Australian renters could have collectively saved billions if a rent freeze was implemented 12 months ago and could save even more if one was put in place now, a minor party claims.
The Australian Greens on Wednesday cited research conducted by the federal Parliamentary Library to boost their case for a national rent freeze, as tense negotiations over Labor’s signature housing investment fund continues.
Labor has already failed once to get its $10 billion fund through the Senate.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has threatened to dissolve both houses of parliament and called a double dissolution election if the Senate blocks the proposal a second time.
Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather had asked the library to find out how much the average renter would have saved if rents had been frozen 12 months ago.
He further asked for an estimate of what the average cost to rent a house in each capital city would be next year, based on a central bank projection that rents could rise by close to 10 per cent.
Using census and consumer price index data, the library concluded an average saving per occupied dwelling on a national basis of $1427 in 2022-2023 and $2,261 in 2023-2024.
Collectively, roughly two million renting households could have saved $3.1 billion in 2022-23 and $4.9 billion in 2023/24, it found.
“These aren’t just numbers, a two year saving of $3688 per household is food on the table, a desperately needed trip to the dentist or it’s the electricity bills for two years,” Mr Chandler-Mather said in a statement.
“The prime minister has a historic opportunity to save the one-third of this country who rent,” the MP for Griffith, in Queensland, added.
But Mr Albanese has previously said a rent freeze is outside the Commonwealth’s jurisdiction because state governments have responsibility for housing.
Independent Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe is also pushing the government to amend its housing fund plan to allocate 10 per cent of new housing supply to Indigenous people.
Senator Thorpe is also calling for a standalone Indigenous housing and homelessness plan.
“We are in a housing and homelessness crisis and First Peoples are the hardest hit by this crisis,” she said.
© AAP 2023
