Melbourne public housing tower residents offered $5m payout over Covid lockdown

Thousands of residents forced into a sudden Covid-19 lockdown in public housing towers in Melbourne in 2020 will be eligible for $5m in compensation.

The Victorian government has settled a class action over measures intended to stop an outbreak of the virus in nine towers at the height of the second wave.

The plaintiffs claim people were wrongly detained for up to 14 days and threatened with physical harm if they tried to leave the towers, though the state of Victoria denied those claims.

Notice of the settlement has been posted to the Department of Health’s website.

Alfred Street tower resident and community leader Barry Berih said residents would discuss the offer but wanted an apology instead of a financial settlement.

“I feel very disgusted in terms of this offer, but we have to actually work together as a community to move forward,” Berih told ABC radio.

The settlement still needs to be approved in the supreme court, but under the agreement affected adults who opt in to the scheme would receive equal shares and children would receive half of that.

Legal fees would not be taken out of the $5m fund for residents but instead paid for by the state.

A spokesperson for the Victorian government said it worked with public health experts on a response to Covid that protected lives and livelihoods.

“As a part of the overall public health response to a once-in-a-100-year pandemic, measures were necessary to protect all Victorians and save lives, especially the most vulnerable in our community – particularly given the slow roll out of vaccines by the Morrison government,” he said.