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

If Labor think they are solving the housing crisis, they are delusional. If Labor think putting forward the same old, tired policies is going to fix the housing crisis, they are delusional. If Labor think handing out $175 billion of public money to the wealthy and to property investors to help them buy their fourth home is somehow helping, they are delusional. If Labor think letting landlords increase the rent by however much they want is helping, they are delusional. If Labor think it's easy to get ahead right now and that somehow a first home or even renting is in the reach of everyday people, they are delusional. They simply cannot see what is in front of their eyes: a housing crisis that continues to escalate every single day, forcing more people into their cars, into tents and onto the street; a housing crisis that means it is near impossible to buy your first home, even if you do all the right things that are asked of you.

Labor continue to tinker around the edges while at the very same time making the massive systemic problems even worse. Then they turn around and want a pat on the back for doing less than the bare minimum. Under Labor, you now need an income of over $164,000 to not be in housing stress; that's the average. That's 1.6 times the average income. How is that achievable for a nurse? How is that achievable for a teacher? It is not. Labor haven't just left renters behind; they have left them in the dirt. And they then try and tell you the worst lie of all—that this is somehow all we can hope for, that change is not possible. But we want to say very clearly that it is.

The Greens have done the work. We've got a plan to freeze rents so that wages can catch up, to cap rent increases and to end the tax handouts for the wealthy property investors that are denying renters the chance to buy their first home, and use that money to build and deliver the public homes that we need and that people can afford. Labor might be the party of property investors, led by a property investor prime minister, but the Greens are fighting for renters and first home buyers. Change is possible, and the Greens are here to fight for it.

To Labor: if this terrific plan that covers all the bases is working, why have average rents gone up $100 a week under Labor? Why has the average mortgage gone up by $200 a week? If Labor's plan is working, why are more people skipping meals, avoiding going to see the doctor and avoiding buying things kids need for school? Because they have to deal with a massive rent hike that has just come in or a soaring mortgage bill.

If Labor are doing these terrific things in public housing, then they clearly weren't where I was over the weekend—at the public housing estates in North Melbourne, where residents are distressed and terrified because Labor wants to demolish the public housing that they live in. When I asked the Prime Minister about this, he said, 'No-one lives there.' Tell that to the thousands of residents who are now worried about what is going to happen to them and their communities as Labor are set to demolish the public housing towers and not promise to build public housing in their place—because do you know what they're going to do? They're going to allow private developers to come in and build on the land and maybe have a sprinkling of social housing in there. Do you know what documents that we've managed to secure over the last couple of weeks have shown? There's even consideration being given to putting an Officeworks, a Kmart or a Repco on some of these sites.

Labor has a plan to privatise public housing land and hand it over to big property developers while thousands of people are struggling to pay the rent. If we could spend on public housing what Labor is spending on wealthy property investors to help them go and buy their fourth, fifth and sixth homes, then we could solve the housing crisis in this country. But instead we have a Labor Party that is making the problem worse and backing wealthy property investors at the expense of renters and first home buyers. Renters will have the chance to make their voices heard; if Labor doesn't fix the problem now and have the guts to rein in those handouts to wealthy property investors, expect to hear renters' voices at the next election.

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