Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

What does this government expect people to do? 'Work harder'? Is that Labor's answer? Is that Labor's answer to everyone living one rent increase away from eviction, everyone who can't afford to put food on the table? Labor don't want to cap rents. They don't want to stop their handouts to wealthy property investors. They don't want to stop the big supermarkets from price gouging us. Labor don't want to wipe student debt or stop unfair indexation or even touch the rate of income support. So what is it then? If you're leaving people out in the cold then tell me: what does Labor expect them to do?

Do you know what the median salary in Melbourne is, Madam Deputy Speaker? It's just over $69,000 a year. Do you know what the average rent in Melbourne is? It's $633 per week, according to SQM Research. That's just under $33,000 a year into the pocket of the landlord, almost half of the average income. And it could be a lot more if you received an out-of-control rent increase, because Labor refuses to freeze and cap rents. Then there are groceries: just under $200 a week on average is spent in Victoria, but it will be a lot more if you're shopping—or getting price gouged!—at Woolworths or Coles, shopping for a family or shopping in the inner city. Over $10,000 is spent a year just on the basics, and that's before your bills, before expenses, before your university fees or TAFE fees or student debt, before seeing a doctor, before buying medicine. Of course, that's before doing any of the things that you enjoy, which make life worth living, a luxury for most in 2024.

No wonder people are fed up. No wonder people are completely done with the status quo. So my question to Labor again is this: what do you expect people to do? If Labor won't help them, what do you expect people to do? The crisis is breaking people, and that's before they even think about the prospect of owning their own home, something the overwhelming majority of Labor MPs have the privilege of. Do you know what you would need to be earning on average to afford a home in Melbourne? Just under $190,000 a year. That is an impossible amount of money for most people. How is an average worker in the country meant to afford that? Are they meant to work harder, Labor? Is that it? Because lots of people are already getting a second job or more to try and make ends meet, let alone to buy a home. If you're a nurse or a teacher in this country, you might already be working a 64-hour week, and they're certainly not getting paid anything like the $190,000 you need to comfortably own a home in Melbourne. This is all while 75 per cent of Labor MPs own investment properties, while refusing to scrap tax handouts like negative gearing and capital gains tax. What an absolute joke!

Everyone, no matter who you are, should have a safe and secure roof over their head. Instead, this government thinks the guarantee should be that wealthy property investors get billions in tax handouts. Renters and first home buyers deserve better. Students deserve better. They're not asking for much, just the basics of the good life their parents enjoyed—a home, a job, to be part of a community on a liveable planet, a future. Under this system and under Labor it's becoming a pipedream. Under Labor the people who are struggling the most are being left further and further behind. Over three million people live in poverty in this country, but Labor refuses to raise the rate of income support above the poverty line.

Why are property investors entitled to billions in handouts to help them buy their fifth home, but someone on the disability support pension can't afford three good meals a day and to pay the rent for a safe and secure home? Why are corporations entitled to record profits when people are getting punished at the checkouts and farmers are in crisis? So much for 'no-one left behind'. This government should be ensuring that people who are disadvantaged are given what they need for a life of dignity and support, but it's throwing them to the walls, letting the corporations call the shots. As a result, people are paying the price.

We can't afford any more bandaid solutions. And we can't let Labor make the problems any worse. We can stop the price gouging, stop the handouts of billions of dollars to wealthy property investors, stop the out-of-control rent increases and stop students being saddled with a lifetime of debt. Labor says it's impossible. But, if we rein in the profiteering corporations that have been ripping us off, we can do it. Labor needs to stop making excuses and start working with the Greens to get action.

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