Tuesday, 31 March 2026

 Anasina GRAY-BARBERIO (Northern Metropolitan) (18:29): (2458) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Consumer Affairs, and the action I seek is for the government to stop rent increases from exceeding wage growth. Victoria is in the middle of a rental crisis, and it is pushing people to breaking point. Rents have risen 2.5 times faster than wages over the past five years. I have heard from constituents who are skipping meals, putting off doctors visits or going into debt just to pay the rent. Others are being priced out of their communities, forced to relocate away from their workplace, their families and their support networks, or worse, pushed into homelessness, sleeping in cars, couch surfing or staying in temporary accommodation.

For single mothers, this often means making impossible choices between rent, child care and putting food on the table. For people with disabilities, it means being forced into housing that is unsafe, inaccessible or unsuitable. For people from multicultural backgrounds, this crisis is compounded by discrimination, being overlooked or refused housing because of their name, accent or background. Other renters are accepting terrible rental conditions – mould, leaks, overcrowding – because they have no other choice. As Tenants Victoria has made clear, the government must intervene. Tinkering around the edges is not enough. The rental crisis did not happen by accident; it is the result of political choices. Whether someone has a roof over their head or not, whether that home is safe and livable or not or whether they are forced to move because of skyrocketing rents, these are all shaped by decisions this government makes. Right now the gap between rents and wage increases keeps widening, and renters are falling further behind every single year. This is a system that is failing renters, and we need to put guardrails on a system that currently has none. Minister, all Victorians deserve a home they can afford.