In 2006, the minister for Melbourne Bronwyn Pike told the Carlton Residents Association that the Carlton Redevelopment project would “break down the social housing ghetto”. The ghetto Bronwyn refers to is the Carlton Public housing estate. An estate that prior to the redevelopment project was home to a rich and vibrant community. Everyone knew each other. They babysat each other's kids, borrowed sugar when it ran out, and for many of them, spoke the same language. Some families worked, others didn't.
The government didn't see - or refused to see - these communities as they were: rich in culture, community and connection.
This week Dr Kate Shaw tackles the pernicious policy of social-mixing.
[In the audio we quoted Bronwyn as saying public housing when it should be social housing]
Presented by Anya Saravanan
Produced by Ayan Shirwa
Cleis Hart, Kannagi Bhatt, Phuong Tran, Xen Nhà & Scheherazade Bloul.