Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm from Queensland, which last week earned the title of the homelessness capital of Australia. Two in three Queenslanders are struggling to pay their rent or meet their mortgage repayments, according to polling released earlier this year. But it's not just my state. The Greens today published independent analysis that shows that across Australia no-one in the 10 most common jobs can afford to buy a house and avoid housing stress.

A full-time early childhood educator would take 31 years to save for a home deposit, and then the repayments on that mortgage would be 92 per cent of their salary. And that's after the government just gave them a 15 per cent pay rise—even though it should have been 25 per cent, like they asked for. A nurse would take 11 years to save for a deposit, and then half their salary would go to mortgage repayments. This is the devastating reality. Homeownership is completely unattainable for most of the country's essential professions.

Every community needs early childhood educators, needs nurses, needs teachers, yet none of these people can afford to make repayments on a home loan without going into housing stress. And how can you save for a home deposit while you're paying soaring rents? That's the reality for millions of renters, now caught in this cruel trap, stuck paying massive rents, decades away from saving for a home, where, even if they can get a mortgage, the repayments are completely unaffordable.

If Labor really wanted to tackle the housing crisis, they would implement a two-year rent freeze. They would wind back negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions for property investors that are denying millions of renters the chance to buy a home. The Greens remain ready to negotiate a plan that actually helps the millions of teachers, nurses and early childhood educators who just want an affordable home.