Greens fix for housing crisis
ADDRESSING the housing crisis has become a central plank in the Greens election campaign with Senator Larissa Waters announcing a slew of policies in Cairns on Wednesday to address the issue.
Phasing out capital gains tax over five years, phasing out negative gearing for more than one investment property, also over five years, and a million new homes, 16,000 of them slated for Cairns were among a range of ideas the Greens believe will alleviate the housing crisis.
“If the Greens are in the balance of power after this election we will push the next government further to build affordable homes, change those tax perks that favour property investors and protect renters,” said Ms Waters.
The plan for new housing is coupled with a proposed shared equity scheme that Ms Waters said was different from the schemes already proposed by Labor and the Coalition.
Labor recently announced 10,000 places a year as part of their Help to Buy scheme.
“Our plan is that government would build public affordable housing, but then people could live in them and their rent can be treated like a down payment to own,” said Ms Waters.
“There are legions of families, young people and older women who don’t have a roof over their heads. While the announcement from Labor is welcome, 10,000 is very small.”
Leichhardt candidate Philip Musumeci could not confirm locations for the proposed homes to be built in Cairns.
“We haven’t done planning at that level yet,” he said.