QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS
Senator BARBARA POCOCK (South Australia) (15:24): I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Industry and Innovation (Senator Ayres) to a question without notice I asked today relating to renters. I asked Minister Ayres what he would say to Lou, a 69-year-old nurse who has worked in the profession as a registered nurse for 52 years and is now living in a very precarious rental circumstance.
I listened to Minister Ayres's response very carefully. It was a mixture of personal attack, party politics and reference to the HAFF. There was no mention of renters in Senator Ayres's answer, of any significance.
He did not take it seriously. He did not offer any comfort or practical response to the circumstances of Lou, a nurse who has given decades of her life to our health system and who found herself, as she left her marriage—a violent marriage—with nothing, and slept in her car and lived in caravans, and had to move further away from her family—as I said in my question—and give more and more of her income to rentals, living in acute rental stress.
Lou is not alone; a third of Australians are in such a circumstance right now. She suffered from financial abuse which left her with nothing. Even when she secured affordable housing in Wollongong, a very long way from her family in Sydney, she had to work six days a week to afford rent that took up 65 per cent of her income.
Even that rental accommodation remains uncertain if she faces an increase in rent ahead. Lou said governments on both sides of this parliament have failed her. She has worked, as I said, her entire life—a union member—without a secure and affordable home owned or rented.
We also heard this morning, from the ACTU delegation, from Maddie, a teacher from my home state of South Australia. She loves being a teacher but can't live anywhere affordable, as a renter, that is close to her work. Like so many Australian workers, she has very long commutes, very poor living conditions in her rental and feels unsafe.
She says her mental health and her general health have been affected. Everything is harder when your housing is uncertain and substandard. Lou and Maddie are workers with good jobs—teaching and nursing.
They're union members. I thank them for coming to the parliament with the ACTU today, with their ideas about what needs to change. But they must be very disappointed with what they heard today from the minister, who did not pay respectful attention to the nature of the crisis that they face as individual women and that so many Australians face alongside them.
This government's policies are not touching the sides of a massive housing crisis. I have listened carefully to answers time over time in this place. The government is doing way too little in view of the 190,000 people currently on our waitlists and the 640,000 Australians living in acute housing stress.
The HAFF will build 40,000 homes; that is six per cent of the people who are living in such dire circumstances. And there is nothing for renters in what the government is offering—not a single policy at the last election for renters, nothing in the budget for renters or people experiencing homelessness. The Labor Party promised to tackle Australia's housing crisis.
But, after four years in government, people are struggling more than ever and 70 per cent of renters are in deep financial stress. That is a lot of Australians, and they are living with their families in acute anxiety. The Liberals are no better.
Just a week ago, as we heard from Senator Sheldon, Senator Bragg told lower-income earners that they need to accept substandard housing under a Liberal government. He since walked it back after getting scolded by his party, but we all know what his so-called solutions to the housing crisis will mean—worse living standards and more anxiety for renters. Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson told shivering Australians, as Senator Sheldon said, to 'just put on a jumper'.
How out of touch can you be? The Greens believe no-one should live in this very wealthy country we're in without secure housing that supports their health and wellbeing. Most importantly, we need to see caps on rents, after a year of extreme rental rises.
We really need to see renters supported by caps on greedy landlords so they can put a life together. Question agreed to.