Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We are in a rental crisis that is spiralling out of control. There is little else that cuts to the core of the cost of living like being unable to afford the roof over your head, the most basic right to shelter. Renters around this country are at their breaking point, and the Labor government have committed to unlimited rent rises. They must wear the burden of the rental crisis. The new rental affordability index, as my colleague Larissa Waters has said, shows that rental affordability has continued to worsen, particularly in regional areas.

Our home state of Queensland is now home to the least affordable regional areas in Australia. The average rental household in regional Queensland is in rental stress. Let me be clear: if you are a renter in the regions, you are more likely than not to be in rental stress. This is an abhorrent crisis, facilitated and rubber-stamped by the major parties. We have given our housing system over to property developers and banks. Rents going up is the system working by design. Skyrocketing rents are the outcome of the Albanese government picking the side of developers and not renters.

This is only the beginning of a web of problems. What does the Labor government expect to happen to these renters when, in the midst of one of the hottest summers on record, they're going to be forced to scramble for homes amidst skyrocketing rents? How do they expect these people to be able to pay for basic amenities like air conditioning, power and fans? This rental crisis will worsen in ways that the Labor government is unwilling to accept. I know firsthand that renters in regional Queensland are struggling. In my office in Gladstone, I put out a community pantry every day, full of the most basic essentials needed to survive. Every single day, tens of people coming to and from the department of housing, which is upstairs, empty it out. These are just the basic necessities: milk, tinned beans, rice, tampons, toothpaste, flour. This is a grievous failing of the Labor government and of all MPs across the state. What else is there to being in government than providing the most basic needs of survival to everyone—than affording everyone in this country the basic necessities and dignity? Last week, Labor prioritised rushing through legislation to benefit big corporations like Santos, INPEX and Woodside. Where is the Labor government's urgency for rushing through legislation for the people across Australia who will sleep in their cars tonight?

Recently, my office was contacted by a constituent who has been sleeping on the kitchen floor of their parents' granny flat. The family fled persecution to come to Australia 12 years ago and they have been waiting for public housing for 10 years. This constituent has been supporting their elderly parents but they can no longer work due to injury. Added to that, they're struggling, along with their parents, from the trauma of their circumstances and refugee status. The flat has no laundry facilities or working cooking facilities. To make do, they are using a temporary gas cooktop and bottle, at extreme risk to their health from carbon monoxide poisoning. For this they're paying $660 a fortnight. That is completely unacceptable. It is completely unacceptable for people in this country to be forced to live like this. The Greens refuse to walk past the reality of people living in Australia and ignore the struggle of their circumstances.