Dear Editor,
Victorians should not have to choose between keeping a roof over their head or feeding their family.
But, under Labor, that’s the sad reality for too many Victorians.
Recent PropTrack data shows that rents are rising at double the national rate in some parts of Victoria, while rental vacancies are alarmingly low.
The RBA reports a more than 50 per cent overnight increase for mortgages coming off fixed rates, forcing many homeowners and families to lose their homes and flood the rental market.
And, since 2021, the social housing waitlist has ballooned out by almost 15 per cent with 58,000 new households sitting on the waitlist, and more than half of that waiting list qualifying for urgent priority access.
The Andrews Labor Government has had years to get ahead of the housing crisis, but all they’ve given Victorians is hot air and broken promises.
Six years ago, Labor announced spare government land would be used for affordable and social housing – and yet not a single new home has been built.
In 2022, Andrews ditched crucial planning reforms that would have boosted new housing developments across the state after backlash against a controversial levy.
This was followed by Labor immediately ramming a tax on new homes through the parliament. Housing industry experts, builders and real estate professionals have all said the tax will halt new housing developments across regional Victoria as well as adding an extra $25,000 to the cost of a new home.
And with the Commonwealth Games cancelled by this incompetent government, the purpose-built athletes villages – which would have later become social housing – are now up in smoke.
For almost a decade, all Labor has done is halt housing development with new taxes and broken promises.
Now, Victorians are being slammed with skyrocketing household bills, struggling to find or keep their home, and desperately fighting to make ends meet.
That’s Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan’s legacy.
Peter Walsh MP
Leader of The Nationals
