Rental accommodation
Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (13:13): Right now 82 per cent of renters are experiencing housing stress and many renters are just one rent rise away from homelessness. I have with me the signatures of 5000 Victorians who are calling for an immediate freeze on rents, and polling shows us that 60 per cent of Australians actually support a rent freeze. Yet we heard overnight that what national cabinet is considering at their national meeting is they are planning on locking in unlimited yearly rent increases. If this is Labor’s big renting reform, I can tell the public now it does not work. I know that it does not work because that is the policy that we have here in Victoria right now, and I hear from renters every single day who are telling me that their annual rent increases are through the roof. Under this policy, Melbourne rents have gone up 14.6 per cent in the last year. That is the biggest annual increase that we have seen since the year 2000. It is almost as though Labor is deliberately locking in failure for renters, because under this plan the housing crisis will get worse. Ahead of their meeting tomorrow, more than 5000 Victorians are urging the Premier to introduce an immediate two-year rent freeze followed by permanent caps on rent increases. Until they do, every time a renter’s rent goes up, just remember it is Labor’s fault.