Another council rejects Struggle Street filming application

Maribyrnong Council has rejected a filming application for SBS series Struggle Street.

KEO Films applied to film in Braybrook, in western Melbourne but Maribyrnong chief executive Stephen Wall said, “It is our strong belief that this production will not present the City of Maribyrnong in a favourable light — but depict it as a place of disadvantage and poverty.

“This is the very light that we — and our residents — fight so hard to overcome and defy.

Filming permits have already been knocked back by Hume and Brimbank councils to shoot parts of the series in Broadmeadows and Sunshine while Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk have both snubbed the series filming in Brisbane.

Brimbank council chair of administrators John Watson also said the council was “extremely disappointed” Film Victoria and Screen Australia were funding the program which would not “accurately reflect our community”, based on previous editions. The Victorian Public Tenants Association (VPTA), the peak body representing public housing tenants in Victoria, had also written to Maribyrnong Council.

“We are also very concerned about the potential for vulnerable community members being taken advantage of for the sake of television ratings,” he said.

The series is still able to film on private property without requiring a council permit.

SBS said in a statement the series intended to shine a light on social and economic disadvantage.

This week A Current Affair reported Corey Kennedy from the first SBS series was undergoing rehab in his plight to overcome ice addiction.

Source: Herald Sun, Star Weekly