Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Gallagher) to a questions without notice I asked today relating to the residential rental market.

The housing and rental crisis in this country has not gone away. People and families, particularly those who are renting, find themselves caught in the relentless grip of this crisis.

A report from National Shelter today has revealed that the crisis has only become worse. Rental affordability has plunged in the past year, with low-income people now completely priced out of capital cities. People on low incomes are facing this especially critical and pretty horrific situation in housing. Those who are on JobSeeker and are renting in any of our capital cities are having to pay at least 78 per cent of their income in rent for just a one-bedroom apartment. In Sydney, the average rental cost of a one-bedroom apartment would amount to 137 per cent of their annual income of $22,100. How are these people supposed to live? Many areas across the country are the most unaffordable that they have ever been, with rent becoming 13 per cent less affordable in Sydney and 10 per cent less affordable in Melbourne and in Perth in the last year.

In cities and the regions more families are living in tents and more people are forced to live in their cars after they have applied for hundreds of rental properties. This situation is untenable, and this is in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis where the cost of electricity, fuel, groceries and other basic necessities has gone up considerably. We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that families are being pushed to the brink, having to choose between getting fresh groceries and paying the rent. People are being driven into homelessness or are just one rent away from being forced to sleep in their cars.

The ever-increasing share of income spent on rent is not just a mere statistical anomaly. It is a testament to the utter failure of the current approach. Governments have the power to make change, but the Labor government has refused to do so. The policies in place have fallen woefully short in addressing the challenges of renting, affording a mortgage or putting a roof over one's head in this country. The government has deliberately refused to enact policies to make things better. Thousands of Australians are struggling to afford to keep a roof over their head, and Labor is allowing rents to just keep going up indefinitely.

The Greens, over 80 housing organisations and a vast majority of people across the country want a national rent cap. They want strong national renters' rights, and they want this because they want an immediate relief—not a short-term relief—to all the renters. That's why they want it, and that's what a rental freeze will do. It will give short-term relief while the government catches up with other policies which can actually address the housing and rental crisis. We do need a national rent freeze right now, but the Labor Party has chosen to let rents be increased indefinitely. And that is not good enough.

Question agreed to.