Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

On his website, Australian Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, says, 'People have lost faith in the political system.' I agree, except Mr Chandler-Mather is part of the problem. Instead of doing a deal with the government to get a system going that could help low-income people into the housing market, the Greens housing guy is insisting on a rent freeze—a policy that all serious economists and housing policy experts reckon will make the situation worse. Max Chandler-Mather is often on TV banging on about wanting to stop single mums from being evicted. Then why does his housing policy propose a rent cap at $90 more per week than the maximum parenting payment available to single mothers? His idea of what is affordable is totally out of touch. Chandler-Mather's housing policy says that rents for public housing could be capped at 25 per cent of the national household income. The latest figures put that at just over 120 grand a year. It's $200 more a week than the rate of JobSeeker—what a joke! Do you know the Greens' problem? Most of them have no idea what it's like to struggle on a low income let alone being a single mum. They don't know what it's like to be on public housing waiting list, and Max Chandler-Mather has zero idea what it's like to be a single mother on a low income.

The Greens pretend to be a voice for working people—what a big steaming pile of BS that is. The Deputy Leader of the Greens, Senator Faruqi, also loves to bang on about affordable housing, but she is a wheeler and dealer of investment property. She even had plans to bulldoze 20 gum trees at one of her properties. How un-Australian, to cut down a koala's home. If the Greens do want to help Australians get a roof over their heads, they will pull their collective heads in—