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

On Monday, the Guardian reported that Australians experiencing homelessness are dying at an average age of 44, which is 30 to 40 years younger than the average Australian. This is tragic and completely inexcusable. Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We should be able to provide people with the support they need, particularly the basics of a roof above their head. Instead, too many people are living in cars or tents because they can't obtain secure and affordable housing. They can't get the health care they need, and they and their kids are going hungry because income support payments don't cover the costs of groceries.

The cost-of-living crisis is a poverty crisis, and poverty is a political choice. While it was encouraging that Labor finally accepted that the stage 3 tax cuts were unfair, their proposed changes don't go far enough. A Parliamentary Budget Office costing commissioned by the Greens revealed that the lowest 40 per cent of income earners will receive just nine per cent of the benefits from these changes, and all of us parliamentarians will still get a $4,500-a-year cut. No-one in this place needs or deserves a $4,500-a-year tax cut. These rejigged stage 3 cuts will do diddly squat for the over five million people who receive income support payments or are struggling on low-paid work. What happened to Labour's promise to leave nobody behind?

People experiencing homelessness are prematurely dying decades before other Australians. This is a national crisis, and it needs urgent and decisive action. Labor must urgently raise the rate of all income support payments to above the poverty line and commit to massively increased investment in public and community housing. We cannot afford to let this poverty crisis take any more lives.