Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Housing Affordability) Bill 2017. The fact is the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments have consistently failed to take meaningful action to tackle Australia's housing affordability crisis. It is indeed a major crisis that the nation faces. It's very much a crisis in regional areas like mine, the North Coast of New South Wales, where we see housing affordability as a major issue, particularly with prices and rents increasing. The waiting list for public housing in my region now extends for more than 20 years. All we have is inaction from both the federal government and indeed the New South Wales state government. In regions like mine, we blame the National Party for this massive inaction. I often say in this House that National Party choices hurt. When it comes to their inaction on housing affordability, that certainly is an area where National Party choices really do hurt people living in the regions and rural areas. In contrast, we in Labor have always been committed to tackling the issue of housing affordability.

Addressing homelessness also means addressing the broader issues that can lead to homelessness—for example, taking effective action to improve matters like mental health services or providing assistance for women fleeing domestic violence and ensuring vulnerable Australians have affordable housing options. This bill instead imposes an automatic rent reduction scheme on social housing tenants. Make no mistake: it's not a serious attempt to address housing affordability. Homelessness is a very serious issue. We have an obligation to prevent it at every possible opportunity. That's why the former Labor government tried to introduce a rent deduction scheme. At the time, the Liberals opposed that particular scheme and also at the time, their shadow minister, the member for Menzies, claimed it would increase housing stress and financial hardship, yet now, in this bill, what they have introduced is a scheme that is much harsher than the voluntary one that Labor had initially proposed. Labor's scheme would have applied only to people who were in arrears and at risk of homelessness. The bill before us today would apply to everyone. This includes pensioners, people on disability support pensions and those on carers payments. People who have been responsibly paying their rent for years and in fact decades will all be caught up.

This bill is based on legislation introduced by the Labor government in 2013, but this government's changes go way too far and are essentially unfair. We know the majority of social housing tenants manage their budgets well and pay their rent on time. This bill worryingly extends the existing rent deduction scheme so that it can be applied more broadly by the states and territories. It also allows community housing providers to automatically withhold a portion of the tenant's income support and/or family tax benefit payment and use these funds to directly pay rent and utility costs on behalf of those tenants.

In the original legislation under Labor, however, the rent deduction scheme was voluntary and applied only if requested by the tenants or if the tenant was in arrears. Under current rules, amounts deducted vary according to changes in rental and utility amounts. The tenant is always notified. But these new proposals do not require that the tenant actually be notified. This bill provides permission for the deductions of amounts related to the loss of or damage to property, and there are grave concerns this will particularly negatively impact victims of domestic and family violence. In fact, many of these differences could severely and negatively impact all tenants of public and community housing.

Currently it's common practice for social housing tenants to negotiate with their housing provider to defer a rental payment in order to meet an emergency payment—for example, replacing an appliance or when they have a large bill. These are instances that regularly occur. But these proposed changes will potentially reduce the capacity of tenants to meet these unexpected expenses. We know this will lead to increasing stress and cause disempowerment amongst those tenants. It is a very harsh, punitive measure that the government is looking to introduce. There is also quite limited detail in the bill. We have no idea how payments will be deducted and how it will be tracked. There is also concern that in situations, for example, where you have several adults sharing the rent, only the person named on the lease will be liable for these deductions, and that means they're unfairly financially targeted.

This bill is about much more than the unfair increase and stringency regarding rental deductions for people in community housing. It highlights an ever-present and sadly increasing issue all over Australia and, indeed, as I'd like to speak about, in my electorate of Richmond, in the Far North Coast of New South Wales. That issue is housing affordability and the rising rate of homelessness. The fact is that, in more than five years under this very chaotic and divided Liberal-National government, nothing has actually been done to effectively address the issue of housing affordability. This has then led to a greater need for more social and community housing. So the problem has gotten worse because of the five years of inaction.

Worse still, on top of all that, the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments have cut important funding and services that sought to address homelessness, so the problem has been exacerbated. Whilst we may have seen various thought bubbles from the government on the issues surrounding housing affordability, they haven't acted on it or effectively done anything to address it. In my area and around the country, housing affordability is one of the most talked about issues of concern, and this government has indeed failed the Australian people by failing to take any meaningful action to tackle it. Adopting more punitive measures in the form of rent deduction, taking away even more of people's ability to manage their finances, will do nothing to address the larger issue of housing affordability, which, as I've said, this government refuses even to properly acknowledge.

When we look at the statistics, we see this is a problem in many areas around the country. I would like to highlight that there are parts of my electorate of Richmond that are listed, often, as some of the least affordable in the world. That, of course, is because of the massive disparity between house prices and wages. It is a major issue and one that is raised constantly.

I should point out that the former Prime Minister started 2017 by promising:

There will be a lot more to come on housing in the course of this year.

Almost two years ago the government announced task forces and models, and all of those things have come to nothing. The government said that this was a multifaceted issue. Very insultingly, of course, the former Prime Minister, we all recall, even suggested Australians should just buy their children a home. That was the former Prime Minister's way to tackle the issue. Of course, it shows just how out of touch the government is that they think that would be the answer. This also is a government that told the Australian people: get a better job, leave the city you're in or get rich parents. That's the answer of those opposite to these really complex, multifaceted problems.

As well as not addressing the housing issue, the government is putting more pressure on middle- and low-income earners. There is a long list of actions by this government that have led to the pressure that many families and individuals face. One of those things is, for example, failing to protect penalty rates and pushing for further cuts to penalty rates, lowering people's incomes. So they have their incomes going down as well as having housing stress. We have seen the government vote, I think, eight times to cut penalty rates. There were all those National Party members voting to cut penalty rates. We have also seen the government cut family support payments and target vulnerable Australians with their robo-debt program. We've had all these things put in place whilst we have a housing affordability crisis, culminating in difficult and challenging circumstances for many individuals and families across the nation. Those opposite simply refuse to acknowledge that homelessness and housing stress are both a symptom and a cause of poverty and disadvantage, factors which have been exacerbated at the hands of a cruel and uncaring government.

In 2016 the International Monetary Fund made clear that Australia has one of the fastest rising income inequality rates. Their prediction in 2018 was just as dire, with a review of Australia's economy being much less favourable than the government portrayed it. Housing affordability was a major factor in this, so the government cannot continue to ignore this massive problem in front of them. While the government is walking away from social and affordable housing, there is also more competition for rentals, which in turn is pushing prices up and pushing more people into short-term accommodation and homelessness. The cycle of disadvantage continues.

These are issues that we on this side of the House have consistently raised and called on the government to act on. Today, again, we are raising them and calling on the government to act. But, instead, the government just talk about themselves and their chaos and disunity. This is particularly highlighted by the National Party. We've just seen them talking amongst themselves about who's going to be leading them. There's been lots of infighting. They're focused only on themselves. I represent a regional area. I want to talk about the regional and rural areas of Australia. The National Party refuse to fight for them, refuse to stand up for them. They just talk about themselves, while at the same time we have really serious issues, like the lack of access to affordable housing in our regions. It is a serious, desperate and urgent matter, yet all they do is talk about themselves.

On the other hand, Labor has a strong history of acting on this issue. Indeed, under the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments, we took major action when it came to this area. We built more houses and oversaw the biggest increase in housing stock. We had the National Rental Affordability Scheme, under which an additional 36,000 homes were built. That had benefits for regions like mine, northern New South Wales. It made a major difference for people to actually be able to access affordable housing.

This program, in total, would have provided 50,000 homes right across the country. Unfortunately, the government then capped and slashed this program when it was elected. It was very unfortunate because it was a program that made a huge difference. In contrast to the government's cuts, a Shorten Labor government has a plan to address a whole range of housing issues. We've talked about developing and implementing a national plan to reduce homelessness. It is so important to have that on the federal government's agenda. We've talked about reinstating a minister for housing and homelessness and re-establishing the National Housing Supply Council. We have, very importantly and consistently, for a long period of time talked about our important reforms to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions and how important it is to have that on the agenda. Areas like mine have responded very positively to those particular reforms. They will make a major and very important difference. As part of our policy, we've also talked about the need to double the fees and penalties on foreign investment rules to help put first home buyers on a more level playing field with investors. Across the whole scheme, when it comes to housing affordability and homelessness, Labor has really listened and worked with the community to develop a whole series of proposals to address these issues.

Very importantly we'll also address the gendered components of homelessness. On the night of the 2016 census, 6,866 older women were experiencing homelessness—that's a huge number—and over 180,000 were renting. That is a major number to keep in mind. When the statistics are released, we see that older women are often at greater risk of homelessness and the rates of older women experiencing homelessness are not only growing but rapidly accelerating. Labor will provide $88 million over two years for a new safe housing fund to increase transitional housing options for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence, young people exiting out of home care and older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness. That's because we understand that it's important to have that intervention when people are at that extreme risk of homelessness. We have to have those policies right across the board to make sure we can effectively provide that support to people who are at risk of homelessness.

There are, in many areas, great individuals and groups that do a lot to assist people. In my community, there is a whole variety of groups, but there is one I would like to highlight: Mr John Lee, the founder and president of a homes outreach provider called You Have a Friend. I have spoken about John Lee before. I'd like to mention him because it is important. His organisation supports more than 300 people throughout my electorate. It supports people who are homeless, facing homelessness or are, indeed, marginalised. You Have a Friend supports these people by, very importantly, providing meals and friendship as well. John Lee has been providing this service for many years and doesn't receive any government support. For eight years, he has been effectively campaigning for a homeless shelter in Tweed. I commend his advocacy in this particular area. He's been ignored by the state government and ignored by the Nationals member for Tweed Geoff Provest, who lied when he falsely promised to deliver a homelessness shelter. He actually stated that to the community. Because of claims like that and many other reasons, our community distrusts the National Party. Also, for years, Geoff Provest and the National Party have failed to address the growing need in our area when it comes to homelessness and providing shelters. Mr John Lee's also fought for increased housing supply throughout our area and, in particular, the Tiny Homes project. He feels strongly about that, as we do in Labor. I would certainly like to commend John Lee again because it is important that people who work hard like him—and there are many services throughout the North Coast and Northern Rivers who do a great job—continue to get the support of our local community.

We look to our regions and our rural areas and what do we see? In my area we see a federal government and a New South Wales state government that have done nothing when it comes to addressing homelessness. Their inaction is overwhelming. Whilst they are not acting, the crisis is continuing and it's exasperating all the time. It is a major concern. I have continuously condemned the National Party for their inaction. There are many reasons for which the National Party have abandoned the people of the regions and of rural Australia, but this issue is major. It is a really big crisis right across the board and it's one that I'll continue to criticise them for. It's only a Labor government that will actually take that action. A Shorten Labor government will put tackling homelessness and housing affordability back on the national agenda. It should be on the national agenda. There should be a comprehensive approach right across the board to address all of these issues because the situation is so dire. We certainly have a strong history of doing that when we were in government before. This government has failed to act, and it is now an absolute crisis, but a Shorten Labor government will address these all of these issues when it comes to tackling homelessness and housing affordability.

See this speech in context