The founder of a clothing drive has accused Anthony Albanese of turning his back on the homelessness crisis and forgetting his roots in public housing.
Pass It On Clothing founder Chris Vagg said: “If there was ever an Australian Prime Minister who would tackle homelessness,” it should be Mr Albanese.
The Prime Minister describes himself on his website as ‘a working-class boy from social housing’ and often talks about being raised by a single mother.
“He grew up in public housing, he understands the struggle. But it seems he has turned his back on the people he grew up with,” Vagg told Daily Mail Australia.
Mr Vagg started his homeless services business with his partner Olga Puga in 2016, with the organization distributing clothing to those in need.
The homelessness crisis was highlighted last month after Sydneysiders queued for clothes at Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD.
Demand for Pass It On’s services has escalated during Australia’s cost of living crisis. Long lines of waiting people and families are served at Martin Place in Sydney on Tuesday
Chris Vagg started the social enterprise Pass it On Clothing in 2016 together with his partner Olga Puga
The Prime Minister describes himself on his website as ‘a working-class boy from social housing’ and often talks about being raised by a single mother.
Similar scenes have played out since then, prompting Mr Vagg to take aim at Mr Albanese and demand he stop dragging out the issue.
Mr Vagg even made a suggestion on how to tackle the crisis, saying more public space was needed to train unemployed residents for work.
Mr Vagg, whose company has so far provided more than 250,000 new and near-new items of clothing to homeless Sydneysiders and has plans to expand the services it provides, told Daily Mail Australia Mr Albanese was a disappointment as Prime Minister.
“If he meant it, he would try to give people opportunities. Instead, it appears he left them behind,” he said.
‘If there was one issue he should have supported, it was this.
‘But he has chosen to take photos during trips abroad so that he can show his photo album at a slide evening in Marrickville.’
Mr. Vagg claims not enough is being done to prepare homeless people and those struggling in public housing for work.
“Every day we do nothing – people suffer and every day the community pays for it,” he said.
Demand for Pass It On’s services has escalated during Australia’s cost of living crisis and there are now long queues of individuals and families for the clothes distributed every Tuesday evening at Martin Place.
Mr Vagg claims that much of Australia’s homelessness crisis can be solved by motivating homeless people and people in public housing by showing them how their lives will change if they ‘acquire skills and have purpose every day’.
“There are plenty of people in the housing industry who are able to work but aren’t encouraged or inspired to get up and get to work,” he said.
The latest figures show that 539,700 Australians are unemployed and there are another 1.3 million ‘potential workers’ who are interested in working but not actively looking.
In May, the Business Council of Australia claimed something was “very wrong” with the job placement system as 40,000 long-term unemployed people have been receiving Job Seeker’s Allowance for a decade.
“It’s not about the work that governments should sell, it’s about the outcome,” Vagg said.
Anthony Albanese was raised in Sydney’s public housing by a single mother. In the photo: Albanese and his mother Maryanne Therese Albanese
Pass It On Clothing has provided more than 250,000 new items of clothing to the homeless since 2016. In the photo: co-founder Olga Puga gives new underwear to a homeless man
The company plans to take groups of 10 people in a 100-day program to prepare people for work
He gave the example of a homeless man who entered the Pass It On store in central Sydney.
“He came in for a chat about how he wanted to get away from where he was in life,” Mr Vagg said.
‘I said, ‘Wouldn’t you rather be able to buy yourself a schooner and a maid’s parmy every afternoon instead of relying on food suppliers and what they give you?’
“He said yes, so I suggested he call his old boss in construction. He did that and he got his old job back and he’s been working for two and a half years now so he can have a chicken dinner whenever he wants.
‘Of course it’s not always that simple, but people need to be sold results and ideas that are not threatened by employment agencies.
‘Governments don’t seem to know how to sell work to someone who has lost hope and doesn’t know how to get back into it. They don’t know how to get people to stand up and do it for themselves.
“You have to know what people really want so that they will stand up and do it for themselves.”
Mr Vagg and Ms Puga plan to start the Pass It On Academy in 2024 to prepare groups of homeless people for work so they can afford private rent.
While Sydney and other cities are in the grip of a housing crisis centered on a lack of affordable housing, there are signs of progress.
The NSW Government is accelerating a plan to build 19,000 homes across three major housing developments.
The academy would take groups of homeless people, ages 25 to 45, who have been unemployed for at least six months, for 100-day programs.
They receive training in life skills and do an internship every afternoon at companies in the catering industry, retail and horticulture.
“After graduation, they move into a private home and work with a mentor.” said Mr Vagg.
“The graduates become taxpayers and an inspiration to those still in public housing.
‘This plan also means that we will tackle companies’ staffing problems with the local population instead of importing workers from abroad.’
Mr Vagg said the Pass It On Academy is a model that could be replicated “across every local government area” and beyond.
‘I just need a 1000 square meter building. We can do this within a year, probably six months.
“We should have Pass It On academies in Sydney, Parramatta and Liverpool. Every LGA could have one.”
Mr Vagg urged companies managing office spaces with reduced staff presence since Covid to donate space for his project.
A government spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the Albanian government has “an ambitious housing reform agenda”, including the Housing Australia Future Fund.
It promises to ‘help deliver the government’s promise of 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes in the first five years of the fund’.
The charity’s modest aim is to give the city’s homeless ‘the ability to put on a new pair of underwear every day’ and the dignity that comes with it
Mr Vagg (left) and Ms Puga (second from right) with volunteers and homeless Sydneysiders
‘This includes 4,000 homes for women and children affected by family and domestic violence and for older women at risk of homelessness.’
It also claimed that ‘the number of working Australians has never been higher than under the Albanian Labor government’.
“This is what you get under a government that supports safe jobs with better wages and conditions for Australian workers.
“This government supported a pay increase for Australian workers based on the minimum wage, supported and funded a 15 percent pay increase for aged care workers, and last year introduced a better and fairer bargaining system through the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation.”