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.

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.

Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, has reiterated calls for investment property to be treated as a financial product in the wake of the 4 Corners report on the state of the housing market in Australia.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Australia’s housing market is a debt-fuelled bubble driven primarily by tax breaks to investors. This is distorting the entire economy, creating enormous financial risk, and pushing the price of housing out of the reach of young people.

The Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, provides the following comments on the release of HILDAs The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “These survey findings won’t be a surprise for young people but they should be a wake-up call for the Government.

“These figures are catastrophic. No matter how hard young people are working or how much time they are putting into study, the ability of a young person to own their own home is slipping away.

The Greens have responded to reports of a private developer's plans for the former defence land along the Maribyrnong River, saying this is a typical Turnbull government move to deliver massive profits to big developers, with zero input from the community and no clear plan for fixing our housing affordability crisis.

The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook released today highlights the Turnbull Government’s dead-end plan to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable Australians, Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale said.

​“There is one message in this MYEFO for everyday Australians: unless you’re a big corporation or Liberal Party donor, you don’t matter.”

“Malcolm Turnbull’s plan to hand out tax cuts to the wealthiest Australians while wage growth remains stagnant is a slap in the face to ordinary Australians doing it tough.” 

Australian Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, today responded to comments by the Reserve Bank Governor and the IMF regarding infrastructure and housing.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “The RBA and the IMF have once again laid out the case for increasing government borrowing to invest in infrastructure.

“The Greens went to the last federal election with a detailed policy for a nation-building infrastructure program, that included restructuring infrastructure financing and a focus on transitioning our economy to become 100% renewable.