Samantha Ratnam Greens MLC for Northern Metro
What matters to you
As our local MP, I’m fighting for our community. Please tell me what matters to you most, so I can be your voice in state Parliament.
Don’t see your issues here? Tell me what else matters to you.
Samantha Ratnam Greens MLC for Northern Metro
What matters to you
As our local MP, I’m fighting for our community. Please tell me what matters to you most, so I can be your voice in state Parliament.
Don’t see your issues here? Tell me what else matters to you.
Hi, I’m Samantha. A Melbourne local, here to represent you in the Victorian Parliament.
A HOME FOR ALL
A CLIMATE-SAFE FUTURE
JUSTICE FOR FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE
AN ANTI-RACIST VICTORIA
EQUALITY FOR WOMEN AND LGBTQI+ PEOPLE
RENT FREEZE NOW
STOP SUPERMARKET PRICE GOUGING
A FAIR AND JUST ECONOMY
INTEGRITY IN OUR DEMOCRACY
HOMES, NOT HOTELS
SAVE LIVE MUSIC
REUSE AND RECYCLING REVOLUTION
PROTECT PRESTON MARKET
LIVEABLE COMMUNITIES
With your support, my Greens colleagues and I have pushed the Government to go further and faster on the issues that matter to our community.
- Samantha Ratnam
ABOUT ME
I am the Greens' Upper House MP for the Northern Metropolitan Region
Together, my Greens colleagues and I want to take on the big corporations who are destroying our planet, make sure everyone has a safe and affordable place to call home and empower our kids to grow up knowing that they belong.
Latest News
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Labor is making the housing crisis worse.
Hello from my second last week in Victorian Parliament 👋🏽
It’s a big moment to get ready to leave this place after 7 years, but I’m so excited about this next stage as we work together to turn Wills Greens for the very first time!
Happy Wednesdays from Wills💚
Prime Minister Albanese reminds us of a time when governments actually believed in the security of public housing that people like him benefited from.
Fast forward to 2024 and Labor in Victoria is displacing 10,000 public housing residents into private and community housing, forcing them onto shorter leases and all the instability that frequent moving will bring.
#savepublichousing
Original tweet by @AsFarce
This report is a game changer ⬆️
It reveals that retrofitting rather than demolishing the public housing towers at the Flemington estate would save the government nearly $364 million, all without displacing residents or privatising the public housing land.
Now, Victorians can see the truth that Labor cares more about its property developer mates than making sure people have a secure and affordable roof over their head.
#savepublichousing #stopthedemolition #retainrepairreinvest
📒Report from @___office @retain_repair_reinvest
I saw this poster in Brunswick and started weeping.
These posters were a part of the @no_photo2024 campaign a few months ago highlighting the omission of Palestinian photographers in the Photo 2024 festival thereby excluding images documenting the genocide in Gaza.
The day before seeing this, I heard Andrew Garfield say “that’s why art is so important. Because It can get us to places that we can’t get to any other way”
And today we are hearing of more horrors in Gaza, this time an attack by Israel on the Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital.
“Associated Press footage showed children among the wounded. A man sobbed as he carried a toddler with a bandaged head in his arms.”
“Another small child with a bandaged leg was given a blood transfusion on the floor of the packed hospital.”
And we remember that our institutions here don’t even have the courage to show the photos, tell the stories, admit to their complicity, stop their tacit permissions, end the weapons deals, sanction governments, do anything at all, while children perish and mothers hold their bodies 💔
(Quotes source: ABC online 14 Oct 2024)
What a week in Wills!
We’ve just created history and knocked on over 20,000 doors 😍
We are on track to knock on every single home in the electorate and hear from our community about the issues they care about and the change they’d like to see in the world.
Our Greens local council candidates have been working tirelessly and are all with them every step of the way✊🏾(Make sure you complete your postal ballots and let the VEC know if you don’t receive your ballot packs in the mail by Tuesday).
We had lots of weekday, weekend, morning, evening, anytime, doorknocks. We had calling parties and attended important community forums.
And we rounded out the week with the fabulous Women of Wills event with superstars Anasina, Jill and Clementine filling our cups with hope and inspiration.
This historic campaign to turn Wills Greens for the first time is fuelled by community and grounded in possibility. The next few months are going to be electric. Please join with us! https://samantharatnam.com/events/
Demolishing & privatising public housing in a housing crisis? 🤔 It just doesn’t add up.
We’re taking action with residents and the community to save public housing in Victoria.
We know Labor’s disastrous plan can be stopped - let’s keep the pressure on!
Join us next Saturday 19 October for a rally at 126 Racecourse Rd, Flemington (details in highlights ⬆️) from 11.30am
In the middle of housing crisis, with so many Victorians struggling to find a home, how can Victorian Labor justify keeping public housing apartments empty?
These are affordable, publicly-owned homes that could house entire families in need of a home - right now!
Labor is determined to demolish and privatise all 44 public housing towers and hand over huge swathes of public land to private developers.
They’re forcing residents to leave, keeping these apartments empty, just so their property developer mates can make mega profits.
This has got to stop.
That’s why the Greens, public housing residents and advocates, and the wider community are fighting tooth and nail to stop Labor’s plan to demolish and privatise the 44 towers.
You can join us NEXT SATURDAY 19 OCTOBER for a community rally from 11.30am in Flemington.
We’re meeting at the base of 126 Racecourse rd, Flemington and taking a walk of solidarity to 33 Alfred St, North Melbourne.
These are two of the first set of towers Labor wants to demolish so we’re getting together to support the local community say ‘STOP THE DEMOLITION! SAVE PUBLIC HOUSING!’
You can find out more info about the rally in our link in bio.
#savepublichousing
If you are feeling the weight of what is happening around the world right now, you are not alone.
Join with us as we work to turn despair into hope into action right here in our community of Wills.
There are some great events coming up including our Women of Wills event this Sunday or a weekend doorknock. More info here https://samantharatnam.com/events/
See you soon!
Join @jillstark__ , @clementine_ford , @anasina_graybarberio and myself for afternoon tea and drinks to celebrate the women of Wills!
We’ll discuss what’s important to local women and how we can elect more progressive women to represent us, right here in Wills.
Get your ticket via the link in my bio 🔗💕
Join me and @timreadgreens, MP for Brunswick on Saturday in Coburg to talk to voters about how we can improve cost of living, secure and affordable housing, act on the climate crisis change and make our suburbs more liveable by voting Green at the council election.
RSVP at https://samantharatnam.com/events
Let’s rally for public housing! 📢🏡 Saturday 19 October, 11.30am - 1pm
The Labor Government wants to demolish and privatise all 44 public housing towers in Victoria, starting with the Flemington and North Melbourne towers.
Residents were shocked by the announcement when it was made a year ago and they still don’t have answers about why this is happening or what their future holds.
Residents have been telling us they want to stay and this is our chance to support them! ✊🏾
Let’s come together to let the Flemington and North Melbourne community and all public housing residents know, they are not alone and demand that the Labor Government #StopTheDemolition and #SavePublicHousing
Meet us, @rahunion_victoria, @blackpeoplesunion, @savepublichousingcollective, @friends_of_public_housing_vic, @vic_socialists @socialistalliancevic, 100% PUBLIC (formerly @savebarakbeacon) and more at 126 Racecourse Rd, Flemington for an 11.30am start.
There will be morning tea, followed by speeches and a Solidarity Walk to 33 Alfred Street North Melbourne - link in bio to RSVP
Can’t make it Saturday? We’ll need help, this week and next, leafleting neighbourhoods to help spread the word 📨 Send us a DM if you’d like to help then.
💚💚💚 #housing #PublicHousing #HousingCrisis
It is impossible to capture the size and feeling of the peace rally in Melbourne today.
For a year, every single week, thousands have gathered in streets like these across the world to bear witness to the suffering of the Palestinian and now Lebanese people.
We call for an end to genocide and we march for peace.
Many of our world leaders may be failing us, but the people are not.
The people, united, can never be defeated ❤️
Can you help us reach our goal of knocking on 20,000 doors by joining an event this weekend?
Local council ballots start arriving on Monday and there’s so much at stake. By electing more Greens councillors we could make housing more affordable, create more green space and secure investment in community and youth services. We can also elect local leaders who are campaigning for justice and peace at home and overseas.
Research shows that one to one conversations change minds. Nothing changes if nothing changes.
Can you help us remind people their votes are powerful this weekend?
RSVP at http://samantharatnam.com/events
Authorised by M Shield, Victorian Greens Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
A one stop shop, in your community, where you could go for free and see a doctor, a registered nurse, a dentist and even a psychologist - sounds pretty good right?
Well the Greens have a plan to build 6 of these Local Healthcare Clinics right here in Wills, in our local community, and better yet, tax the corporations rorting the system to pay for it.
Here’s how.
You and I both know that healthcare costs are spiralling out of control across Australia. People are being forced to choose between buying groceries, paying their bills or going to the doctor.
No one should have to make that choice. Everyone should be able to go to the GP for free.
That’s why the Greens have a bold plan that will improve the health of our community, and bring down the cost of living.
The sprint is on to elect more Greens to Merri-bek and Hume Council. 📬 Can you help elect leaders like @angelicapanopoulos_greens and @jayiwasaki_greens by joining a door knock or letter boxing flyers this weekend?
Sign up at https://samantharatnam.com/events or in my bio 🔗💚
Authorised by M Shield, Victorian Greens Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
☮️
“Embracing culture is our shield; celebrating it, our rebellion”
– A beautiful reflection from Matiu
I am so proud to represent the region that was one of the first communities that the Nepalese community settled into when they arrived in Australia.
We are so lucky to have the generosity, determination and excellence of the Nepalese community as part of our rich multicultural fabric here in Victoria.
Celebrating Teej with the community has always been a joy.
The news out of Lebanon is devastating. More than a thousand people have already been killed and 1 million displaced.
While Labor is still refusing to sanction Netanyahu’s regime.
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We know the genocide in Gaza and the invasion of Lebanon are abhorrent and illegal and no amount of distraction will erase this fact.
In the face of this horror, communities are coming together in a way we haven’t seen before - through grief, compassion, care and solidarity.
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We are harnessing our own lived experiences of war, colonisation, racism, displacement and persecution into a unity of purpose to change who is in power.
We don’t want warmongers and bystanders as our leaders anymore.
We need peacemakers.
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Keep hope and stay strong. These are horrifying times. Desperate tactics will be used to demonise us.
But we know who we are. I’ve met you at the rallies. We’ve stood, we’ve cried, we’ve connected.
That’s the power of peace.
We’ll prove that peace is so much more powerful than war.
