Bandt MP, Freezing rent increases and doubling Commonwealth rent assistance

Adam Bandt MP Photo screenshot Parliament of Australia Mr Band t (Australian Greens) I rise to speak on the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023 and the associated bills. I'm lucky enough, in Melbourne, to have the electorate that has the highest number of public housing residents, from the last time we looked at the statistics. In that electorate, one of the things we deal with day after day, in our office, is people who can't get into public housing, who have been on the waiting list for years and who are told, even though they're homeless, even though they're couch surfing, even though they might be women just about to give birth, there is no place for them in public housing. When you look at the rental market, you find there is zero chance of renting near your family or your friends or where you work or study because rents in the private market have grown seven times faster than wages. People are in crisis. When you're faced with this housing crisis, where yo...