Lines attributable to Max Chandler-Mather MP, Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness:

Over the last five years the private sector built just under 1 million homes, so Labor announcing that under their plans the private sector will build 1 million homes over five years from 2024 is a complete joke. These homes would have been built anyway.

With the Greens likely to be in balance of power on Labor’s forthcoming housing bill, the Australian Greens Party Room has formally empowered Greens Leader Adam Bandt and Housing and Homelessness Spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather, MP for Griffith, to negotiate with the Government on upcoming legislation establishing the Housing Australia Future Fund. The Greens will push for a much bigger direct government build of housing, a national rent freeze and an upgrade of existing public housing.

Analysis by the Parliamentary Library estimates that renters across Australia would be $7.1 billion better off if rents had been frozen nationwide for the past 12 months. With rents increasing by 14% nationwide, the average renter is paying $3,151 more for their home than last year. 

The Greens recently called on the Federal Government to intervene in the housing crisis by freezing rents nationwide for two years, followed by ongoing rent caps and an end to no grounds evictions, minimum standards for rental properties and tenant rights to make minor improvements to the home.

Today the Scottish government has announced they are freezing rents for all public and private rental properties until March 2023 and banning evictions over winter, to protect Scottish renters from the impacts of a devastating cost of living crisis.

Analysis provided by the Parliamentary Library predicts that Labor’s housing plan will deliver only 3% of the social housing Australia will need by 2032. 

According to estimates provided by the Parliamentary Library, Australia currently has a shortfall of 524,200 social housing dwellings, and this is projected to grow to 670,600 dwellings by 2032. 

Greens spokesperson for housing Max Chandler-Mather has today responded to the Housing Minister's comments on social housing, calling Labor's plan to build 20,000 afforable homes over 5 years deeply unambitious and inadequate to address Australia's social housing crisis.

Lines attributable to Max Chandler-Mather MP, Greens spokesperson for Housing and Homelessness

The Greens welcome the introduction of laws making 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave available to all employees, but have called on Labor to address other significant barriers for women and children escaping abusive relationships.

“The Greens have been calling for paid domestic and family violence leave for many years, echoing calls from the women’s safety sector and unions. We are pleased to see progress on this important issue,” says Greens Leader in the Senate and spokesperson on women, Senator Larissa Waters.   

New data has revealed that a small group of out-of-town property investors own a huge number of dwellings in the Northern Rivers seat of Richmond, taking advantage of Liberal and Labor-backed tax breaks to push locals out of affordable homes in the region.