draconian rules extra to a tenancy and charge hefty rents while denying that a tenancy exists -in order to ursurp homeless peoples rights in exchange for a roof and a bed.

 

Housing NSW Property at MillersPoint  for Auction May 1st 2012

   Current NSW Social Housing policy enables the gentrification of some suburbs and the ghettofication of others . A distardly scheme where conveniently located inner City properties of the proportions needed to accommodate larger families or suitable for extended family living are being privatised ( sold on 99 year leases) with no known comparable replacements being built or bought anywhere in Sydney City.  Housing NSW waiting lists exceed 10000 approved applications on awaiting list which seems to move with glacial pace. there are clearly insufficient houses to accommodate all seekers.Yet Sydney City Housing is being sold and not replaced in locations such as Millers Point. 

 

  Housing NSW further exacerbate the high cost of rental accommodation by not only being Australia’s largest landlord, but also Australia’s largest tenant of residential property. By leasing private property to fulfil some social housing rental responsibilities Housing NSW who pay by configuration rather than quality, enable slum and low end landlords to charge above market rents for properties relative to the respective area. This has the effect of lifting the private rental cost of lower end properties in cheaper areas adding to unaffordability.

 

   Missing completely from the basket of non-solutions pro-offered by Federal State and Local government is Affordable Home Ownership -current models have social housing being controlled by the State often under the management of one of the plethora of parasitic agencies. For clients there are more obligations than a standard rental agreement and zero opportunity of ownership. Ownership and therefore control defines a home. For many less than ownership is merely an enslavement handcuff full of recurring obligations and responsibilities -jail you pay for.

Monday, 27 February 2012

Like Hyena they came.. Vigil & Peoples Court Feb 27

Feb 27

Vigil &

first sitting of the

Peoples Court

in support of

In solidarity with Occupy Movements around the world and responding to the call for ALL Occupy Movements to reassemble at their original occupation sites,to hold a candlelight vigil then move to a Protest site of choice. Occupy Sydney supporters and Occupiers call on all Occupiers past and present and all Occupy Sydney supporters to assemble at the Occupy site , cnr Martin Pl and Elizabeth St at 6pm Today, 27 February.

Our candlelight vigil will be addressed by an Occupy Wall St participant fresh off the plane from New York City then..

occupy sydney eviction

Riot Police raid & arrest evict Occupy Sydney Oct 23 2011

….. the candlelight vigil will be held commemorating the OCT15 occupation and commiserating the unprovoked unforeshadowed and unwarranted attack on Occupy Sydney peaceful protest participants by approximately 100 armed Riot Squad Police using the pretext of enforcing a City “no camping” ordinance. The Raid commander, Assistant Commisioner Mark Murdoch,issued sleeping protesters an order to “take your property & leave within 10 minutes- a physical impossibility for many.

Our candlelight vigil will march and assemble silently outside NSW Parliament to protest the Politically motivated policing of Occupy Sydney. ……..

Following the Vigil The First Assembly of the Peoples Court will assemble for the trial of a local organisation well known for disregarding the interests of workers and clients in the pursuit of ever increasing profits- or an out of control public service working against the will of the people.

• The charges will be laid on the day by the people.
• The Court will hear the charges immediately.
• The case will be decided by the people.

“This is what Justice looks like.”

http://occupysydney.net occupysydney.org.au

o

 Twitter :

@occupysydney

@occupysydmedia

56a Martin Pl

Sydney NSW 2000

Occupy Sydney Courts Today

Occupier Bob will be in court today Thursday 15 Feb on level 4 at the Downing Centre. Bob is self representing and faces a maliciously laid charge of Staying overnight. The case will be listed for mention but Bob may seek to have charges heard. Support Bob from 9 am, Downing Centre cnr Elizabeth & Liverpool Sts diagonally opposite Museum Station. Be safe.

Occupy Sydney siezed property Urgent notice

Due to other events I forgot to notify at GA – Our Occupy Sydney property held at Sydney City Council Must be removed by 5pm this Friday.
I have arranged to collect property from 6pm onwards eToday Thursday stimated timeframe 3 hours. Cars utes & vans needed assemble Bay St near Wentworth Park 5-45pm thursday. Call 0410722000 Lanz after 2pm thursday to help. For safety reasons, olease follow all given directions in Council yard and please wear enclosed shoes.

Call to disendorse Occupy Sydney endorsed site

I’ve recently put around a call for the GA endorsed occupysydney.org.au site to shape up or be disendorsed.
While one of those who tightly control and censor that site has verbalised an agreement to improve it and put in place a cumbersome process to make this happen, the continued use of the site to propogate personal agendas ( as with the latest post ( http://www.occupysydney.org.au/2012/02/07/what-now-for-occupy-sydney/ ) is NOT what Occupy Sydney should be endorsing as the public face of Occupy. The post, by the same person who has wilfully dimunised the tireless work of many to keep an occupation in place as “an info desk” (perhaps what he and the pigs prefer) , offends this and other occupiers in that it seeks to force us to engage in the endless futile discussions he and others so enjoy, AS WELL AS WORKING TO KEEP AN OCCUPATION A REALITY .
In the discussions we have had recently he made no mention of his intent to make this a public issue nor his intent to stimulate ill will towards the occupation or occupiers in the many online forums so enjoyed by many Occupy Sydney participants.
And his timing is perfect. For the police and those who desire to eliminate an occupation.
I did not choose to bring this discussion online or into a public forum. That poster did. And in doing so forced me to spend time responding to his couch sitting postulations shifting my focus energy and time from building and maintaining the occupation. This is the same person who “forgot” to post the minutes of many Dec/Jan GAs perhaps because the decisions made did not suit his construct of what occupy should be. In discussions with this person the sole agreement we made was to support more autonomous actions -Not to have a mob who know care little about the occupation make all the decisions on how it should function .

In a previous post /media release http://www.occupysydney.org.au/2012/02/02/occupy-sydney-evicted-from-martin-place-on-its-111th-day-of-occupation-media-release-press-conference-information/ Vicki falsely claimed that Occupy Sydney had been evicted. I have no idea why . It was simply NOT TRUE and remains untrue.

The occupation site description is incorrect http://www.occupysydney.org.au/about/contact-us/ . We are at the corner of Elizabeth St and Martin Pl.
Why is the site directing mail to “Occupy Together? “

The site is just too dysfunctional & operated by a clique who massage the message to suit their own agendae -whatever that is. It has become more a personal blog & so should be disendorsed. I will be proposing such at the Wednesday GA and proposing that no site be endorsed as the official Occupy Sydney site

Lanz

0410 722 000

Writing a witness Statement

Layout and headings

• Use white A4 paper
• Type if possible, or use neat, clear handwriting in black or blue pen
• Use only one side of the paper
• Write the case name, court and case number at the top of the page
  Meena Vishwana v Fiona Frame trading as Fantastic Florists
  In the Local Court at Blacktown
  Case Number SC2009/766
• Write the name of the person making the statement
  Statement of Meena Vishwana

Content

• The statement should be written by the witness using their own words
• Start with the name, address and occupation of the witness
  I, Meena Vishwana, of 12/32 Campbell St Blacktown NSW 2148, self employed IT consultant, state:
• Next, the role of the witness or the relationship of the witness to a party to the case
  1. I am the plaintiff OR
  I am employed by the plaintiff OR
  I was asked by the plaintiff to prepare this statement OR
  I am the plaintiff’s mother/father/sister/brother/friend
• Then, the details of what the witness saw, heard, said and did. The content of the statement should be in short, numbered paragraphs. It should refer to all the relevant events, people, places and dates in a logical way.
• Your own statement will usually be the most detailed statement. For example,If your case is about a contract or agreement you should describe:

  a. how, when and where the contract or agreement was made

  b. what was in the contract or agreement

  c. how and when the contract was carried out or breached

  d. when payments were made or failed to be made

  e.any financial loss you have suffered.

  If your case is about a car accident you should describe:
  a. where, when and how the accident happened

  b. why the other driver was at fault

  c. the damage to your car and the other driver’s car

  d. the cost of repairing your car.

• Witness statements should not include opinions or beliefs, or arguments about the law. For example, you should not write ‘the defendant signed the contract, so they must have understood its conditions’. You would just write, “I saw the defendant sign the contract”.
• If the witness writes about a conversation that is important for the case, it should be set out in speech marks as accurately as possible. If you cannot remember exactly what was said you can say “words to the effect of”.
  2.On 14 April 2009 I got a telephone call from Fiona Frame. She said “I am looking for someone to build and maintain a website for my shop, and also to do general computer maintenance and troubleshooting”. I said “We should have a meeting to discuss what you want in more detail and then I can give you a quote”.OR

  2. On 14 April 2009 I got a telephone call from Fiona Frame and she said words to the effect of “I am looking for someone to build a website and do IT work for me”. I replied with words to the effect of ” We should meet and talk about what you want and then I can give you a quote”.

• If the witness refers to a document it should be attached to the statement. Each document attached should be given a letter of the alphabet.
  3. A copy of my letter to Fiona Frame dated 23 April 2009 confirming our agreement is attached and marked with the letter A.
• The witness should sign and date the statement at the end.

For examples of witness statements see Sample witness statements - Plaintiff and Sample witness statements – Defendant.

Police continue to misdefine camping to harass Occupy Sydney

At about 5am this morning (Sat 14th January) NSW Police again launched a surprise raid on the Occupy Sydney occupation in Martin Place.

On the 10th of January the Local Court determined in an identical case Police v Priestley that sleeping in a public place did not constitute camping.

Seemingly oblivious to the 43 unsolved drive by shootings in Sydney reported in the media yesterday, NSW Police seem inordinately fixated on the vexing issue of their continued attack on Occupy Sydney.12 Police officers from the Rocks command again attended at Occupy Sydney again attempting to redefine camping . Amused awakened protesters were treated to another display of Police subversion of simple City “No Camping” and “No Staying overnight” ordinances in a further vain attempt to intimidate protesters.

A young woman under the age of 18 who was present was summarily ordered to leave the protest site after Police used their usual vaguely defined veiled threats to obtain her details. Police neither cared where she went nor showed a scintilla of concern for her safety, her ability to relocate safely to another safe place, or to return home- their sole concern was that she leave the protest site. Luckily responsible Occupy Sydney participants were able to ensure her continued safety and security.

A mattress donated by a supporter was deemed “camping equipment” and ordered removed from the site. Mattresses are used for sleeping in many circumstances (sometimes including camping) and we look forward to discussing this distortion of regulation in court.

Further infringement notices were issued for “illegal camping” .The inspector concerned used the definition that Occupy Sydney Protest Signage is in fact “windbreaks” ( which by police definition are “structures”.

Since October 15th NSW Police have spent well in excess of $3million harassing Occupy Sydney, a declared peaceful protest movement. In the absence of laws which Occupy Sydney may clearly be breaking it seems that NSW Police consider us such a threat that they resort to linguistic nuances & creative use of truth in their efforts to stifle effective peaceful protest.

The misuse by police of their authority and the law is an area of grave concern for many Australians and Occupy Sydney participants. We strongly oppose all abuse of power

For your own amusement here is the Macquarie Dictionary definition of Camping:

noun 1. the activity of living temporarily in a tent or similar accommodation, especially as a form of recreation or holiday-making.
–adjective 2. of, relating to, or designed for camping.

Please use our comments to tell us whether you think we are camping.

 

Occupy the Courts

OCCUPY THE COURTS ON

MONDAY,

5^THDECEMBER, 2011 @9AM!

Occupy Sydney will be holding a rally outside Downing Centre Local Court on Monday, 5th December at 9am, in solidarity with all the participants in Occupy Sydney who have been arrested for exercising their democratic right to protest.

13 people from Occupy Sydney will be appearing in court on Monday morning. To date, there have been 59 arrests arising from police attempts to shut down Occupy Sydney. Yet despite suffering constant harassment & intimidation from the police, despite the bogus charges being faced,Occupy Sydney remains defiant & continues the occupation.

Occupy Sydney demand that all charges be dropped! Rich Clements,Occupy Sydney participant and arrestee, said “Peaceful protest is not a crime. It is our right, and police attacking & arresting us will not silence us. As long as the greed of the 1% is put before the needs of the 99%, as long as profits come before humanity, Occupy Sydney will continue to fight for change.”

OCCUPY SYDNEY Legal Support Group

Occupy Sydney Rally 5th November

Occupy Sydney

5^th November

Rally -March

Assembly

Live Tweeting follow @occupySYDNEY

Livestream www.livestream.com/occupysydneyGA

Rally at Sydney Town Hall sq Sq 12 noon – 1pm

<cnr George St & Druitt St >

March Town Hall to Martin Pl via George St & King St

from 1pm 

March will be declared over at Martin Place

and a General Assembly

will follow immediately

Priority issue

Will we occupy?

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Website

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My blog /website

Why I occupy

Occupy Sydney Proactive

For the past few weeks a group has been quietly organising independently of the Occupy Sydney General Assembly. The group has adopted ” the system has failed us – we need change” as its sole defining platform.

Known as Occupy Sydney Proactive, the group is associated with the well known  @occupysydney  Twitter group. While some attend the General Assembly and Protest activities others prefer to deliver the Occupy Wall St message via the positive dynamic of pro-activism. Pro-activists plan to identify ways of preventing social and community damage.

Already plans are advanced to help a group of local Sydney retail small business owners to ward off crippling and unaffordable 30% rent increases.

Assistance for mortgage stressed home owners in danger of foreclosure is planned and the group seek more professionals to carry out pro-bono mitigation work on an ongoing basis.

Contact us on Twitter for further info…