Content warning: this column may contain explicit political naivety, and clumsy military metaphors.
One outcome of the recent local election is that Greens and Labor now have a supermajority of 6–3 on Byron Council. Surely it’s a hopeful sign of the local strength of the nation’s two main progressive parties. The historic election of a more female, young and First Nations Council only enhances that hope.
Addressing the local housing crisis is of course a key priority, as Council beds down and builds on recent landmark reforms including the new 60-day cap on short-term rentals, and rezoning rules mandating more affordable homes.
As Echo readers are well aware, affordability here is among the worst in the country, and Australia has among the least affordable housing on the planet. Financial stress is exploding, people report skipping meals to pay mortgages, and home repossessions are at a ten-year high. The quality of life of millions of younger Australians is being smashed by insecure and extortionate rentals.
Fundamental reform of our inhumane housing free-for-all is no longer an option, it’s a long-overdue necessity.
Combat in Canberra
But rather than working together on solutions, on the national stage we daily witness Greens and Labor at each other’s throats.
The latest front is Labor’s new Help to Buy scheme, which the Greens are so far refusing to pass in the Senate, where they hold the balance of power. It’s a rerun of last year’s battle over Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund, which eventually got through the Senate after some modifications, and billions more for social housing.
Labor’s latest plan would see the federal government stump up equity to assist tens of thousands of low-income Australians to buy a home.
The Greens say the scheme would only help a tiny proportion of the millions of renters and could push housing prices even higher. Labor accuses the Greens of being juvenile, populist and obstructive. The Greens argue they’re open to negotiate but want Labor to tackle fundamental drivers, including negative gearing and capital gains taxes, and want caps on rent increases.
Incidentally, similar systemic reforms are recommended by Everybody’s Home, a huge national campaign supported by leading housing and welfare groups. That campaign explicitly calls for ‘clear limits on rent prices and increases’ and reform of tax concessions for property investors.
Significantly, the nation learned last month that Treasury officials are investigating options for reform of those taxes. But it’s still unclear whether this signals a shift in Labor policy, or a breakthrough in the Greens–Labor housing impasse.
Meanwhile the trench warfare continues, with a high-profile meeting this week hosted by the Labor Academy, offering tips to grass-roots campaigners on ‘dealing with the Greens’.
Publicity for the meeting reflects how vicious the battle has become. ‘The Greens certainly don’t like Labor. They want to replace us. Nothing Labor proposes goes far enough. They always know better,’ says the meeting’s PR blurb. ‘Again and again, they delay, obfuscate and hamper Labor governments.’
Greens–Labor Alliance
The irony here is that Labor and Greens have been working together in one jurisdiction for many years. In the ACT they’ve had a formal power-sharing arrangement for the past four years, with the Greens holding three ministerial positions. For two terms before that the Greens held one ministry, with some form of alliance for almost two decades. And the ACT, coincidentally, now has the nation’s most renter-friendly laws, including limits on rent increases.
If these parties can work together for so long in the nation’s capital, why can’t this happen on a national scale? Obviously, there are big hurdles. The two parties often compete for the same voters in the same electorates, including here in Richmond.
But what’s the opportunity cost of squandering endless energy on squabbling, rather than exposing the regressive racist right? Instead of attacking each other’s housing solutions, a ceasefire could see both parties working together to plan desperately needed long-term reforms.
The roots of the current crisis and that need for reform is described eloquently by economist Josh Ryan-Collins, a senior researcher from University College London, in his accessible little book Why can’t you afford a home?
‘Our political leaders must be brave enough to stand up to vested interests,’ he writes, ‘and make the case for housing returning to be primarily a source of shelter, not a financial asset.’
Let’s look forward to the local Greens, Labor and independent councillors demonstrating that bravery, and modelling the collaboration so many of us are craving.
• Dr Ray Moynihan is an occasional Greens volunteer and long-term union member, who once secretly voted for a Labor mayoral candidate.
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