David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This morning I helped launch the Rental Affordability Index with National Shelter and SGS Economics & Planning. It would be no surprise to those in this place that Australia's housing system is hurting more and more Australians. Many people in communities across the country are being pushed to the brink by rapidly rising rents and mortgage payments that are making the cost-of-living crisis far more stressful. The national median rent for capital city units has risen by an extraordinary 40 per cent since mid 2021, and over the past year, those high advertised rents have been flowing through the wider rental market, with many existing tenants being hit with the biggest increases they will have ever known. The figures released today reveal new and disturbing dimensions to this crisis. They have brought together rent and income data that gives us a more informative analysis than simply viewing rents in isolation. I encourage my colleagues to look at the report that was released today.

The policy from the Albanese government, while welcome, is not doing anywhere near enough when it comes to housing. The increase in rental assistance announced in the budget will have slightly eased the pain for low-income renters, but a 15 per cent rise after many, many years of this being eroded is insufficient. The Housing Australia Future Fund, while a start, is insufficient. The government's national housing and homelessness plan must clearly quantify Australia's unmet housing needs and present a credible long-term strategy to fulfil them. Anything less than that would be an unforgivable policy failure. We cannot allow that to happen.