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Greens call for national rent freeze
Chandler-Mather says they now want Labor to shift too:
The Greens have shifted, and now we’d like Labor to too.
We’ve said two things. One, we’d like a guarantee of $2.5bn of investment in public community and affordable housing every year.
And we want the federal government to coordinate a national freeze on rent increases by putting $1bn on the table, similar to the way they’ve coordinated other national reform efforts, to states and territories who’ve freezed rent increases for two years and introduced caps on rents after that.
Key events
The Greens have also suggested the government should buy existing homes on the market rather than just building new homes.
Chandler-Mather explains how they envisage that could work:
Well, the government could use the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation and they could blind-bid, so the person selling the home wouldn’t necessarily know what the government is buying.
Chandler-Mather points to the government’s ability to put a cap on energy prices but says one third of the country – renters – are not getting political representation.
Last year, they recalled parliaments around the country to put caps on energy prices. …All of a sudden, rents don’t matter.
Why is it that one-third of this country don’t get the sort of political representation – renters – where a lot of other people in the country do?
Especially when we’re what we’re proposing has been used for Australia before – freezes on rent increases. Used around the world – Spain just introduced caps on rent increases, because they’re looking after the renters, unlike the government right now.
On whether the Greens really will stand with the Coalition block the future fund if they don’t accept the latest offer, Chandler-Mather says “of course we go into a negotiation with the possibility that we might vote it down, [otherwise] it’s not much of a negotiation.”
He won’t say something is better than nothing because:
I don’t think I could look the people in the eye that I’ve spoken to over the last few months the people one rent increase away from eviction, the people on a 10-year waitlist for social housing and know that under the government’s plan the waitlist for social housing will get bigger.
And the shortage right now by the way is 640,000 social and affordable homes, and that is going to increase by 75,000 homes, and the government has said they can build up to 30,000 homes over the next five years.
So, really, what they’re saying is – the crisis is going to get worse under their plan. That is not a response to the housing crisis.
Chandler-Mather defends Greens’ stance on Labor’s future fund
Chandler-Mather defends his party’s stance of why the government’s future fund is not enough:
Australia is spending less on public housing than it ever has in the history of this country.
To give you an example, if we were building the same amount of public housing as we were in the 20th century over the next five years, Australia would build 150,000 public and affordable homes.
Right now, dwelling approvals for public sector housing is at the lowest it’s ever been in this country’s history. So no, we don’t think what the government’s doing right now is good, or in any way going to take the housing crisis seriously.
Labor’s housing future fund is a ‘gamble on the stock market’: Chandler-Mather
On the other part of the demand – upping the direct spending on housing, Chandler-Mather says the Greens proposal is that the $2.5bn they want the government to spend would be taken out of the budget. He says they want the direct spend increased because they say the housing future fund is a “gamble on the stock market”.
You don’t fund schools and hospitals via investments on the stock market that don’t make a return in some years.
Chandler-Mather says Greens have also done their own analysis of publicly available evidence from economists and housing experts on what a rent cap would look like in Australia.
After some prompting from David Speers, Chandler-Mather agrees to make this analysis public on the Greens’ website.
Chandler-Mather:
What it has shown, by the way, is that rent’s declined, rental stress declined, and it had no material impact on housing supply.
With regards to supply, the key issue here at the moment is that Australia is no longer building public and affordable housing the way it used to.
And the other key part of our demand to the government is that, if we just rely on property developers, then we’re going to get what we’ve got over the last 20 years, which is soaring house prices and less and less people being able to afford to buy a house.
Chandler-Mather says the international examples point to the fact that caps on rent increases work:
The useful thing about a rent freeze is other countries have used it around the world, as well as rent caps, so we have a lot of evidence around that.
New Jersey was a state that introduced rent caps, and research found there was no material impact on the supply of private housing. What we did see, though, was an impact on reducing rents.
The reason we’re proposing this is because there are now millions of renters who are falling into renter stress. That means that a lot of them are one rent increase away from eviction onto the streets.
Greens call for national rent freeze
Chandler-Mather says they now want Labor to shift too:
The Greens have shifted, and now we’d like Labor to too.
We’ve said two things. One, we’d like a guarantee of $2.5bn of investment in public community and affordable housing every year.
And we want the federal government to coordinate a national freeze on rent increases by putting $1bn on the table, similar to the way they’ve coordinated other national reform efforts, to states and territories who’ve freezed rent increases for two years and introduced caps on rents after that.
Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather is this morning’s guest on ABC Insiders following this news this morning that his party will offer a compromise on Labor’s stalled housing bill.
As our chief political correspondent Paul Karp writes:
The Greens have scaled back their demands on housing, offering to pass Labor’s future fund bill in return for $2.5bn a year of direct spending and action on soaring rents.
The Greens and Albanese government are still locked in negotiations over the $10bn housing Australia future fund, with the latest offer from the minor party designed to allow the Senate to pass the bill in the June sitting.
Previously the Greens had demanded $5bn of direct spending on housing every year and a $1.6bn-a-year fund to incentivise states to freeze rents for two years and limit increases thereafter. The Greens announced on Sunday the party will settle for half as much direct spending, and $1bn a year to incentivise the rent freeze.
If you want to read more about the reactions this landmark ruling, try this piece from legal academic, Daniel Joyce, who was teaching a class on the topic of freedom of speech when the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation verdict was handed down:
Daniel Hurst
Richard Marles declines to comment on Ben Roberts-Smith ruling
The defence minister, Richard Marles, says he understands the defamation ruling in the Ben Roberts-Smith case “will be evoking a lot of feelings around the country”.
But in an interview with Sky News broadcast this morning, Marles held firm to the position that it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the civil case itself. He said the Australian government was not a party to it and because “the parties still have rights in respect of the decision”.
Marles went on to point to the government’s broader efforts in acting on the Brereton inquiry into alleged war crimes, the final report of which was released in late 2020:
I think what I would say, putting the case to one side, is that the Brereton report is a remarkable document and a remarkable piece and it really did seek to have Australia hold itself to account against the highest standards.
The Brereton report has offered the nation an opportunity and we as a government are very clear that we want to do everything within our power to implement the recommendations of the report to the fullest extent.
And that’s the path that we will walk – and that’s actually the path which in our view means that the standing of our defence forces, the standing of the SAS and elements of it, but actually the standing of the nation is maintained.
NSW meningococcal alert after person dies from disease
People in NSW should be on alert for meningococcal symptoms after a Sydneysider died from the disease, AAP reports.
NSW Health today confirmed a person in their 50s died from meningococcal, while a Sydney teen and a person in their 60s from the Central Coast are recovering from the disease. None of the cases are believed to be linked.
Meningococcal symptoms include sudden onset of fever, headache, neck stiffness, tiredness, joint pain, vomiting and a rash of red-purple spots or bruises.
Meningococcal is rare but can be fatal within hours if left untreated, NSW Health director Christine Selvey said.
Early treatment is life-saving so it is important that symptoms are recognised early.
Defence minister meets with Chinese counterpart
Daniel Hurst
The Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, has met his Chinese counterpart and called for “safe and professional interactions” between military planes and ships in the Indo-Pacific region.
Marles is also believed to have raised concerns about the ongoing detention of Australian citizens and human rights issues during talks with China’s defence minister, Gen Li Shangfu, at a regional security summit in Singapore.
The meeting, held on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue late on Saturday, was notable in large part because Li Shangfu had refused to have a formal meeting with the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin.
Li and Austin greeted each other during the opening of the forum on Friday evening, but in a speech the next day the US defence secretary said “a cordial handshake over dinner” was no substitute for substantive talks to avoid military crises.
Austin said:
The People’s Republic of China continues to conduct an alarming number of risky intercepts of US and allied aircraft flying lawfully in international airspace.
Lisa Cox
The Australian Marine Conservation Society said it was relieved negotiations on the global plastics treaty were finally progressing and hoped the draft treaty text would include ambitious elements to limit plastic production and offer financial assistance for small island developing states in the Pacific region.
The AMCS said it remained concerned some key states were resisting global measures to cap plastics production.
Plastics campaign manager Shane Cucow said without concerted global action, the volume of plastic entering the oceans was projected to triple due to rapidly increasing plastics production:
This treaty is our one chance to secure the global action needed to stop the flow of plastic into our oceans and ensure future generations can once again enjoy healthy oceans that are full of life.
We are pleased to see Australia showing leadership in these negotiations, supporting strong, binding measures to control the production and trade of plastic and its waste.
Cucow said despite mammoth investment in waste management, just 9% of plastic was recycled globally.
It is clear that we have already exceeded planetary boundaries for the volume of plastic that can safely be managed. We cannot recycle our way out of this crisis.
Australia helps ensure global plastics treaty limits production
Lisa Cox
The Australian government has played a leading role in supporting the inclusion of binding measures to limit the production of plastics in a draft global plastics treaty.
Negotiations for a global plastics treaty in Paris this week ended with agreement to develop a draft text despite resistance from oil-producing countries to efforts to cap plastics production.
Talks for the “zero draft” text will resume in Kenya in November and there is a mandate to deliver a full treaty text by the end of next year.
In Paris, Australia supported efforts to reduce the production of plastics to a sustainable level. Observers said the government was also in favour of a ban on certain types of plastics and chemicals of concern, which would be informed by a scientific process.
Good morning!
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will meet Vietnam’s top leaders in Hanoi today as part of an official state visit.
He’ll begin his day visiting the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam’s communist revolutionary leader and first president, before meeting with Vietnamese prime minister Pham Minh Chinh, as well as the Communist Party general secretary, the president and the chairman of the national assembly.
In Paris, Australia has played a leading role in negotiations for a global plastics treaty in supporting the inclusion of binding measures to limit the production of plastics.
Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, has met his Chinese counterpart at a regional security summit in Singapore. He’s called for “safe and professional interactions” between military planes and ships in the Indo-Pacific region.
Today I met with my counterpart General Li Shangfu in Singapore.
The meeting is another important step forward in stabilising the relationship between our two countries. pic.twitter.com/6qKMFAsKYf
— Richard Marles (@RichardMarlesMP) June 3, 2023
Meanwhile back home, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has officially announced Cameron Caldwell as the Liberal National Party’s candidate for Fadden in the upcoming byelection in July, following Stuart Robert’s retirement.
On the other side of politics, it’s the second day of the Queensland’s state Labor conference in Mackay. Eden Gillespie is there and will bring you updates.
Let’s get into it!
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