2016 Bendigo Street housing dispute

In July 2013, the Coalition state government under Premier Denis Napthine released detailed plans for its East West Link road project, a tunnel from the city end of the Eastern Freeway to the CityLink M2 tollway through inner Melbourne.

The plans included compulsory acquisition of 92 houses and 26 businesses in the project area, which the government claimed to be the bare minimum required to complete the road.

[3] In March 2016, a group of homeless women attempted to squat one of the empty houses in Collingwood but were quickly evicted by the state government.

[8] In response on 12 August, residents from the occupied houses filed an injunction in the Supreme Court of Victoria to stop the evictions.

The injunction was granted on the grounds that 24–48 hours was not sufficient time to allow for people to vacate, risking forcing them back into homelessness.

[12] Following the death and reports of conflict between the squatters and other local residents, the state Minister for Housing Martin Foley said the situation was "beyond the pale".