Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier this week, we sat and debated the urgency for increased social housing, in this well-heated Senate chamber, wearing our fine woollen suits and jackets and scarves. It was pretty easy to forget that today also happens to be the eve of the winter solstice in Australia. Tragically, during this coldest time of the year, many Australians are sleeping rough, in cars, in tents or on park benches.

And what happened while we were having this debate the other day? The Greens, for all their ideals and high morals, became completely detached from the reality of those they claim to champion, because they sided with their new best friends, the coalition, to delay the Housing Australia Future Fund. Not only are they playing with political fire, but they are playing with people's lives.

In my home state of Tasmania—also the home of two Greens senators—there was a 45 per cent increase in homelessness between the 2016 and 2021 censuses. There are also currently more than 4,500 individuals and families on the social housing waiting list, including 569 children. But the Greens were happy to delay 1,200 new Tasmanian homes, because they would rather give people nothing than something.

Never has the need for government investment in affordable and social housing been more urgent. Yet, after almost a decade of utter failure in dealing with the housing and homelessness crisis while in government, the coalition continued to drag their feet by delaying this vital legislation. And, shamefully, the Greens voted with them. They've decided to become part of the new coalition, tarring themselves with the same brush of inaction and indifference when it comes to addressing the issues of social and affordable housing. So I don't know how the Greens can even see what's happening down here in the real world, because their moral high ground is so high, I think they need an— (Time expired)

Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Unlimited rent increases should be illegal. We are in a rental crisis. A third of the country rents, and, across the country, renters are facing soaring costs of renting. People on income support are particularly hard hit. They're routinely paying more than half of their meagre income on rent and are living in dread, knowing that they are only one rent increase away from being homeless.

Analysis of rental listings in 2023 found that zero per cent of rentals were affordable for a single person on JobSeeker. The tiny increases in the budget to JobSeeker and rent assistance meant that the number of homes that are affordable for a single person increased by exactly one across the country. Before the budget there were exactly four houses in the country that were affordable for a single person on JobSeeker and now there are five.

This crisis is a test for Labor. It is wall-to-wall Labor governments across the mainland, so rent rises are their responsibility. Just like the government acted to cap energy bills by bringing the states and the territories together, they can do the same on rent controls to make unlimited rent increases illegal. We know that rent caps, which would mean that unlimited rent increases would be illegal, won't just help renters; it will stop the public, social and community housing waiting list completely blowing out.

We welcome the $2 billion—that was due to the Greens' pressure—that will be spent from now on community and affordable housing, but, without tackling rental increases and without making unlimited rent increases illegal, the number of people on those waiting lists will completely balloon and it will be impossible to get on top of it. Come on, government. We can work together, but the ball is in your court. (Time expired)