Melbourne Tower Coronavirus Lockdown: How To Help Residents
As around 3,000 residents in nine public housing towers entered a third day of complete lockdown on Monday, the rest of Australia learned of the implications of the government-enforced move that has been described as “overt classism and racism.”
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews defended on Sunday his decision to send 500 police officers to the Flemington public housing estate to keep residents inside for at least five days as coronavirus cases continue to rise in Melbourne’s suburbs. Residents in 12 other Melbourne postcodes are free to leave their homes for essential reasons.
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The state recorded 74 cases new cases on Sunday, after Saturday’s 108 cases prompted the lockdown order from 4pm.
“This is not going to be a pleasant experience for those residents, but I have a message for those residents: this is not about punishment but protection,” Andrews said in a televised conference.
Promising two weeks of free rent and hardship payments to the residents, Andrews said public health workers would test every resident of the buildings, except those who have previously tested positive.
Residents pointed out on social media the government’s relief payments would not cover a full week’s missed wage, and food provided in boxes was “scarce and mismatched” with authorities providing no bread and cereal without milk.
“These people who live in the flats are largely black and brown folk, from migrant backgrounds and lower socioeconomic backgrounds that rely on public housing,” Tigist Kebede, a counsellor in Naarm (Melbourne), said on Instagram.
“Half my family live in these buildings, I used to live there. This area has a traumatic history of over policing, racial...
