Victorian Liberal MP Wendy Lovell has come under fire after telling parliament that low-income families would not be well placed in the “best street in Brighton where the children cannot mix”.
The comments from Ms Lovell, who was the Victorian housing minister from 2010 to 2014, came during a debate over a Greens Bill to end homelessness by 2030.
The Bill proposes an amendment to the Housing Act to see a zero per cent homelessness target set in Victoria alongside a plan to achieve this.
“We also need to make sure that we put those properties in areas where families are accepted and where families can flourish,” she told the Victorian upper house on Wednesday night.
“There is no point putting a very low income, probably welfare-dependent family in the best street in Brighton where the children cannot mix with others or go to the school with other children or where they do not have the same ability to have the latest in sneakers and iPhones et cetera.
“We have got to make sure that people can actually fit into a neighbourhood, that they have a good life and that people are not stigmatising them because of their circumstances.”
Victoria's Liberal leader Matthew Guy said Ms Lovell's comments were "exceptionally clumsy" but that she means well.
In a statement to The Feed, Victoria's Minister for Housing and Labor MP, Richard Wynne, called it an "appalling example of the Liberal Party’s postcode snobbery".
"Matthew Guy should step in and apologise, not just on behalf of the Liberal Party, he should apologise to all those who have lived in public housing.”
The comments drew a strong reaction during the debate, with Labor MP Mark Gepp criticising Ms Lovell's comments in his own speech.
“Go back and read the transcript. If you want to know what you said, go back and read the transcript, because everybody in this place heard it loudly and clearly, " he said.
“Because those people are different. Yes, they are different. They do not wear the right shoes. ‘Oh, we don’t want the kids to be teased because they have got a Samsung phone instead of an iPhone.
“…Well, bollocks to that, because your position on the socio-economic ladder should never determine your participation in this society under any circumstances. Shame on you for suggesting that it should. Shame on you.”
Stuart Allen, the director of , a not-for-profit based in Melbourne, said the comments were "out of touch" and that a model which integrates affordable housing in different socio-economic suburbs had proved more successful than separation.
"The British tried segregation some years ago, where they basically tried to separate the poor and marginalised in high rise units separate to London, giving them their own suburb," Mr Allen told The Feed.
"We realised that just simply creates ghettos. The Australian model seems to work quite well with interspersed public housing in prominent suburbs like South Yarra in Williamstown, and Melbourne.
"We should continue with it."
Mr Allen said it was surprising to hear a politician use that language.
“I think it's important that wealthy kids integrate and learn that some of their peers may not be as well off, and that we learn compassion and understanding - these are important skills.”
“I guess it hinges on what sort of society we want to create. One where it's just about everyone comparing each other's iPhones and fancy runners, or do we have more compassion and think about greater things in life.”
The Feed reached out to Ms Lovell for this article but she declined to comment.
