Today, Greens Spokesperson for Housing, Rebecca Vassarotti will move a motion in the ACT Legislative Assembly calling on the government to introduce a portable rental-bond scheme to assist renters with cost of living.
The move follows the initial announcement by Ms Vassarotti last month, which drew strong public support and endorsement from everyday renters.
"As inflation and global economic uncertainty surges, Canberrans are being forced to absorb the cost. And the people bearing the brunt of this cost-of-living crisis are everyday renters, sitting at the very bottom of a vicious housing food-chain.
"Right now in Canberra, a nurse on a base salary is handing over nearly half of every single paycheck just to keep a roof over their head. In this context, to turn around and demand they pay two-bonds just to move house is robbery.
"As it stands, Canberrans are getting trapped in unaffordable rentals because the upfront cost of moving house is just too prohibitive. This double-bind is a perverse outcome of a system that cares very little for the lives of renters.
"The fact is, the nurses who keep our hospitals open and the teachers who educate our children are being priced out of moving in their own city. The system that enables this isn't just broken, it was designed to be this way.
"A portable bond scheme fixes a patch directly to this broken way of doing things by simply letting renters roll their existing bond over to a new home instead forcing them to find thousands of dollars twice-over for each place.
"It is a simple, common-sense solution that is already being implemented in other states and territories.
"Chris Minns is doing it in New South Wales, Jacinta Allan implemented it in Victoria. South Australia just announced they will deliver it. Even rank-and-file ACT Labor members endorsed it at their own party conference not weeks ago.
"ACT Labor loves to stand behind Greens pushes and claim Canberra is the most progressive place in the country, but it seems they are rapidly losing their shine without Greens in Government, while our neighbours leave us behind.
"It is time for the ACT Government to stop hiding behind its own bureaucratic malaise and fix this system for good.
The motion will be debated in the afternoon of Wednesday, September 23rd.
