Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It has rarely been my misfortune to have to sit in this chamber and listen to a bigger load of rubbish than we have just heard come out of the mouths of Senator Kovacic and Senator Bilyk. What a word salad we have just been subjected to. And, when it's all said and done, through that nearly half an hour of absolute rubbish—of misinformation, of ad hominem attacks, of complete failure to empathise with the crisis in rents and the massive financial pressures facing mortgage holders at the moment—what do I take from it? I take this: we don't want to do anything to help renters and we don't want to do anything to help mortgage holders. That's what I take from that.

I remind people that the major parties in this place—the neoliberal political parties in this place that Senator Kovacic and Senator Bilyk belong to—both support $39 billion every year going from the consolidated fund into the pockets of property investors in this country. Think about that, colleagues: $39 billion a year in negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount. That is money that comes directly from the budget that could be used to actually build more public homes and to encourage the states to engage in rent relief for people. That $39 billion goes straight into the pockets of mostly wealthy property investors, thanks to the collusion between the Labor Party and the Liberal-National coalition in this place.

I'm not going to go to all the misdirection and disinformation that we heard from Senator Kovacic and Senator Bilyk, but one thing I do want to address is the very smart insult that Senator Kovacic threw—she thought it was smart, at least—describing Senator Faruqi and me as 'comrades'. You know what? We are comrades. Senator Faruqi and I are absolutely comrades, as is everyone in the Australian Greens party room, and I'm proud to stand with Senator Faruqi. I'm proud to stand with all of my friends and comrades in the Australian Greens party room, to stand up for renters and to stand up for mortgage holders because—you know what?—someone has got to do it in this place, because it certainly isn't going to be the Labor Party or the Liberal-National coalition in Australia.

People need to understand exactly what pressures people are facing out there in the community. We hear the words 'cost of living' a lot, but one of the main drivers of cost of living is what is undoubtedly a housing crisis in this country. We are hearing story after story. In fact, the committee inquiry that Senator Kovacic mentioned numerous times in her speech has heard story after story from renters who are facing double-digit percentage increases in their rents on an annual basis—completely unaffordable increases in their rents—because greedy landlords are seeing an opportunity to profiteer from a shortage of rental properties and a shortage, critically, of supply of public housing from government.

We will also hear stories—and I've got no doubt we're going to hear stories in a minute from Senator Scarr, who's going to wave some weighty tome around; I have no doubt he's got there with him—about how if you put in place rent controls you will somehow impact on the quality and scale of housing supply. I've got two very simple responses to those arguments from Senator Kovacic and the ones we're about to hear from Senator Scarr. Governments should build more homes for people. Governments should build enough homes so everyone in this country has a place to live and a place to call home. That is the responsibility of government, and government should step up and fulfil that responsibility and build enough homes. That takes care of the supply issue. In terms of quality, the government should legislate minimum standards for rentals and force minimum standards on landlords who are refusing to engage in repairs, to deliver a warm home for people—or a cool home for people who live in the tropics— to deliver a safe home for people or to get the mould off the walls in rental properties. Force landlords to do it, by legislating minimum standards.

This is not rocket science, colleagues. The market is failing, and government needs to step in and regulate. It's as simple as that. We heard the rubbish from Senator Bilyk about the Greens somehow holding up the HAFF. We delivered $3 billion extra into affordable housing in Australia—$3 billion extra that Labor claimed they couldn't afford but suddenly found when the Greens forced to them to by using our balance of power in this place. We also, through using our balance of power in this place, forced to the government to change the proposed $500 million cap on annual disbursements from the HAFF to be used to build homes for people in Australia into a minimum spend of $500 million. Let's be clear about that. When the government introduced that legislation, that $500 million annual disbursement was a cap. It is now a floor. That means, instead of the government not being able to spend any more than $500 million, they now have to spend at least $500 million.

And all the while we were subjected to Senator Ayres and numerous senators on the Labor side, numerous senators on the Liberal side—and even Senator Lambie parroting Labor Party speaking points in the Tasmanian media—telling us to get on with it. Well, you know what? We held our ground and we delivered three billion extra dollars that Labor said they couldn't afford. Somehow, when push came to shove, thanks to the Greens, they found they could afford to put three billion extra dollars into affordable homes in Australia and turn the $500 million into a floor not a cap, as it previously was.

One thing I will say about Senator Kovacic is that she has clearly read the bill and the explanatory memorandum. I give her credit for that and I thank her for, in her speech, referencing the reference that we included in the explanatory memorandum to this bill in regard to a royal commission into banking a long, long time ago—the best part of a century ago now—and some great Labor figures, including Ben Chifley. I reckon Senator Ayres may have heard of Ben Chifley. I reckon that's a reasonable proposition.