Category: Australian News

While we wait for a national housing plan, inflation threatens to squeeze more households out of their homes and onto the streets.

Households are feeling the pinch from the rising cost of living. But while the price of electricity, groceries and petrol are causing concerns, perhaps the most significant rising cost is housing.

Dr Andrew Clarke from the School of Social Sciences, UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture, says more low-income households are at risk of becoming homeless as they find themselves priced out of an increasingly competitive private rental market.

“Internal migration to regional areas during the pandemic has seen low vacancy rates and skyrocketing asking prices in the private rental market there. Meanwhile, stagnant levels of affordable housing development in capital cities have failed to keep up with population growth, let alone rising need,” Dr Clarke says.

The new federal government has recently committed to developing a national plan to address housing insecurity and homelessness. But while an encouraging signal of intent, its value will ultimately depend on how much emphasis it places on new investment in social and affordable housing.

“We’ve seen lots of practice innovations in the homelessness sector over the last decade. However, without any real increase in the supply of social housing, these have not been able to make much of an impact,” Dr Clarke says. “The new plan can’t just be about changing up how homelessness services operate. It has to provide a housing-centred solution to the worsening housing crisis.”

In the meantime, there is plenty governments can do to help vulnerable people affected by rising rents and other necessities whilst the plan is being developed.

“The pandemic had a unique set of circumstances where governments used empty hotels and student facilities to accommodate homeless people in a public health emergency. But what that showed is that we can move quickly on the issue if we choose,” Dr Clarke says.

Homelessness amidst rising living costs

At the 2016 Census, there were 116,000 people who reported they were homeless – a 14 per cent increase from the previous Census. Dr Clarke suggests those figures would be a conservative estimate today, given current economic conditions and that homelessness data is challenging to gather at the best of times.

“We don’t have great data to measure the scale of homelessness in Australia as it’s hard to compile,” Dr Clarke says. “But we would expect to see that upward trajectory continue when we get the 2021 Census data, given the housing market impacts of the pandemic.”

Dr Clarke says service providers are reporting more people finding themselves homeless for the first time, like people working low-paid jobs.

“We’re hearing from social services providers that new cohorts that don’t typically experience homelessness at the same scale are finding themselves unable to secure or sustain housing,” he says.

The largest group affected by rising living costs are those on fixed incomes, such as government support payments, many of which are below the poverty line, according to Dr Clarke.

“Payments are fixed and indexed at a rate far below what you need to survive even before this inflationary moment. Despite the recent small increase in the JobSeeker Payment, people on those incomes will struggle the most in the context of rising living costs.”

Addressing homelessness in the interim

During the pandemic, there were unprecedented support measures for homeless people or those at risk of homelessness, including temporary eviction moratoriums, increases in government support payments and large-scale transitional accommodation initiatives, like NSW’s Together Home program. Dr Clarke says we need to revisit similar measures or risk more households slipping into homelessness.

“Government could re-engage and expand some of those programs for those people currently impacted by rising rents and other basic living costs,” Dr Clarke says.

Longer term, the lack of social housing remains a significant barrier to addressing homelessness at scale. But transitional head-leasing – where governments fund homelessness service providers to sublease a property from the private rental market to households – could be a temporary solution.

“It wouldn’t solve the shortage of social housing in the long-term, but as a transitional solution, it could be viable,” Dr Clarke says.

An immediate increase in unemployment benefits would also help to ease the cost-of-living pressures in the interim for households at risk of homelessness, Dr Clarke says.

“Research continually shows how inadequate those payments are and their impact on people, undermining their ability to meet rent and forcing them to rely on charity to meet basic needs.

“It’s important to recognise that if we hope to address other social issues, it has to start with everyone having a safe, secure and affordable place to live.”

With the upcoming Jobs Summit and recent Everybody’s Home research detailing the impact the rental crisis is having on the broader economy, Max Chandler-Mather MP, Greens spokesperson for Housing and Homelessness, has today called on Federal government to introduce a nationwide two-year rent freeze.

Under the Greens’ plan, National Cabinet would agree on national tenancy standards that include a 2 year emergency rent freeze. This would be 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.

Following the 2 year rent freeze, rents would be capped at 2% increases every 24 months. Based on wages and rents at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, this would see wages catch back up with rents by 2029.

The Greens call comes as Australia has seen the biggest rent increases in 14 years, putting millions of Australians into severe rental stress and exacerbating regional labour shortages because workers are being priced out of local rental markets.

Max Chandler-Mather MP, Greens spokesperson for Housing and Homelessness said:

“An emergency rent freeze  will give wages and incomes time to catch up to rents, which over the last 12 months have grown seven times faster than wages in capital cities.

“With more and more people renting long term, we desperately need legislated protections against unfair, arbitrary evictions and skyrocketing rents.”

“As the Everybody’s Home report detailed yesterday, the rental affordability crisis is destroying regional communities and impacting the broader economy. A rent freeze will help those communities rebuild, tackle the skills shortage and protect livelihoods.” 

“If the government is serious about cost of living relief, if they’re serious about affordable housing, then it’s a no-brainer to freeze rent rises.

“Rents are out of control, millions of Australian renters are struggling to pay the rent, and unless the Government wants to see more families sleeping in their cars they need to do their job and act now to stop this crisis boiling over into a national tragedy.

“During the pandemic the Victorian Government froze rents, while governments around the world have used rent freezes and controls successfully to protect households and their homes, there’s no reason why we can’t do it here.

“Just as the Government coordinated a national response to the COVID19 health crisis, the Federal Government should intervene to coordinate an emergency nationwide response to the housing crisis that includes a rent freeze.

“We’ve got families sleeping in their cars, workers unable to afford a home near where they work, people being evicted from their homes because they can’t afford 20% rent increases and the governments just sitting on their hands when they have the capacity to intervene and stop the worst of this crisis.”

Background

Renters across Australia are facing annual rent increases of 17.9% in capital cities and 13.4% nationwide. 2.7 million Australians are in rental stress with over 1 million in severe rental stress. In the past 12 months rents in capital cities have grown seven times faster than wages.

Since mid-2020 rents have been spiking, growing many times faster than wages. Even under the Greens plan to freeze rents for two years, then cap rent increases at 2% every 2 years, wage growth won’t make up for the impacts of recent rent growth until 2029.

History of rent freezes

Rent-freezes have a long history of use in times of rampant inflation. In Australia, rents were frozen by the Commonwealth government in 1941 to deal with inflation caused by wartime shortages. Most recently, the Victorian government froze rents for six months during the COVID-19 crisis, and Cherbourg implemented a rent freeze to deal with a mass influx of former residents returning home searching for affordable and culturally-appropriate housing. Internationally, rent freezes. Internationally, rent controls are in place in designated ‘rent pressure zones’ in Scotland, in British Columbia and New York. Recently, London mayor Sadiq Khan has called to be granted powers to freeze private rents for two years, and the New Zealand Human Rights Commission called for a temporary rent freeze to tackle a similar cost of living and rent crisis in New Zealand. 

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says Labor’s Stage 3 tax cuts for billionaires and the wealthy must be on the agenda at the Jobs and Skills Summit, just as taxation policy was on the agenda at Bob Hawke’s national summit.

Responding to the release of the summit’s Issues Paper, Mr Bandt said trying to have a discussion about the nation’s economic challenges without mentioning the revenue hole caused by Labor’s Stage 3 tax cuts just didn’t make sense.

Bob Hawke’s summit sought “to seek broad agreement on the relationship between a successful prices and incomes policy and the implementation of policies on industrial relations, job creation and training, taxation, social security, health, education, and the other major community services”.

Mr Bandt said:

“It seems reversing Stage Three tax cuts is on everyone’s lips except the Treasurer’s.”

“The Jobs Summit Issues Paper doesn’t use the word tax once.”

“At this summit, Labor’s giant Stage 3 tax cuts for billionaires and the wealthy will be the elephant in the room and the Treasurer will need stage curtains to hide it.”

“Bob Hawke understood that you can’t discuss workers’ wellbeing without discussing taxation.”

“We can’t talk about tackling the wages and skills crisis without talking about the income inequality and restriction on government spending that the unfair Stage 3 tax cuts will cause.”

“Labor is spending $224b on Stage 3 tax cuts to the wealthy, but that amount of money could deliver immediate cost of living relief and make workers’ lives better by making childcare free, getting dental into Medicare and helping build 1 million affordable homes instead.”

“The Greens will attend the government’s Jobs Summit to gain support for our plans to stop the Stage 3 tax cuts and invest in services instead to make people’s lives better.”

The Greens are calling for a forward-looking Robodebt Royal Commission, and for the Labor Government to address structural factors in our country’s social security system to ensure a callous debt-collection scheme like Robodebt never happens again. 

Greens social services spokesperson, Senator Janet Rice, said:

“The Greens have been fighting against Robodebt since it started, and Greens Senators chaired the Senate inquiry that highlighted how far this injustice went. We are pleased the Labor government is acting on this promise for a Royal Commission. I look forward to working constructively with Ministers Shorten and Rishworth to uncover the truth about how this scheme came to be, and hold those responsible to account. 

“It’s important, however, that the Royal Commission also examine the structural factors that continue to exist in our broken social security system. We need the royal commission to inform how we fix the system, rather than it simply be an opportunity for the Labor Government to attack the former government. 

“The Royal Commission must provide support for community members and those affected by Robodebt to fully participate to make sure that people on income support are never targeted in this way again. 

“The Greens want to see the Royal Commission examine protections for whistleblowers in the public service, broader debt-collection issues beyond a retrospective look at Robodebt, including third-party debt-collection, and the role of automation in our social security system. 

“It’s also worth noting that the new Labor government has questions to answer on its own current algorithm mess – Workforce Australia – and the problems and stress this automation is causing to thousands of people on income support.”

Public confidence in Australia’s environment laws has been undermined by disturbing reports of Tasmanian and federal bureaucrats politicising science surrounding the tragic decline of the swift parrot.

Greens Senator for lutruwita/Tasmania, Peter Whish-Wilson said: 

“Reports that Tasmanian and federal bureaucrats appear to have taken actions to politicise the science surrounding the sad decline of swift parrots are a shocking betrayal of public trust in our governments. 

“If it is true that Tasmanian bureaucrats tried to influence a report at the request of the logging industry or a captured state government, it’s just another example of why you can’t trust the states to manage national matters of environmental significance.

“Tanya Plibersek’s critical and timely review of our failed federal environment laws must lead to reforms that prevent short term vested interests from putting more species at risk. 

“Downplaying threats to the swift parrot’s recovery plan because they are politically inconvenient is not only immoral but totally undermines the public’s confidence in laws designed to stop species being pushed to the brink of extinction. 

“It’s little wonder people are taking matters into their own hands and resorting to protests and direct action. 

“I urge the Albanese Government to support an end to native forest logging in Tasmania – like we’ve seen in WA and Victoria. It’s the right thing to do for the climate and biodiversity restoration, and it’s what is needed to protect critically endangered species like the swift parrot.”

The Governor-General His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd) has issued Letters Patent establishing a Royal Commission into the former debt assessment and recovery scheme commonly known as Robodebt. 

The inquiry will examine, among other things: 

• The establishment, design and implementation of the scheme; who was responsible for it; why they considered Robodebt necessary; and, any concerns raised regarding the legality and fairness;
• The handling of concerns raised about the scheme, including adverse decisions made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal;
• The outcomes of the scheme, including the harm to vulnerable individuals and the total financial cost to government; and
• Measures needed to prevent similar failures in public administration.

The Royal Commission’s focus will be on decisions made by those in positions of seniority. The full scope of the inquiry is outlined in the Royal Commission’s Terms of Reference.

Commonwealth agencies will work to respond expeditiously to requests made by the Royal Commission.

The Royal Commissioner is Catherine Holmes AC SC. The Commissioner is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland and brings vast experience from a distinguished legal career.

The Commissioner led the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry following the 2010-11 floods and acted as counsel assisting the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions in 1998-99.

The Government has allocated $30 million for the Royal Commission and the final report will be delivered to the Governor-General by 18 April 2023.

The headquarters of the Royal Commission will be in Brisbane and information about hearing dates and how to participate will be provided in the coming weeks.

A legal financial assistance scheme will be available to people requested to formally engage with the Royal Commission, for example, to appear as a witness.

The Greens are calling for a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Scott Morrison’s conduct in being secretly sworn into Ministries. Greens spokesperson for Justice Senator David Shoebridge said today that this was the best way of ensuring a full and independent inquiry. 

A Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry can be established by legislation as soon as Parliament returns with the full powers of a Royal Commission, including resources and ability to compel witnesses, and importantly it would report to the Parliament, rather than the Government.

The Greens have said they will consult with other members of Parliament on the proposed terms of reference for the inquiry. The Greens have previously pushed for a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the banking industry, which led to the establishment of the Banking Royal Commission.

The Greens’ calls for greater transparency come as the Speaker declined to refer the former Prime Minister to the Privileges Committee on Tuesday afternoon.

Senator David Shoebridge, Greens spokesperson for Justice said:

“Scott Morrison has treated the people and the Parliament with contempt.

“Deception and secrecy has no place in politics, and people voted overwhelmingly at the last election in favour of accountability and transparency.

“The Greens will move for a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, with the resources and powers of a Royal Commission, that reports to the whole Parliament, not just to the Government.

“We have seen how Governments often use inquiries, with hand picked chairs and limited powers, to produce political rather than fair or factual outcomes, and we can’t afford a similar outcome this time.

“We need a full and independent inquiry into Scott Morrison’s secret ministerial appointments, where witnesses can be summonsed and documents examined. 

“Scott Morrison was able to build this incredible centralised power by hiding from scrutiny. We can only force light on these shadowy powers by compelling the people who knew what happened, and when it occurred, to take the stand. 

“The former Prime Minister’s attack on democratic norms and conventions needs to be met with transparency and it needs to bring accountability,” Senator Shoebridge said.

The Labor Party has published the Jobs + Skills Summit Issues Paper, and LGBTQIA+ people have been entirely left out despite listing many groups of workers who face discrimination. Queer and gender diverse people experience higher rates of unemployment and workplace discrimination, and must be included in discussions on these issues.

Member for Brisbane and Australian Greens LGBTQIA+ Spokesperson, Stephen Bates MP said: 

“Choosing to leave LGBTQIA+ people out of the Jobs and Skills Summit Issues Paper highlights the Government’s lack of commitment to our community and to all workers rights.”

“This is yet another example of politicians waving rainbow flags when it’s politically expedient while failing to improve our communities’ working conditions.”

“Our communities are already far more likely to face discrimination in employment and our daily lives. Trans people are three times more likely to be unemployed than the national average. 

“The Sex Discrimination Act still provides special exemptions allowing religious organisations and workplaces to discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people. So long as a teacher can be fired from their workplace because of their sexuality, workers are not protected.”

“Now is the perfect time to strengthen the Fair Work Act to explicitly protect against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex characteristics, ensuring trans, intersex and gender diverse people are afforded the same protection as cisgendered people.”

“Leaving LGBTQIA+ people out of this paper is a conscious effort by the Albanese Government to erase queer and gender diverse people from this conversation.”

“This paves the way for the Albanese Government’s Religious Discrimination Bill to target LGBTQIA+ people. Without explicit protection in employment and public spaces, our community are at risk of having further discrimination against us enshrined into law.

“We have already seen the Albanese Government vote down a Greens amendment to establish an LGBTQIA+ Human Rights Commissioner.”

“We cannot hope to address a skills shortage and economic inequality while entire communities do not feel safe in the workplace.”

“The Jobs and Skills Summit is a perfect chance to strengthen protections for LGBTQIA+ workers. We cannot be left out of the conversation.”

“The Government has an opportunity to show its commitment to workers rights and ending discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people. This opportunity should not be wasted.” Said Mr. Bates. 

Labor has made a mockery of its own weak climate target by offering up 46,758 square kilometres of new ocean acreage for fossil fuel companies to exploit in a time of climate emergency. Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said: “It’s Christmas Day for fossil fuel companies who have just been handed a big dirty gift: more of our oceans for them to run roughshod in. “Labor has made a mockery of its own weak climate target by offering up new areas of ocean acreage for fossil fuel companies to plunder, pollute and profit from in a time of climate emergency. “We already have enough oil and gas in reserves to trigger catastrophic climate change to our planet. There’s no plausible excuse for Labor to put our marine ecosystems in jeopardy for the sake of a few profit-driven interests to drill for the exact same product that is killing our oceans.“The Morrison Government stopped fossil fuel exploration project Pep-11 due to significant community opposition over it risking NSW coastlines and beaches. In opposition, Anthony Albanese also agreed that this project should be stopped. “If opposing fossil fuel exploration due to community and environmental concerns was good enough for NSW, then it’s sheer hypocrisy not to do the same for coastlines right around Australia.“When parliament was last in session I introduced the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Fight for Australia’s Coastline) Bill to the Senate. If passed, this legislation would set a precedent for permanently stopping destructive offshore oil and gas exploration in our oceans. “New Zealand, Ireland, Greenland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Costa Rica, France, Belize, Wales, and Portugal have all implemented bans on new oil and gas exploration – there is no reason Australia shouldn’t do the same.”   Greens spokesperson for resources, Senator Dorinda Cox said:“Aboriginal people never ceded sovereignty to our lands, waters and sky. Like other nations, First Nations borders don’t begin and end at sea level. Sea Country does not belong to Labor, to sell to the highest bidder.“The Greens demand that the Traditional Custodians of these waters be consulted and that any corporation or Government obtain their free, prior and informed consent before they proceed with their operations.“Under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People: free, prior and informed consent is a human right. If Labor wants to hear the voices of First Nations people, they can start by listening to Traditional Owners fighting for the survival of their communities, culture and country.”

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has failed to save the Murujuga songlines, in allowing the Perdaman fertiliser plant to continue development on the Burrup Peninsula despite Traditional Owners’ application for World Heritage listing of the site.

Gunnai Gunditjmara DjabWurrung Senator Lidia Thorpe, the Greens spokesperson for First Nations said:

“This is a clear violation of free, prior and informed consent as it is defined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP).

“The UNDRIP states that, ‘States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the Indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.’

“First Nations people in this Country are a part of the oldest living culture in the world. Our representative institutions are tens of thousands of years older than Land Councils. The colonial project has been trying to control whose voice gets heard from First Nations communities since colonisation.

“When Traditional Owners are saying that there is no consent to destroy their heritage, this Government needs to listen.” Said Thorpe.

Yamatji-Noongar Senator Dorinda Cox, the Greens spokesperson for Resources said:

“The movement of that rock art will be it’s destruction. This is Juukan 2.0. We cannot continue to allow projects to go ahead that wreck the climate and destroy cultural heritage.

“The UNDRIP is an important instrument, both at a global level and within Australia. It protects free, informed, prior consent. What we’re seeing happen across this country is manufactured consent.

“Happening right now in Darwin and on the Tiwi Islands, is a landmark court hearing is will determine what constitutes consultation with Traditional Owners about the environmental, cultural, social and spiritual impacts of mining projects.

“Murujuga and the Burrup Peninsula are due for World Heritage listing next year, we need this fast-tracked to protect the ancestral rock art, stories and turtle dreaming, unique to the area.

“I’ve spoken directly with mining companies, urging them to sit with Traditional Owner groups. I’ve sat with First Nations women in Murujuga at the exact site where Perdaman propose to build their fertiliser plant, on top of one of the oldest women’s law grounds in the world.” Said Cox.