New ABS data that reveals rent has increased more in Western Australia than any other state or territory is the latest symbol of the Cook Labor Government's total desertion of renters.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest insights into the rental market, which measures data from around 480,000 private rentals around the country, places the current median weekly rent in WA at a whopping $613.
The figure represents a 75 percent increase in average weekly rent in less than five years.
Prior to 2021, WA's median weekly rent was $350 - a figure that had remained steady since at least June 2018, the earliest date included in the ABS dataset.
The updated data cements WA's position as the second most expensive place to rent in Australia only after NSW, further highlighting the urgent need for meaningful residential tenancy reform.
As stated by Tim Clifford MLC, Greens WA spokesperson for housing and homelessness:
"For the almost one-third of Western Australians who rent, this latest ABS data is more than just a collection of statistics - it represents a daily reality marked by relentless stress, fear and uncertainty.
"The Cook Labor Government can pat itself on the back as much as it wants for its so-called progress on rental reform, but the data doesn't lie.
"Labor is tinkering around the edges of the housing crisis and packaging it up as meaningful policy, which is pushing more and more Western Australians into acute housing stress and homelessness.
"The fact that rents began their seemingly endless upward trajectory at the same time WA Labor gained a supermajority at the 2021 election clearly shows where the government's priorities lie.
"They had every opportunity to enact meaningful rental reforms, like the ones recently introduced in the ACT. They chose not to - a decision that is crushing everyone from single parents to uni students.
"WA Labor is trading our basic human right to a safe and secure place to live for the profits of their property developer mates. In a state as wealthy as WA, it is simply unacceptable.
"As the Greens (WA)'s spokesperson for housing and homelessness, I look forward to working alongside the community to deliver real reform to the Residential Tenancies Act, and I won't stop calling out the government until that happens."
