Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Queensland has recently been characterised as the homelessness capital of Australia. The statistics are eye watering. Brisbane property prices have increased by 65 per cent since 2020—almost double the Australian capital city average of 34 per cent. Across the state, new tenancy rents also climbed faster than across the nation, rising by 45 per cent over the same period. With the market in its current state, it is without doubt that it's renters and first home buyers that are going to be at the sharp end of this crisis. These conditions have pushed more people into homelessness as well. The number of people depending on homelessness services has surged by more than 34 per cent since 2020. This housing crisis is an intergenerational and economic justice issue.

This government goes on and on about how well it's doing, but that is not how the community feels on the ground. Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. House prices continue to soar. Rents continue to soar. Interest rates aren't coming down, and vacancy rates continue to make it incredibly difficult even to find a home to live in in the first place. Tinkering around the edges with some poorly put together, neoliberal policies just will not work. The housing market in this country is structurally broken, so it's time to think outside the box. But when you see the world through a neoliberal lens, as this government does, that influences both how you perceive problems and how you find solutions.

The reason this government is not doing anything bold or system changing is because those opposite think they're nailing it. They've tried all these poorly put together, neoliberal policies, but they're out of ideas. The reason the government only puts forward these bandaid neoliberal solutions is that that's all they're capable of. That's all their politics will allow them to do. I say to the already seemingly embattled new minister: think outside the box, outside neoliberalism. A public developer is needed to pick up the private sector's inaction. We need a huge bill of public housing to provide homes that are actually affordable, not just at a small discount from market rate. We need a rent freeze and caps to provide relief to people right now, and we need to wind back negative gearing and change the capital gains tax discount.

Research out this week from the Australian Institute has revealed that the 200 richest people in this country now have a combined wealth equal to 25 per cent of national GDP. These levels of inequality will harm our country more and more the worse they get. The report argues that there is no way to meaningfully address this housing crisis or even the cost-of-living crisis without tackling the huge levels of wealth disparity that are fuelling both of these crises. To quote the report:

Although the political barriers to making this change are likely to be substantial, failure to confront the problem will consign the nation to ever-increasing inequality.

So there we have it. Outside-the-box solutions are needed if this country has any hope of an egalitarian future—something we like to think we already have but we all know, deep down, we do not.

Two and a half years of this government and what next? A build-to-rent bill, which was universally panned by experts and lobby groups from all sides of politics, and more of the same tired thinking—not bold and not courageous. We have a government that has thrown in the towel. This is a government that doesn't want to rock the boat, doesn't want system change, and is more concerned about not upsetting the LNP or the megawealthy. People have hit breaking point and won't tolerate business as usual anymore. The longer this government does not act, the worst this problem gets. We cannot just wait for the market to sort itself out, because the market is the problem. All this does is kick the can down the road. We need solutions outside the box. Bandaids here and there do not cut it. This is about addressing rampant wealth inequality and intergenerational unfairness. Housing is a human right, and it is about time the government treated it as such.

See this speech in context