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

Millions of people across the country are on the frontlines of a full-blown housing catastrophe. Rents and mortgages have skyrocketed. People are being forced to skip meals to keep a roof over their head. So many are sleeping in cars and tents because it's impossible to find an affordable rental. It's beyond clear that our housing system isn't working for anyone except wealthy property investors. Meanwhile, this government has nothing to offer except bandaid answers that are more slogan than substance. The Greens won't just roll over and rubber-stamp Labor's woefully inadequate bandaid approach, because you deserve better.

Renters deserve better than unlimited rent increases. Mortgage holders deserve better than massive unrelenting interest rate hikes. First home buyers deserve better than to be outbid by wealthy property investors racking up their 7th, 15th or 30th property. People deserve so much better than a government that is throwing them to the wolves in a dog-eat-dog housing market, a government that's willing to let you struggle when it doesn't have to be this way.

Big problems need real solutions. The Greens want to work with the government to take action that will actually make a difference: freeze rent increases, offer low-rate mortgages, build public housing and end the tax breaks which stack the deck in favour of wealthy property investors at the expense of everyone else. Labor needs to stop bulldozing and start negotiating with the Greens to fix the housing and rental crisis.