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Earlier this week, Woonona East resident Michael Walsh shared his story to highlight issues surrounding the sale of public housing in the Illawarra.
Six weeks ago, Mr Walsh received a phone call telling him he would be moved on from his three-bedroom home of 40 years – a place where Mr Walsh and his wife had raised three children – so the house could be sold.
He was described as a model public housing tenant.
Mr Walsh’s story sparked a mixed reaction on Facebook and many of the negative comments hurt.
Comments included that the Walshs were lucky to live in a place like that for so long, that they should make way for a family with children, and that they should have bought the house. There were even accusations Mr Walsh was ‘‘a dole bludger’’.
Mr Walsh said all the personal attacks missed the point.
‘‘I left school at 15 and worked 40-odd years,’’ he said.
‘‘I was never on the dole or anything like that.
‘‘We couldn’t buy the house, because they wouldn’t let us buy it – I would have owned it twice over on rent money easy.
‘‘I worked for the PMG [Postmaster-General’s Department], now Australia Post, and we weren’t getting paid big money.’’
Mr Walsh said people forgot compulsory superannuation did not come in until the 1980s and when he retired, the small amount of superannuation he did have prevented him from receiving the pension until eight years ago.
‘‘Now I am on a pension I get a rent rebate, which is bugger all really,’’ he said.
‘‘We would happily move if they put a family in the house, but they are not.
‘‘We are moving and that is it, but this government is selling houses to developers and not putting families in and there are families who need these homes.
‘‘This is not all about us; this is about a lot of people that are being affected...we are fighting for people on waiting lists, as well.
‘‘Most of these people in these housing commission homes are pensioners, not dole bludgers.
‘‘They are people who worked all their life and they worked bloody hard.’’