Place, political culture and post-Green Ban resistance: Public housing in Millers Point, Sydney

• The urban poor are subject to expulsion under new global forms of governmentality.
• Proposed sale of public housing dwellings met high profile tenant resistance.
• Resistance is linked to historical success of union Green Bans in the same place.
• Authorities linked relocation with fairness but tenants called it social cleansing.
• Contests over land in post-industrial cities take the form of competing narratives.

In early 2014 the announced sale of 300 public housing dwellings in Millers Point and the proposed relocation of tenants to other parts of the city sparked a media storm. Millers Point is a prime location in central Sydney, and while some media commentary was initially supportive of dispersal a highly organized protest campaign involving various non-government organizations, the City Council, parliamentary representatives, heritage bodies and trade unions quickly emerged in support of the tenants. Public tenants in other inner city locations also became involved. Redevelopment of public housing neighbourhoods has proceeded relatively slowly over the last decade in Sydney, Australia, with most attention focused on broad acre suburban estates. Partly because of increasingly sophisticated consultation strategies employed by housing authorities, and partly due to the continuing powerlessness and stigmatisation of public tenants, resistance has been fragmented and localised. Any media attention given to redevelopment has generally supported dispersal of public tenants. We analyse the Millers Point case in order to identify elements that have allowed resistance to be organized in a way that has not previously been seen in Australia. Through interviews with local tenant leaders and other key players, and analysis of media treatment of the case, we describe the historical, locational and political factors and strategies deployed on both sides of the retrenchment plan. This case of resistance is examined within the context of the globalization of the Sydney economy and property market.