Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We are in a housing crisis. Australia is seeing the biggest rent increases in 14 years, putting millions of Australians into severe rental stress. None are more affected than the millions of Australians who are forced by this Labor government to survive under the poverty line on grossly inadequate income support payments. I've heard from so many people who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. One person who receives the disability support pension contacted my office to let me know that they were evicted from their rental property of nine years because their landlord wanted to double the rent and couldn't do it while they were still in the property. This person is now homeless and staying in a caravan park with no heating. Someone else told me that their rent had gone up by $60 a week. It's now well over half their income. Once they pay the rent and their bills, they have $18 left over for food and all other items. They are forced to buy out-of-date food. They can't afford fresh fruit and vegetables, and their health is suffering because of it.

Poverty is a political choice, and this government is choosing to leave people without food or heating as they struggle to pay the rent. Just as the government coordinated a national response to the COVID-19 health crisis, the federal government should coordinate an emergency national response to the housing crisis, including an urgent rent freeze. The Greens are also fighting for all government income support payments to be lifted so they are above the poverty line, ensuring everyone has enough to cover their basic needs. Our plan would raise all government income support payments above the poverty line. It would abolish mutual obligations and remove unfair restrictions on who can access payments, ensuring that everyone has enough to cover their basic needs. Don't let the government convince you otherwise: this is possible. I've said it once and I will say it again: poverty is a political choice.

This government now has a choice. Labor can either work with the Greens, not go ahead with the stage 3 tax cuts and fund services to support everybody, or they can choose to side with Peter Dutton and funnel more money into the pockets of billionaires and the ultrawealthy. It is a choice. Poverty is a political choice. We have the choice to end people living in poverty. We have a chance to institute a rent freeze, which will help people survive. Poverty is a political choice, and we call upon this government to make the right choice.