Greens leader Adam Bandt says the government’s help-to-buy scheme will lead to even higher housing prices, which is why his party is urging Labor to amend negative gearing laws that benefit property developers.
Bandt says the Greens won’t be voting for the help-to-buy scheme in the Senate today, and is willing to further negotiate with the government down the line.
“But Labor needs to wake up. The housing crisis is breaking people and Labor’s pushing rents and house prices up. You have got renters who are skipping meals to scrape together a deposit for a first home, only to find that house prices have gone up so much by the time they saved their money, it’s not enough.
“You’ve got first home buyers turning up to auctions getting outbid by wealthy property investors who are getting massive subsidies from Labor and we’ve got parents worried their kids are never going to be able to own a home.”
Bandt says that if the government can change its mind on stage 3 tax cuts after promising no changes at the last election, “surely they can see that the housing crisis is breaking people”.
The Greens are also calling for the freezing and capping of rents, and more public housing.