Pinoys join Sydney rally for housing and energy

 
By Ruben Amores
Sydney-Australia
March 23, 2019
 
 


Sydney-March 14: Dubbed as the largest campaign for affordable housing and clean energy that Sydney has ever witnessed, the Sydney Assembly has demonstrated the power of diverse, well-organised communities and team leadership in pushing for much needed reforms on housing and energy policies from both federal and state politicians. The voting power of civil society was demonstrated in a roll call of delegations by leader-organisers of some 30 organisations.



 Sydney Town hall was packed to full capacity with more than 2500 attendees that comprised community organisations, churches, unions and NGOs operating within the state of NSW including 10 politicians representing various political leanings. The 60 Filipino delegates were composed of representatives from Kapitbahayan Cooperative Ltd, Alliance of Philippine Community Organisations Inc (APCO) and PACSI.

The goal of the Town Hall Assembly was to secure new commitments to housing and energy.  Among the speakers who presented the community demands were Dr Cen Amores of APCO, KCL and multicultural ASCON and Nelia Sumcad of PACSI.



Following the Sydney Assembly held at the Town Hall on the 14th of March 2019,

Thuy Linh (Vivien) Nguyen, a member of the Assembly Action Team for Sydney Alliance sent a message, acknowledging the active participation of the Filipino community:



“You cheered the loudest when recognised in the roll call! Thank you to Cen Amores and Nelia Sumcad for being powerful voices on stage. You represented your organisations so well. I am so proud to be working with your Filipino leaders”.

Chantelle Ogilvie-Ellis, Acting Lead Organiser for Sydney Alliance and a Pinay-Aussie summed up the assembly’s outcome:

“Both the Liberal and Labor Parties agreed to review minimum standards of rentals to include energy efficiency standards, and to an audit of social housing stock.

“NSW Labor committed to implementing minimum energy performance standards by 2025. It also made commitments to:

• Allocate $200M to social housing dwellings in addition to existing programs;
• Add $40M to homelessness services, 100 child protection caseworkers to prevent homelessness, and 200 beds for women and children escaping domestic violence;
• Building a Community Energy Hub in Western Sydney,
• A comprehensive review of government assistance schemes and regulation and to mandate that energy companies must give vulnerable customers the best deals​

The NSW Greens also announced a plan for 300,000 new social housing homes, to be funded by a new state-based banks levy”.