Renting activist and Victorian Socialists candidate Jordan van den Lamb (known as Purplepingers on social media) asks Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about his policies for renters on the Q+A ABC program.
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00:00What does the Labor Party have to offer in the immediate term to the hundreds of renters evicted each month
00:06or to those facing unlimited rent increases that they simply cannot afford?
00:11Will we continue to wait on your Band-Aid solutions for our gaping wounds
00:15or will you finally stop pretending you're even going to offer us the Band-Aids?
00:19OK, and Jordan, just to be clear, you actually are running as a candidate, like, for a left-wing party, right?
00:26A left-wing... We'll go with the left-wing party.
00:28Can you tell us who? Victorian Socialists.
00:30OK. Just to be... I think people's declarations are really important for transparency.
00:34Yeah. Well, we have increased rental assistance by 45% in our last two budgets.
00:41Which is a subsidy to landlords.
00:43Sorry. That's immediate help for people who needed that help.
00:49The first time ever there's been two consecutive increases in rental assistance.
00:55We have, through the National Cabinet process, instituted much stronger support for renters' rights
01:02across the board that have been implemented in different ways by different state governments.
01:08And we're addressing the issue of housing supply.
01:11If you don't address housing supply, then you won't solve the housing problem.
01:17And I note Jacinda Allen today making some really strong comments here in Victoria about changing the laws,
01:25making sure that local government actually approves increased housing supply around railway stations,
01:33around areas that are appropriate as well.
01:36That's a part of the change that we've driven through the system.
01:41We've got a $32 billion Homes for Australians plan.
01:45One of those is to assist people in private rentals.
01:50We have a Build to Rent scheme that was held up by the Senate for a long time.
01:57It only passed in December.
01:59But it will provide an incentive for more private sector rental properties.
02:06In addition to that, of course, we have put more money into public and affordable housing
02:12than any government in Australian history.
02:14Now, that was held up for a while too.
02:16You can't make a decision and then build a house and open it within weeks or indeed even a few months.
02:24But that Housing Australia Future Fund will make an enormous difference.
02:28PM, all that architecture is there, but how many houses have been built?
02:33Well, houses are underway being built.
02:35I've been to a place in Paran that was funded through our social housing accelerator.
02:41They're fantastic medium-density houses.
02:45Do you get why people are so cranky about the housing issue?
02:47Of course they are.
02:49And I get that.
02:51Housing and health were the two areas that politicised me.
02:55My first political campaign was to help organise when our city council housing,
03:02as it was then that me and my mum lived in, was going to be privatised.
03:06So what's your message to the people, who I know are young people watching, thinking
03:10they haven't done enough on housing, I can't get a house, I can't afford it,
03:15I'm really cranky at this government.
03:17It's a big sentiment.
03:18What do you say to people who are feeling that rage, throwing things at the TV?
03:21We recognise that it's hard.
03:25We have introduced a range of measures, be it increases in home ownership,
03:31increased private rentals, increased social housing, increased support for renters.
03:36You can't fix a decade of neglect overnight or even in just a year,
03:43that's the truth of the matter.
03:45And the former government didn't even have a housing minister for most of the time
03:50they were in office.
03:52So we've started behind, basically.
03:57But in Clare O'Neill we've got a fantastic minister.
04:00And will there be more Prime Minister?
04:02Will there be more on housing people?
04:04There will always be more.
04:06We will do whatever we can, but the key is, the key is supply.
04:11And that does take time, but there will be more initiatives
04:14and we'll continue to provide that support.