Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The big banks and gas corporations have open access in this building so often that I thought I'd use this opportunity to share some of a number of overwhelming responses we've got from local residents and people getting in touch about the cost-of-living and the rental and housing crisis.

A woman sent me a message recently, 'As a single working mum that left all I had to escape DV, now trying to raise a child whilst renting, life seems terribly hard and with little hope. I am working so hard but barely getting by. I have no financial buffer for anything. It's so scary as a parent and keeps me awake every night.'

Last night, a guy reached out to tell me how his disabled mum couldn't secure a rental because of the abysmally low pension and ridiculously high rates near her care. She died on the waiting list for public housing.

A woman sent me an email last week, which read: 'I am so scared of having another rent increase. My children and I will have to move, even if my rent goes up by $50. It's a horrible feeling.'

As another local resident rightfully points out, it's not just rent increases: 'Our mortgage has gone an extra up $450 a month. That's extra money that used to be used on bills and my kids. Not anymore.'

For another constituent, after they pay the rent each week, they are left with only $50 to spare—$50 to spend on food, bills and literally anything else that they need. They reflected how the weight of this drags them down every day and the rising sense of panic they wake with each morning thinking about how they will make ends meet that day.

For another, with the most recent interest rate rise, they are now paying $600 extra per fortnight since their first rate rise. They have started applying for a third job so they can afford enough to pay for food, while they've been sacrificing everything else. They feel that they will never be able to have a family of their own.

A young guy shared with us, 'My 70-plus nan had to leave her home after 10-plus years only months after Grandpa passed away because of a $120 a week rent increase. It's awful.'

A few weeks ago, a local couple in Holland Park sent me an email that really stuck with me. In it they say, 'We felt really proud of what we were able to achieve together. We saved so hard to get house deposit and looked forward to our future. Today, we really are struggling. Our once responsible savings nest egg has been completely absorbed by the cost-of-living pressures, and we now live pay cheque to pay cheque.

Meanwhile, the big banks record a record $7 billion in profit. The federal budget found $12 billion in tax concessions for property investors and not a single cent extra for public or affordable housing. It took one hell of a campaign from the Greens to just eek out $2 billion dollars in direct funding for social housing.

The federal government likes to pretend there's nothing they can do on rental and mortgages, but it's just not true. The federal government could coordinate a freeze on rent increases, they could use their existing powers to stop further interest rate increases and they could tax the big banks and corporations to give everyone what they need to live a good life. We're a wealthy country, and the experiences of these people should be considered unacceptable when we live in a country with such great wealth.