Chris Giddings for Meadow Valley Ward | Community organisation

Chris Giddings for Meadow Valley Ward

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23.01.2022 Aran Mylvaganam, Vic Socialist member and former candidate, is organising food aid for Tamil refugees through the Tamil Refugee Council because refugees on bridging visas have been left destitute by the government's refusal to provide income support and work rights. He's an important example of what type of community organiser we need. We need people who will not just fill the gaps where the government fails people, but people who are also willing to speak out and pressure t...he government to change its policy, to hold the government to account. Refugees, temporary visa holders, international students, the unemployed should not be forced to rely on charity to survive. Many, many people before us fought for things like government unemployment benefits during the Great Depression, so that we didn't have to line up at moralising Salvos soup kitchens. If we just provide the charity without public criticism, we let the government off the hook and essentially privatise what should be government-provided income support and services.

22.01.2022 https://www.theage.com.au//for-their-eyes-only-body-camera 'Police and PSOs have the right to film you, and to use that footage (in edited form, if they wish) in prosecuting you. But you do not have the right to access that footage in your defence. If police and PSOs have nothing to hide, there can be no justifiable reason to prevent the release of their body camera footage. And if they do have something to hide in cases of corruption or brutality or forced confessions, say there is every reason, on the principle of justice for all, to compel them to release it. Every reason, that is, except the law as it currently stands.

19.01.2022 Why am I a socialist?

15.01.2022 https://www.facebook.com//a.396843627415/1118802748553132/ Vale Kendall Lovett, a 78er who has passed away. Ken was a tireless activist and campaigner for LGBTIQ, refugee and human rights. We need more people like him in the world

13.01.2022 The system is in crisis, and working-class people are suffering the most. I'll support workers fighting against exploitation, wage theft and poor pay and conditions. This picture of me was taken at the strike that took place at Chemist Warehouse distribution centres in Preston and Somerton in 2019. These workers went on strike to demand better wages and an end to the casualisation that made so many workers vulnerable. Managers were disgustingly using casualisation to sexuall...y harass women in these workplaces. After two-weeks of striking, workers won an 18.75% pay increase over the following four years. Every worker on strike won immediate permanent and they also won the right for new workers to be made permanent after their six months of work. Vulnerable workers get taken advantage of by bosses. If we want to challenge inequality we need fighting unions. https://www.smh.com.au//stunning-win-for-chemist-warehouse

11.01.2022 Oppression has never been challenged by asking nicely, it's been challenged by activists who have fought for equality. I’ve been campaigning for LGBTI rights from the successful marriage equality campaign to the fight against discrimination of LGBTI teachers, students and workers. We need councillors who challenge homophobia and transphobia and fight against discrimination by organising and building activist campaigns for LGBTI rights.

10.01.2022 Today is 50 years since the West Gate Bridge disaster. Today we mourn the 35 lives lost in this horrific industrial disaster. Bosses continues to murder workers through speed ups and cost cutting to boost their profits. Only a few days at Curtin University, a glass ceiling under construction came crashing down, killing a 23 year old worker and seriously injuring a number of other workers. The building and construction unions have been targeted for years by the government and employers. The weakening of our unions has made work a more dangerous place. We need stronger unions to enforce and improve workplace safety standards. The employers will toy with the lives of workers to boost profits if we let them get away with it.

09.01.2022 This is your last week to vote for your local Victorian Socialist candidate in Hume! Vote 1 Chris Giddings for Meadow Valley and post your ballot by this Friday October 23. I'll fight big developers, against racism and discrimination, for real action on climate change, and for more public services.

07.01.2022 Time and time again, working-class suburbs in Melbourne are forced to choke on the fumes of factories that have gone up in flames. It’s maddening that practically every two months there’s another one in the news and Hume faces some of the most extreme fires. In 2017, the private SKM recycling plant burned for 11 days spewing smoke into nearby residential areas. Not only were locals left to breathe in toxic fumes for well over a week, but residents in Coolaroo and Dallas were... left with toxic ash spilling in through their windows and piling up in their backyards. In 2019, the Bradbury Industrial Services factory in Campbellfield, which acted as an illegal chemical dump, was the scene of a massive fire and explosion. One worker was put into hospital, and local workers and residents were blanketed (once again) with toxic smoke. These fires don’t just happen because of mere chance. They happen because companies can cut costs by cutting corners. Almost every fire can be traced back to the storing of hazardous materials in dangerous ways, storing larger quantities than a facility can handle or by skipping steps in the handling of these materials. Every cent of wealth these companies make is off the back of the ordinary people that are forced to live in suburbs where the air isn’t safe to breathe. As far as these criminal companies are concerned the people who live in working-class and migrant communities like Hume are disposable if it helps boost their bottom line. I'll challenge business as usual and fight for urgent action to stop toxic fires. It’s clear that if companies are allowed to get away with putting profits first, nothing will change. We need harsher penalties for companies who put the health of their workers and the community on the line - they shouldn’t even be allowed to operate.

05.01.2022 Only a few hours left to get your ballots in the post! Vote 1 Victorian Socialists to put people before profit!

05.01.2022 Check out this film screening of People Power vs Adani - the Fight of Our Times organised by Hume Climate Action Now who are fundraising for the Wangan & Jagalingou Family Council’s fight to keep their native title and stop the Adani coal-mine being built on indigenous land. The film features interviews with grassroots activists from across the #StopAdani movement and explores what people power has achieved in holding back Adani so far and why winning this fight is more important now than ever before. If you can't wait until then, check out this podcast by Red Flag Radio which features activists who were involved in the campaign that successfully stopped the Jabiluka uranium mine in 1998. There's some amazing history in there! https://open.spotify.com/episode/6DpdiIywIMI8helfENaYrl

05.01.2022 We need to expand public housing and freeze rent prices now! I'll fight to stop the Victorian government's project to sell-off large amounts of public housing. There were 3589 people on public and social housing waiting lists in the combined Hume and Moreland area last year and this number has been increasing for well over a decade. Tens of thousands of people struggling to afford their rent or mortgage and cuts to JobKeeper and JobSeeker will only make this more severe. Bet...ween 2000 and 2018, 80% of the publically owned land in Victoria that was sold to private developers could have been used for public housing. In Hume, 385 public housing dwellings could have been developed instead of selling council-owned land to big business. Even if that land had been used for public housing, it would have only scratched the surface of the housing crisis. I'll campaign to increase JobSeeker and JobKeeper, increase all pensions, extend welfare support to migrant and many casual workers who have been left without any support and improve support for those in the creative and arts industries who often fall through the cracks. We need to introduce mandatory inclusionary zoning that will see all new developments include a minimum of 20% public and affordable housing, a five-year rent freeze, rate relief for homeowners in housing stress, increase and improve public housing and take measures to stop the hoarding of empty homes by developers.

03.01.2022 Solidarity with the Djab Wurrung people who have fought hard for many many months to defend their sacred birthing trees. Shame on the State government, VicRoads... and VicPol for felling the majestic and hugely culturally significant Directions Tree yesterday, for arresting cultural defenders, and for threatening at this very moment to cut down the Grandmother and Grandfather trees. It's not just Rio Tinto who commit acts of cultural genocide in 2020. It's the "progressive" Vic State Labor government who destroy sacred sites as well. Register your disgust with the government by calling the Premier's office on 03 9651 5000. #NoTreesNoTreaty Please note: If you are heading to camp or Ararat, people are gathering in the Alexandra Gardens Park Girdlestone St, Ararat. Food is being prepared and plans discussed. If you can't get to the camp head to the park now or if you are unable to get there, call Daniel Andrews over and over again. #DjabWurrungTrees #DjabWurrung

01.01.2022 https://www.watoday.com.au//you-d-think-you-d-stop-then-wo A completely preventable death yesterday, the industrial murder of a 23-year-old. So far, just hours after the collapse, we already know two damning facts: (1) the university wanted this building ready for Semester 1 so they cut a deal with the company (LendLease) to have the site working at an intense pace; and (2) construction workers and the union reported last week that the then only half-completed glass ceiling was already appearing to be causing the steel frame to buckle, but some bloody surveyor inspected on behalf of the company and essentially said ‘nah, she’s all good, keep piling the glass into it’.