Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Housing is a human right. Every single person in our community should be able to have a roof over their head—somewhere to call home, somewhere that is safe, somewhere that is affordable, somewhere where they can belong in a community. And making sure that every single community member is able to have a roof over their head is one of the top priorities of the Australian Greens, and it should be a top priority of this government.

Now, the reality of being a renter in Australia in 2022 is not something that we often hear in parliament because—shock! horror!—there aren't too many renters who are elected members of parliament. But let me just fill you in on what it is actually like to be a renter right now in Australia. One of my friends in Perth rents a house for $500 a week. Inside this house, in the summer, it is 40 degrees. When this person contacted the landlord and said, 'Hey, you've just put my rent up. Could you please fit an air-conditioning system?' the response of the landlord was: 'The amount of money you're paying is commensurate with a house without an air-conditioning system.' No.

Another friend of mine in the lower south metropolitan part of Perth spent one year arguing with their landlord about whether or not their internet was functioning. They couldn't get online. They couldn't access government services at home. They couldn't socialise with their friends during lockdown. Every time they sent their landlord an email saying that this was a problem, the landlord responded that the telecommunication company had not registered a fault, and round and round it went for a year.

Now, whether it is telecommunications, air conditioning, the leaky pipe in the back of the cistern that causes black mould to grow or the holes in the roof, people are struggling in such deep insecurity, such absolute uncertainty, and they are suffering such a profound power imbalance with their landlords that it causes incredible mental health impacts upon them. You literally don't know whether this week is the week the landlord is going to evict you, whether this week is the week that they're going renovate and kick you out or whether this week is the week the landlord will simply put your rent up so high that you cannot afford your home. This government must follow the Greens' lead and institute a rent freeze so that, at the very least, people renting across this country can know what they're going to have to pay and that it will be affordable for them so that they can keep a roof over their head.