Housing affordability
Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (14:22): My question is to the Premier. Premier, over the past year the median rent across Melbourne has risen by 16 per cent. Right now people are struggling to pay the rent, to afford food and to pay the bills. During the pandemic the government, with the support of the Greens, did freeze rents. Premier, given the level of hardship people are facing, the level of financial stress and the level of housing insecurity, will the government freeze rents again and finally put a stop to unlimited rent rises?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:23): I thank the member for Prahran for his question. I think the member for Prahran might already know the answer to his question, because this question has been asked by the Greens political party before. The answer and the policy position of the government remains the same because the proposition that has been put forward by the member for Prahran simply does not work. What we know we need to do to support renters is build more homes and build more houses, and that includes, member for Prahran, upgrading and building more public and affordable and social houses, particularly with our public housing tower redevelopment. So rather than running around those public housing towers with your colleagues and that ongoing scare campaign of deliberate misinformation that is being put to people living in those public housing towers, how about you tell them that we are going to build more? The member for Prahran is so pleased to talk about where he has joined with the government to make improvements – join with the government to build more homes. It is as simple as that. Stop opposing and blocking important initiatives, whether it is in places like Markham or whether it is in places like Hawthorn. Stop blocking and stopping the building of more homes. Get on board and support the construction of more homes, particularly for people who are the most vulnerable in our community.
Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (14:24): On a supplementary, what we are trying to stop is unlimited rent rises, and the fact is that they have risen by 16 per cent over the last year. A broad section of housing services, legal services, advocates, unions, renters and even some landlords have all called for the government to introduce rent controls in some form. Why won’t the government listen to them, to people in need and to those who support them, instead of constantly siding with the property industry and their profits?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:25): Let me pick up a couple of things that the member for Prahran has said in his question, and that little jibe at the end. Do you know what – it is the property industry who help us build homes. It is the property industry and all the carpenters and all the plumbers and all the tradies that they employ that help us build more homes, that help us make sure that more Victorians have the dignity of a roof over their heads. So let us not have what you might think are these clever little jibes at the people who are working with us to build more homes.
Secondly, the reference to unlimited rent increases – that is not something that is allowed for here in Victoria. The Minister for Consumer Affairs was just taking us through some of these matters. With the work we have done in our rental reform space, we are restricting rent increases between successive fixed-term rental agreements. That is just one of more than 130 changes we have been making to support renters here in Victoria.