Australian Greens
additional comments
1.1
Domestic
violence is a national emergency, and should be treated as one. The Abbott
government has made rhetorical statements in support of victims and survivors
of domestic violence while simply tinkering around the edges of the problem,
and in many areas the government has gone backwards. The Australian Greens
believe that the Abbott government’s inadequate response to growing calls for
action display a fundamental failure of leadership.
1.2
Now
is a critical moment, when national attention has focused on domestic violence
like never before. This moment is an opportunity for action which must be
seized. The appointment of Rosie Batty as the 2015 Australian of the Year, the
tireless advocacy of the domestic violence service sector, the community and
many influential leaders such as Victorian Police Commissioner Ken Lay, has led
to an outpouring of national concern. It has brought domestic violence out of
the shadows, including a vital discussion of the gendered nature of this
violence.
1.3
Since
the Australian Greens initiated this Senate inquiry with the support of the
Government and the Opposition, in June 2014, other official inquiries have been
established or reported their findings, including the Victorian Royal
Commission into Family Violence[1] and
the Queensland Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence led by former
Governor General the Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce.[2] These
inquiries build on the work of many taskforces, committees and reviews over the
past decades.[3]
1.4
The
weight of evidence gathered during this inquiry, along with work in previous
inquiries reminds us that the solutions for this crisis are already on the
table. The only thing we lack is leadership from our governments.
1.5
Even
though they have made rhetorical statements against domestic violence, the
Abbott government has gone backwards by slashing funding to front line services
and ignoring good advice while cherry picking low-hanging fruit and letting
past progress stagnate.
1.6
One
of the reasons the Australian Greens initiated this inquiry was the disastrous
cuts in the government’s 2014 Budget which slashed hundreds of millions of
dollars in funding for front line services supporting victims of domestic
violence. These funding decisions were, in the main, locked in in the 2015
Budget.
1.7
Where
the Abbott government has backed down on its cruel cuts, it has been after
sustained public campaigns by service providers, the community, the Greens and
the Opposition. Cuts to the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness,
community legal centres, Legal Aid and Family Violence Prevention Legal
Services have been defeated, but millions of dollars of cuts are have been
implemented or are still proposed, including a $44 million cut from
construction of new emergency accommodation, $15 million from Legal Aid, $6
million from community legal centres, $240 million from the Department of
Social Services discretionary grants program, $21 million in cuts to housing
affordability solutions and peak housing and homelessness bodies, and others.
1.8
The
Abbott government’s response has been cruel and out of touch. The impression
is of a government trying to weather a storm. Concessions have been grudging,
and new commitments limited. The government’s back downs on some funding cuts
have been important victories, but they have diverted vital time and energy
from advocacy solutions to fundamentally address the problem.
1.9
National
attention will not remain at such great levels indefinitely, so it is
imperative that we move quickly. Even for governments, achieving significant
reforms can be difficult, which is why the current window of opportunity is
important.
1.10
The
Committee has heard from front line service providers that increased national
attention has coincided with a spike in the number of women contacting them for
help. Service providers have also stated that this spike has been caused by both
an increase in reporting and an increase in underlying rates of violence as
more women push back against their attackers.[4]
1.11
Given
the rare opportunity we have, it is not enough to simply agitate for past cuts
to be reversed. It is within our power as federal Parliamentarians to
drastically reduce this scourge on our community, and we have a moral
obligation to do so. The scale of the current national crisis demands that the
federal government lead an emergency response.
The Chair’s report and
other additional comments
1.12
The
Australian Greens support the recommendations in the Chair’s report, which also
has the support of Coalition and Labor Senators on the Committee. While the
Australian Greens support these recommendations, our view is that they are
excessively cautious and do not match the scale of the current crisis.
Significant compromise was necessary to find recommendations on which all
Senators on the Committee could agree. The Australian Greens believe that on
the basis of this tri-partisan position, the government should at minimum
immediately implement those recommendations.
1.13
The
Australian Greens also support the recommendations made by Labor Senators in
their additional comments which largely reiterate the recommendations of the
Committee’s Interim Report. However, as previously stated, it is crucial that
momentum for fundamental reform is not lost, so the Australian Greens believe
that much more ambitious recommendations are warranted.
Recommendations
of the Interim Report
1.14
The
Australian Greens wish to reiterate the recommendations in the Interim Report
of this inquiry. More detail on particular topics is provided below, but the
vast majority of the Committee’s recommendations have not been implemented. As
discussed above, the Abbott government has backed down on some planned funding
cuts to legal assistance and homelessness services, but the 2015 Budget has
locked in millions of dollars in cuts made in the 2014 Budget.
Recommendation
1
1.15
The Australian Greens recommend that all
recommendations of the Interim Report of the Domestic Violence inquiry be
implemented as soon as possible. In particular:
-
The $44 million cut from construction of new
emergency accommodation under the National Partnership Agreement on
Homelessness, $15 million cut to Legal Aid, $6 million cut to community legal
centres planned for 2017, $240 million cut to the Department of Social Services
discretionary grants program and the $21 million in cuts to housing
affordability solutions and peak housing and homelessness bodies must be
immediately reversed.
-
Funding uncertainty under the National Partnership
Agreement on Homelessness must be addressed by guaranteeing funding for at
least four years.
-
State and federal governments should implement the
Productivity Commission recommendation for an immediate funding boost to legal
assistance services of $200 million to address pressing gaps in services.
-
Respectful relationships programs should be included
in the national curriculum
Gender
equality
1.16
The
Committee heard extensive evidence that due to the gendered nature of violence
against women, achieving gender equality in all fields of life and respectful
attitudes towards women are central to eliminating domestic violence. The
Australian Greens support a broad and far-reaching program led by the federal
government to achieve gender equality.
Recommendation 1
1.17
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government lead a broad and far-reaching program of reform to achieve gender
equality including action to close the gender pay gap, boost women’s financial
independence, address the deficit of women in leadership positions in
government and business, share unpaid caring responsibilities more equally and
encourage women in to non-traditional industries.
The
national framework
Consultation
and evaluation
1.18
There
is justifiably universal support for the National Plan to Reduce Violence
against Women and their Children 2010-2022 but the Committee has heard
concerning evidence from many stakeholders, including the heads of key
organisations including the Australian Women Against Violence Alliance, the
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Alliance and Domestic
Violence Victoria that the government is shutting its ears to advice from front
line service providers.
1.19
In
particular, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Alliance
have raised concerns that they do not have adequate resources to adequately
coordinate input from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.[5] Given
very serious rates of violence in Indigenous communities, proper consultation
is essential.
1.20
The
National Plan Implementation Panel (NPIP) which was designed to advise
Ministers of emerging issues and inform the evaluation of the National Plan has
been discontinued despite concerns from the sector, and without any adequate
explanation from the government. Expert advisory panels which had been planned
to complement the NPIP have failed to materialise.
1.21
The
Australian Greens welcome the establishment of the COAG Advisory Panel chaired
by Rosie Batty and Ken Lay, but it is mystifying why Abbott government is
failing to take advantage of the expertise of the sector by discontinuing the
NPIP.
Recommendation 2
1.22
The Australian Greens recommend that the National
Plan Implementation Panel be immediately reconvened, with adequate funding
provided to all relevant stakeholders to have meaningful input on the
implementation and evaluation of the National Plan.
Data collection and
research
1.23
The
Australian Greens also wish to emphasise the critical importance of
improvements to the Personal Safety Survey (PSS) and National Community
Attitudes Survey (NCAS). It is imperative that we properly capture the
experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) women, culturally
and linguistically diverse (CALD) women, older women, LGBTI Australians, and
women with a disability. The first Action Plan under the National Plan, Building
the Evidence Base should have addressed these issues, and it is important
that they are addressed as soon as possible. We support the Committee’s
Recommendation 4 relating to sample sizes.
Recommendation 3
1.24
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government expand the Personal Safety Survey to include statistically significant
numbers of participants from key vulnerable groups including Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander women, culturally and linguistically diverse women,
older women, LGBTI Australians, and women with a disability.
1.25
The
Australian Greens strongly support the Committee’s recommendation that ANROWS
be given the necessary secure funding until at least the end of the
implementation of the National Plan in 2022 to provide for continuation of its
research work and enable it to conduct longitudinal research.
Primary
prevention
1.26
The
Committee has heard extensive evidence that primary prevention and cultural
change activities are critical to reducing the incidence of family violence
long term.
1.27
The
Australian Greens welcome the government’s promise of $16.5 million for a
public advertising campaign focused on primary prevention jointly funded with
the States and Territories. We emphasise that primary prevention should not be
focused solely on “awareness raising”. Many stakeholders have stated both in
hearings and privately that awareness raising can only go so far. What is
needed is a deep commitment to cultural change via evidence based mechanisms.
It is encouraging that ANROWS and Our Watch have articulated such a strong
commitment to cultural change, but the government is yet to commit significant
resources to primary prevention other than the above advertising campaign.
1.28
The
Committee has heard from many stakeholders including the Domestic Violence
Resource Centre Victoria and YWCA about the importance of well-designed
respectful relationships programs in schools which promote healthy attitudes to
gender roles, consent and resolving conflict.[6]
The Second Action Plan identified respectful relationships programs as a key
priority and proposed that they be included in the national curriculum,
alongside the Line social marketing campaign but alarmingly no federal
funding seems to have been provided. The Abbott government has not been able
to provide any evidence that it is funding any school based respectful
relationships programs at all. Previous ad hoc programs funded by the previous
government have expired and nothing has replaced them.
1.29
The
Australian Greens also support the Committee’s recommendation that primary
prevention efforts must not come at the expense of front line services.
Recommendation 4
1.30
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government fund respectful relationships programs for all school students and
include them in the national curriculum, but that these efforts must be
additional to long-term secure funding for front line services.
Crisis
lines
1.31
The
Committee heard extensive evidence from domestic violence crisis phone
services. These are State-based services which offer immediate crisis support
including safety planning, police liaison, accommodation, court appearances and
other support to victims. Often they operate 24 hours per day. These crisis
lines receive no funding from the federal government. The Domestic and Family
Violence Crisis Lines of Australia Network provided valuable evidence about the
overwhelming number of calls that crisis lines receive. Despite their heroic
efforts, many calls still go unanswered.
1.32
The
1800RESPECT phone service was designed to fill gaps in the State-based crisis
lines, and has been funded by the federal government to deliver non-crisis
counselling to victims who need it. In response to statistics which emerged
during the course of the inquiry about how many calls 180RESPECT was not able
to answer due to growing demand, the federal government provided a small
funding boost of $2 million per year.[7]
The Australian Greens welcome this funding, but we note that State-based crisis
lines have received no additional support from the federal government.
1.33
No
centralised data exists in relation to how many calls are “missed” by State
based crisis lines, but the Committee has heard anecdotal evidence that many
services are overstretched and calls are going unanswered. The Australian
Greens believe that it is appropriate for the federal government to act to make
sure that all victims have access to immediate crisis support.
Recommendation 5
1.34
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government conduct a needs assessment to determine the appropriate level of
funding for State-based domestic violence crisis lines and take a leadership
role by providing that funding.
Crisis
housing
Funding for crisis
housing
1.35
The
Australian Greens welcome the Committee’s recognition of supportive crisis
housing models as key for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of victims.
However, the Committee’s recommendations do not respond to the serious
shortfall and gaps in services identified by stakeholders, and have not
recognised the importance of specialist support services for women and
children, who are disproportionately affected by domestic violence.
1.36
Refuges
are at capacity and turning many of victims away from their doors. The Commonwealth
government must take responsibility for this issue and immediately commit to
funding services that will give victims escaping violence a safe place to go.
Homelessness Australia has called for $33.8 million per year from the
Commonwealth Government to provide services to domestic violence victims for
the 2015-2016 financial year, with a further $33.8 million contribution from
State governments. This $68 million funding gap needs plugging immediately to
cover the most basic needs of victims, but it does not include the cost of
building new shelters to meet demand.
1.37
Homelessness
services nationwide must be adequately funded through the National Partnership
Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH). Homelessness Australia have stated that this
means reversing the $44 million cut from construction of new emergency
accommodation in the 2014 Budget and indexing the NPAH funding for inflation,
which has not occurred since 2009 resulting in an effective funding cut each
year. Funding should be granted on at least four-year cycle to allow for
longer term strategic planning. This restoration should be accompanied by extra
funding for capital expenditure and shelter construction based on the target of
ending turn-aways from refuges.
Recommendation 6
1.38
The Australian Greens recommend that the $44 million
cut from construction of new emergency accommodation under the National
Partnership Agreement on Homelessness in the 2014 Budget be immediately
reversed.
Recommendation 7
1.39
The Australian Greens recommend that funding under
the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness be expanded to cover demand
nationwide, and that funding be indexed to avoid real funding cuts. This
should be based on a policy of ending turn-aways from refuges.
Peak bodies
1.40
One
of the Abbott government’s most short-sighted cuts was the total axing of
funding for Homelessness Australia, National Shelter and the Community Housing
Federation of Australia which provide crucial whole-of-sector perspective on
housing policy. These cuts were announced three days before Christmas in
December 2014 as part of a $21 million cut to a housing affordability solutions
program.
Recommendation 8
1.41
The Australian Greens recommend that the three
housing and homelessness peak bodies abolished three days before Christmas in
December 2014 - Homelessness Australia, National Shelter and the Community
Housing Federation of Australia - be re-funded and be given permanent funding
certainty, recognising their role as Australia’s most eminent bodies in this
field, providing expert, evidence-based advice and a vital coordinating role
across multiple and complex organisations and services in order to provide
policy advice and evaluation of services by the government and non-government
sector .
Specialist services
1.42
Specialist
services were identified by many witnesses working in front line services as
the most effective means of keeping women safe after leaving a violent
partner. Key stakeholders have told the Committee that steps taken by some
State governments to remove the gendered focus of women’s refuges has been
harmful to the safety and wellbeing of victims. The federal Government should
work with States and Territories to ensure that any woman who takes the brave
step to leave a violent partner has a safe place to go.
Recommendation 9
1.43
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government ensure specialist services for women and children receive dedicated,
secure long term funding.
‘Wrap around’ services
1.44
Services
overwhelmed by increasing demand and limited resources often cannot assist
their clients beyond the initial period of crisis after escaping violence. The
Committee’s recommendations have failed to acknowledge that during the inquiry,
multiple witnesses noted that victims would have experience better outcomes if
they were provided with more comprehensive support for a longer period of
time. The federal Government should fund ‘wrap around’ services nationwide to
assist victims to recover from trauma and ultimately transition back into
employment, health and wellbeing.
1.45
Resourcing
emergency housing providers to support women beyond the initial period of
crisis would actually deliver major savings to governments in the long run.
The committee heard that currently women re-enter the refuge system an average
of seven times, costing almost twice as much as it would cost to support them
adequately the first time around.
Recommendation 10
1.46
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal government
should fund ‘wrap around’ services nationwide to assist victims to recover from
trauma and transition back into ordinary life.
Recommendation 11
1.47
The Australian Greens recommend a cross party
taskforce be established to urgently implement recommendation 27 from the
Senate Inquiry into Housing Affordability, tabled in May 2015 which the
Coalition supported. Recommendation of that report 27 reads:
“The committee
recommends that the Australian Government together with the states and
territories commit to ensuring that adequate funding be made available so that
women and children escaping domestic violence are housed in secure and
appropriate housing with the necessary support network that would allow them to
remain in a safe environment. This approach would mean that women and their
children would experience as little social and educational disruption as
possible and that the pathway to more permanent housing would be easier. A
priority would be to consider the introduction of programs throughout Australia
such as New South Wales' Staying Home Leaving Violence initiative, which is
designed to protect women who want to live separately from a violent husband or
partner, but remain in their home.
The committee also
recommends the Australian Government reverse the cuts to the capital program in
National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH) and apply needs-based
supply and services program as part of the national affordable housing platform
in recommendation 30...”
Legal
assistance and law reform
Funding for legal
assistance
1.48
As
the Productivity Commission has found in its December 2014 Access to Justice
Arrangements report, the level of funding for legal assistance especially
for Australia’s most vulnerable across all governments is woefully inadequate.
The Committee heard extensive evidence from community legal centres (CLCs),
women’s shelters and peak bodies that legal assistance for victims of domestic
violence is inadequate, and that court processes in both criminal proceedings
and civil orders proceedings are frequently confusing and overwhelming.
1.49
Far
from adopting the Productivity Commission’s recommendation, the Abbott
government has slashed funding for legal assistance. In the 2014 Budget, $60
million was slashed from legal assistance services including CLCs, Aboriginal
legal services and Legal Aid. After sustained community pressure, including
pressure from this Committee, the Abbott government backed away from $25
million worth of planned cuts for financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17. A $15
million cut to Legal Aid and cuts to Aboriginal legal services had already been
implemented at that time.
1.50
CLCs
across Australia are increasingly alarmed at the ‘funding cliff’ which is
approaching in 2017-18, which will see $12 million cut from the sector,
including a $6 million reduction in federal funding.[8] CLCs
cannot conduct long term planning on a two-year timeline, so this situation
creates pernicious funding uncertainty.
1.51
The
new National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services has implemented
a new funding model for legal assistance. That funding model has resulted in a
reallocation of federal funding from some States towards other States. In
particular, some South Australian CLCs face closure if the situation is not
resolved.[9]
The Australian Greens support increased funding for legal assistance, but we
believe that any reduction in funding, anywhere in Australia in the middle of a
domestic violence crisis, is unacceptable.
Recommendation 12
1.52
The Australian Greens recommend that that the
federal, State and Territory governments should provide an immediate funding
boost to legal assistance services of $200 million as recommended by the
Productivity Commission to address pressing gaps in services.
Recommendation 13
1.53
The Australian Greens recommend that the $12 million
‘funding cliff’ in 2017 for community legal centres be urgently addressed to
provide funding certainty to this critical sector.
Indigenous legal
services
1.54
The
Australian Greens also wholeheartedly support the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Legal Services and the Family Violence Prevention Legal Services (FVPLS).
Both provide a crucial service, and both need long term, secure funding. The
Abbott government’s decision to extend funding for some FVPLS for one or two
years rather than longer terms means that those services cannot plan for the
future.
Recommendation 14
1.55
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government extend funding terms for Family Violence Prevention Legal Services
to at least four years to allow those services to plan for the future.
Family report writers
1.56
Proceedings
in the Family Court are often highly significant for victims and survivors of
domestic violence. Unfortunately, as the National Association of Community
Legal Centres and Women's Legal Services Australia submission pointed out, and
as they stated in evidence to the Committee, there are significant issues with
the current system of family report writers. The submission stated that:
In WLSA’s experience, clients
experiencing family violence often feel as though they are not listened to by
family report writers and feel further traumatised and humiliated by the family
assessment process. In part, people who have experienced, or are experiencing,
family violence are hesitant to disclose the effect of the violence on them
given concerns about conclusions being drawn by report writers about their
capacity to parent.[10]
1.57
Women’s
Legal Services Australia also stated that some women have had their grant of
legal aid terminated as a result of not agreeing with the family report
writer’s recommendations.
1.58
The
Australian Greens respect the work of the Family Court, and of family report
writers, but it is appropriate to make sure that all staff are properly
trained.
Recommendation 15
1.59
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government implement and fund an accreditation process for family report
writers according to standards developed in wide consultation with specialists,
including a requirement for specialist training and clinical experience working
with victims of family violence. The federal government should also implement
an effective mechanism for complaints resolution in relation to family report
writers, and not cease the provision of legal aid where victims seek to
challenge family reports.
Training for judicial
officers
1.60
Similar
issues were raised throughout the inquiry in relation to judicial officers
including magistrates, Family Court and Federal Circuit Court judges. The
Committee has had the benefit of submissions and correspondence from the Chief
Justice of the Family Court on this issue. The Australian Greens have a deep
respect for the work of judicial officers, but based on significant feedback
from front line service providers that better training is required, we believe
that more must be done.
Recommendation 16
1.61
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government provide funding and coordinate training for all judicial officers,
including magistrates, involved in proceedings relating to domestic violence,
including civil and criminal matters in federal and State jurisdictions.
Recommendation 17
1.62
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government support specialist domestic violence courts at a State level.
National domestic
violence order scheme
1.63
The
Australian Greens welcome the government’s commitment to a national domestic
violence order (DVO) scheme. Such a scheme is a small but vital part of
the solution. However, we are disappointed by the government’s painfully slow
implementation of this scheme via COAG. A national DVO scheme was identified
as an “immediate national initiative” under the First Action Plan (2010-2013)
which was published in 2011. More recently, the Abbott government appears to
have failed to meet its own COAG timetable. Draft model legislation for mutual
recognition in all States and Territories was proposed to be considered at the
April 2015 meeting of the COAG Law, Crime and Community Safety Council, but the
communique from that April 2015 meeting includes no mention of any draft
legislation. The Abbott government’s overall timetable of having the scheme
functioning by the end of 2016 is excessively slow.
1.64
The
Australian Greens believe that a national DVO scheme is “low hanging fruit” and
ought to be resolve as soon as possible.
Recommendation 18
1.65
The Australian Greens recommend that COAG and the
federal government expedite the already long-delayed implementation of a
national domestic violence order scheme.
Exclusion Orders
1.66
The
Committee heard evidence that exclusion orders (otherwise known as ‘ouster’ or
‘kick out’ orders) that exclude the perpetrator from the family home have been
very effective in some jurisdictions, but have been underutilised in others,
such as Queensland. The Committee also heard that programs supporting victims
who choose to remain at home after their partner was removed to maintain
physical safety and financial stability have had some success in States such as
NSW, but these programs have not been subject to rigorous evaluations.
Recommendation 19
1.67
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government ensure that effective exclusion order provisions are enacted in all
States and Territories and facilitate greater use of such orders across States
and Territories where they already exist.
Recommendation 20
1.68
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government undertake a comprehensive review of the success of ‘safe at home’
state programs and subsequently fund an effective model in States and
Territories where they do not exist.
Employment
law
1.69
The
Australian Greens commend the advocacy of the ACTU and the Finance Sector Union
in pushing for domestic violence leave in this inquiry and in a claim before
the Fair Work Commission. The Australian Greens support the proposal to give
10 days of paid domestic violence leave to all employees.
Recommendation 21
1.70
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government legislate to give every employee to 10 days of non-accumulating paid
domestic violence leave to be taken for reasons related to domestic violence,
or for attending court appearances, attending appointments and finding
accommodation.
Long
term affordable housing
1.71
During
the inquiry, the committee repeatedly heard that domestic violence is the
dominant driver of homelessness in Australia, and that many victims are forced
to choose between homelessness and staying in a violent home because waiting
lists for public housing are so long. The shortage of housing is depriving
victims in refuges of an exit point, causing a massive bottleneck and
compounding the lack of space in emergency accommodation.
1.72
Clearly
more is needed from our government. However, any attempt to address this
crisis is conspicuously missing from the Committee’s report.
1.73
The
Australian Greens have announced a plan to reform negative gearing and provide
homes for 22,000 of the most vulnerable Australians, by launching a massive
investment in affordable housing, including victims and survivors of domestic
violence.[11]
We would launch an emergency package to build 7000 new homes for the homeless
by 2020. That would be enough to house every person currently sleeping rough
or without adequate shelter. We would also directly fund construction of 7500
new social housing dwellings over the forward estimates, taking more than
15,000 people off the waiting list in just the next four years. That package
would include a target of ‘prefabricated’ housing of high quality, fast
build, modular or ‘prefabricated’ housing which will be significantly faster
and more affordable to construct. This would help ensure that in the future,
no Australian would be forced to live with violence or sleep in an unsafe place
because there was no affordable place to go.
1.74
Our
plan is ambitious, but we propose to deliver budget savings from the reform of
negative gearing. The Parliamentary Budget Office costed scrapping negative
gearing for new investments, raising revenue of almost $2.9 billion in the
first four years, and $42.5 billion over ten years. The Greens have also
announced reforms to capital gains tax which would raise $74 billion over the
next ten years, rising to $127 billion when negative gearing reforms are taken
into account.[12]
1.75
Given
that negative gearing has been proven to benefit mostly high-income earners
without delivering downward pressure on rent or an increased supply of housing;
this proposal would also cool the housing market, contributing to increased
housing affordability in Australia as well as funding the much-needed boost for
public housing.
1.76
In
2014, the Abbott government abolished the National Rental Affordability Scheme,
which was an effective cut of $235.2m over 3 years and resulted in the loss of
an extra 12,000 new affordable housing units.
Recommendation 22
1.77
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government consider reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax
concessions in order to provide homes for 22,000 vulnerable Australians,
including victims and survivors of domestic violence.
Recommendation 23
1.78
The Australian Greens recommend that the federal
government review the abolition of the National Rental Affordability scheme
with a view to fixing any issues and replacing this important policy.
1.79
The
Australian Greens wish to thank the 165 individuals and organisations and
individuals who made submissions to this inquiry, and the dozens of witnesses
who gave evidence at public hearings in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane
and Darwin.
The Australian Greens wish to dedicate
these additional comments to Rosie Batty, 2015 Australian of the Year in honour
of her courageous and tireless advocacy on behalf of victims and survivors of
domestic violence, and also to the countless Australian women, men and children
who have been victimised, injured or killed in domestic violence incidents. We
hope that this inquiry has contributed to a platform for action eliminate
domestic violence in Australia.
Senator Larissa Waters
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