Barbara Pocock

The Great Australian dream of owning a home is dead thanks to Labor. The Greens want to tackle the root causes of the housing crisis - tax breaks for wealthy property hoarders & lack of social & affordable housing - to stop house price rises & out of control bank profits.

In the past 5 years the cost of entry-level houses has risen by 68%, units by 30% but wages have only increased by 21%. People are priced out & Labor is to blame. The 5% deposit scheme & tax breaks for wealthy investors are fuelling investor demand, pushing house prices up.

New data from Domain shows the average 1st home buyer can't afford a home in Australian cities! House prices are sky high, wages are behind & Labor's policies are only fuelling investor demand & raising house prices. Time to scrap the CGT discount & increase affordable housing.

Labor: the govt for house price increases. And first home buyer despair. In every city.

The Labor government must scrap the tax breaks for wealthy property investors. Labor has an opportunity to fix the housing crisis — but if they keep dodging real reform, they’ll lock a whole generation out of ever owning a home.

Labor cares more about rewarding property investors with tax breaks than it does about building good quality homes at prices people can actually afford to rent or buy.

Property investor tax breaks are helping high-income earners with, 59% of the benefits of negative gearing & CGT discount for investment property flowing to top 10%. Labor’s tax breaks have effectively created an investor playground that leaves first-home buyers behind.

New data shows property investors buying almost twice as many homes as first-home buyers thanks to government tax breaks. Average property investor loan is ~ $100,000 larger than the average loan taken out by a first-home buyer, which guarantees investors a leg up at auctions.

The big banks’ rake in the profits of a housing crisis spurred on by Labor’s policies, working Aussies struggle to afford rents & mortgages. Labor needs to start making policies for renters, 1st home buyers & mortgage holders instead of working for the banks & property hoarders.

Government decisions are driving this real reduction in wages - with the housing crisis spurred on by handouts to wealthy property investors, a 5% deposit scheme that's fuelling house price rises & government approval of a 4.4% rise to healthcare premiums, the biggest in 8 years.

Today's ABS data shows wages aren't keeping up w' inflation, as another bank, NAB, announces a quarterly profit of $2.1 bn. Wages rose a little but inflation climbed faster, meaning workers’ pay packets are going backwards in real terms & it's government decisions driving this.

Labor delivers real wage fall alongside housing price spike.
Rents thro the roof. 🏠 prices at record levels, delivered by the Ministry for House Price Increases. Disaster for so many super-stressed households. Despair for so many young people.

IMF joins the long line of economists saying Labor’s 5% 🏠 deposit scheme is pouring fuel on the housing crisis bonfire. A 3.6% increase in price of eligible homes below the cap in the last 3 months of 2025. A disaster.

Looks to me like the SA government has leased prime public land to Walker Corp at $1/yr for 100 years. Despite many requests, Labor refuses to hand over the figures on its dealings with Walker Corp, talking ‘commercial in confidence’. What does Labor not want us to know?

The ACCC’s action against Coles confirms what people already know -  when corporations have too much power, they use it to squeeze people.

Fake discounts are one symptom of a system where dominant firms can do as they like while people struggle with cost-of-living pressures.

Labor's working for banks & wealthy property investors not renters or FHBs. Without tackling the root causes - tax breaks for wealthy property hoarders & lack of social & affordable housing - house prices will continue to spike, and banks will continue to rake in the profits.

This is the story of the last few years in a nutshell - misery for mortgage holders & renters & obscene profits for banks. Labor’s policies like the 5% deposit scheme & the $181b tax breaks for property hoarders - are driving up house prices while the banks take all the profit.

CBA has raked in $5.4bn in profit in half year results while ANZ's profit rose to $1.94bn & the average mortgage is up $70,000 in last 12 months. It's no secret that in a housing crisis the big banks’ obscene profits come directly from mortgagees & renters.

Rather than giving billions of tax breaks to wealthy property investors, the government needs to cap rents and invest directly in social and affordable housing, renting it to people who need it at prices they can actually afford.

Property investor lending increased by 31.8% over the year, the clearest sign yet that the worst of Australia’s housing crisis is yet to come. Renters are footing the bill for a market stacked in favour of investors, while their wages can’t keep up.

ABS data shows the biggest winners of Labor’s 5% scheme are property speculators who rushed in, certain the policy was going to raise property prices & they were right. Double the amount of lending has gone to property investors than 1st home buyers - $43 billion in three months.

Aus rents have risen 2.5x faster than wages over the past 5 yrs. Renters are now spending an average of 33.4% of income on rent, putting millions into housing stress. Meanwhile, investor lending skyrockets. A result of Labor's choices that are making the housing crisis worse.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog isn’t welcome in Australia. The Greens stand with those peacefully protesting as we demand sanctions on Israel & an end to the two way arms trade. We join our voices with the millions who call for an end to genocide and justice for Palestine.

Rental affordability hits record low in Australia Tenants now pay an average of 33.4 per cent of their pre-tax income on rent, which is the highest level on record, according to a property research firm.

Aus rents have risen 2.5x faster than wages over the past 5 yrs w' renters spending an average of 33.4% of income on rent. How is it fair renters are bearing the brunt of the housing crisis while investors profit from tax incentives like the CGT discount?
tinyurl.com/32vtacxt

Last night at ANU talking work, time, women & sanity with this fab crew: Annabelle Crabb, Padma Raman, Lyndall Strazdins, Michelle Ryan ⏰. The revolution in women & carers entry to paid work has not been met with the necessary revolution in its terms. 💥It’s time!!💥

He had his hands up. Peaceful protest is our right - and responsibility against repression.

A massive increase in 75+ year olds living in rental stress. More are renting, & for longer, in a housing crisis where rents are thro the roof.

Labor needs to stop treating housing like a game of monopoly. It needs to scrap the tax breaks for wealthy property investors and directly build social and affordable homes.

Reigning in investor lending growth would be celebrated by renters and aspiring home owners who otherwise feel nothing but despair as they watch a repeat bout of runaway housing price inflation.

Massive tax breaks for wealthy property investors are cooking our housing system. Negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount let cashed-up investors outbid everyday Australians — and young people are the ones paying the price.