Rental support
Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (09:53): On another matter, people should not be forced to choose between feeding their family and putting a roof over their heads, yet that is the very real choice that so many renters in Victoria are having to make right now. The rental crisis is out of control. Rents are soaring, vacancy rates are at an all-time low, illegal rent bidding is rife and people are being forced out of their homes due to rent increases. The Labor government must act now to stop thousands of people becoming homeless – and they can if they have the will. I urge this government to freeze rent increases for two years to allow wages to catch up, to regulate short stays to get more rentals onto the long-term market, to build more public housing and to put a permanent cap on rent increases to keep them in line with wage growth. Governments must act and they must do it now.