Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Rent is certainly an issue for Queenslanders. Listening across regional Queensland in recent weeks, what I heard most about rent controls was how much damage they do. A rent cap damages before it's introduced. The Greens announced they're pursuing rent caps, and landlords all over the country are now furiously putting up rents ready for the freeze. New homes are being let at higher rents for the same reason. Lease terms are being shortened so landlords will not be trapped in a lease that causes them a financial loss. A short lease gives them a chance to churn tenants or sell the property untenanted.

The Greens will now characterise all of this as greed, because, in the finest traditions of communism, the Greens need to feed the people an enemy of the state to hate. So the Greens spun their Karl Marx chocolate wheel, and it landed on 'landlords'. In just starting this campaign, the Greens have made things worse. If Senator McKim wants to help, the best thing he can do is to join One Nation's campaign to reduce rents. Reduce our crazy high immigration rate to reduce demand and drop rents. Remove green and red tape from home construction materials and build our way to lower rents and higher homeownership. (Time expired)