Additional comments from the Australian Greens

1.1The acceleration of the housing crisis has been acutely felt in Northern Australia. Any consideration of recommendations in relation to housing must be made with genuine acknowledgement that the housing crisis has been caused by decades of privatisation of public housing, the deregulation of banking rules, and inflationary tax concessions for property investors and an unregulated rental market.

1.2Rather than being treated as the essential service that it is, housing has been stripped of its role as a social good and is instead treated as an asset to generate wealth. Renters will prioritise housing expenses above almost all other expenses, so the property industry capitalises on their near monopoly of housing.

1.3With significant investment in public housing, the government can provide a genuine alternative to the private rental market, just like they did in the past, which will bring prices down for all.

1.4With respect to recommendation 3, any consideration of incentives for appropriate modular housing to be built must prioritise these homes remaining in government ownership. Further, the government should directly invest in housing, including modular housing, rather than providing incentives for private industry to deliver housing.

1.5With respect to recommendation 5, any development of a new infrastructure fund should as a first port of call examine redirecting the current Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund for the same purpose.

1.6In planning for a future for Northern Australia, the Labor Government must acknowledge that if they continue to open new coal and gas then the direct acceleration of the climate crisis will see living conditions in Northern Australia worsen. For example, in the 3 degrees of warming we are currently on track for, Darwin will go from having an historical 11 days a year over 35 degrees to 265 days a year.[1]

1.7With respect to native title and land tenure, the Greens want to affirm that any consideration of native title and land tenure must strictly be done in the interests of traditional owners, not industry.

Senator Penny Allman-Payne

Member

Footnotes

[1] Australian Academy of Science, The Risks to Australia of a 3C Warmer World, March 2021, p. 53.