Housing policies

With their eyes on both houses of parliament, Labor and the Liberals have both promised to help first-time buyers enter the housing market — but independent Senator David Pocock believes wholesale reform is needed.

Under Labor’s policies, first home buyers would only need to afford a 5 per cent deposit to purchase a home — about $41,000 on the median home price, equivalent to a 20 per cent deposit two decades ago.  It would build 100,000 homes exclusively for first home buyers at a cost of $10 billion, as part of the $43 billion Homes for Australia plan, which Labor called the biggest home-building program since the post-war housing boom.

“By cutting the time it takes to save up a deposit and levelling the playing field, we’ll help more Australians into their own homes sooner,” local MP Alicia Payne said.

Senator Pocock welcomed Labor’s plan to boost home ownership and “add to desperately needed new supply”, and called for the ACT — often overlooked — to get 1,600 of the new homes.

The Liberals, meanwhile, would introduce Australia’s first tax deduction on mortgage interest for newly built homes, applying to the first $650,000 of a loan. They say this would help first home buyers “get a genuine leg up into the market”. They would increase income caps for the Home Guarantee Scheme (from $125,000 to $175,000 for individuals, and from $200,000 to $250,000 for joint applicants).

Senator Pocock called the Coalition’s policy “another one-off pre-election vote buy” that would cost $10 billion but have no enduring benefits.

Senator Pocock thought “fundamental reform continues to be the missing piece of the policy puzzle”. He believes that housing must be seen as a human right, rather than an investment vehicle to create wealth. He also wants more investment in tackling homelessness, especially among young people and older women.

“Once again, both major parties appear to be ruling out any kind of sensible reforms to negative gearing or the capital gains tax discount on investment properties. This is hugely disappointing and increasingly out of step with the community. It also overlooks the support for this kind of reform that exists in the parliament.”

Senator Pocock will host a community forum on housing next Monday, 22 April.

The (Labor) ACT Government welcomed further Commonwealth Government investment to increase housing supply and support First Home Buyers, Chief Minister Andrew Barr MLA said.

“Increasing housing supply, by building more affordable homes in locations people want to live, is essential. The building of more low-density ‘missing-middle’ housing, close to services and transport, will be fast-tracked under the next wave of planning reforms from the ACT Government. This will fill a gap in the market for affordable townhouses, terrace houses, duplexes, dual occupancies and low-rise apartments in established suburbs. We look forward to working with the Albanese Government to implement their aligned housing policy, if they are re-elected on 3 May.”

David Pocock: Gay men should be able to donate blood

Senator Pocock has called for an end to Australia’s ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood, which he argues would end discrimination and address chronic blood shortages.

Australia has one of the lowest blood donor rates in the world, and regularly runs short of blood, according to the Let Us Give campaign, which seeks to lift the ban on gay and bisexual men and transgender women donating blood; doing so, advocates argue, would make 25,000 litres of blood available.

Currently, however, in Australia, under rules introduced in the 1980s, men who have sex with men must wait at least three months after their last sexual activity before they can donate blood, while HIV-negative men on the antiretroviral treatment PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) must wait a year.

This means, Senator Pocock said, that 50,000 safe potential donations are rejected “on the basis of who they are, rather than on their individual risks”.

“Australians know that blood donations save lives,” Senator Pocock said. “And at a time where we have shortages, there are people in our community who want to donate, who aren’t able to because of a historic ban which is based on outdated science and discrimination.”

Such as Canberra man Tim Thorpe. “For a long time, I have wanted to donate blood, but haven’t been allowed to,” Mr Thorpe said. “It is important to me to be able to give back to the system that helped my mother during her cancer treatment, when she needed blood transfusions from generous donors.”

“Safety will always come first when donating blood, but it is unjustified, discriminatory and hurtful to exclude a HIV-negative gay couple in a monogamous relationship from donating blood,” Senator Pocock said.

Many other first-world countries do not have these exclusions. The Australian Red Cross Lifeblood — funded to provide blood, plasma, transplants and biological products — said such exclusions cause “pain and frustration” and contribute to the stigma gay and bisexual men face.

Lifeblood has proposed — and the Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved — a ‘plasma pathway’ which removes the sexual activity ineligibility criteria for plasma donors. (Pathogen inactivation kills or removes viruses or bacteria in plasma, making the risk of infection extremely low: less than one in one million.)

Senator Pocock, however, believes the TGA’s assessment of how to regulate blood donation in line with international best practice is taking too long. He wants the TGA held to timeframes on assessing blood donation applications, as for all other products.

“I am urging the government, the TGA, to actually get on with fixing this and moving from a blanket ban to individual risk assessment, which is in line with most comparable countries in the world,” Senator Pocock said. “We need to be making it easier for people to donate blood, actually help people in our community.”

The Let Us Give campaign’s spokesman, Rodney Croome AM, an LGBTI advocate who led the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Tasmania (then punishable by a 21-year prison sentence), said: “The medical consensus is that it is safe to lift the current gay blood ban and allow all donors to be assessed for their individual risk regardless of sexuality. […]

“Lifting the current ban is a win/win because it means more safe blood for those in need and a less discriminatory blood service. For most Australians, it makes no sense that gay men can officially declare solemn vows of lifelong commitment but are banned from blood donation as if we pose some kind of threat to public health.”

Senator Pocock has long been known as a principled supporter of gay rights: he vowed not to marry his fiancée until gay marriage had been achieved, and called out homophobic slurs on the sports field.

The Greens have committed $4 million for the TGA and Lifeblood Australia to remove discriminatory barriers to blood donation for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and $5 million to upgrade systems needed to support the reform, candidate Isabel Mudford said.

“The time for evidence-based and fair treatment of the queer community when it comes to public health has long since passed. Other countries have already abandoned the bans that Australia still has around blood donation — we need to catch up to the rest of the world and adopt individual risk assessments so that our community is treated with respect and enabled to contribute to Australia’s blood donation needs.”

Labor has announced $10 million to make primary care more inclusive and culturally safe for LGBTIQA+ Australians: training healthcare providers and introducing a voluntary accreditation program.

Disability Strategy one year in

On the first anniversary of the ACT Disability Strategy, the ACT Government reaffirmed its commitment to building a more inclusive city for people with disabilities.

Minister Suzanne Orr MLA said achievements of the $5.5 million, 10-year Strategy in its first year include more grants; a new LGBTQI+ disability peer support program; community control of International Day for People with Disability (I-Day) events; more accessible change facilities at public events; and new sexual violence prevention training for disability and family violence sector workers.

Future plans include a forum on emergency planning during disasters; a potential self-advocacy program; a work experience pilot program for students; and continued community engagement.

The ACT Disability Reference Group was pleased the strategy and action plan were “delivering for Canberrans with disability now”, chair Renée Heaton said.

“The actions delivered to date cross directorates and interlink to make sure that however a person with disability wants to live their life, they can. […] People with disability deserve to have great lives, so we look forward to the ACT Government continuing to deliver on the First Action Plan and showing the rest of Australia how it’s done.”

However, Craig Wallace, head of policy at Advocacy for Inclusion, said people with disability had welcomed the strategy as a framework to consolidate Government effort, and noted some useful measures, but called for better access to health, housing, education, transport, and community infrastructure. 

Advocacy for Inclusion wants urgent funding to address the disability advocacy crisis and to help people with disability to engage with government reforms and foundational supports. The government should improve case management, health services and infrastructure; increase the number of client-facing Disability Liaison Officers; prevent violence; promote inclusive education; and invest in accessible and affordable transport and housing, Mr Wallace said. 

“The ACT Government has a number of disability strategies in areas like health, education and justice,” Mr Wallace said. “There is some useful work underway in all of them, and we will be working hard to keep government focused and accountable for delivery, as well as pushing for a dedicated Federal investment pipeline to ensure the ACT can turn aspirations into reality.” 

Grants for women’s safety

Nine community groups dedicated to the safety and wellbeing of women and gender diverse people have received $100,000 from the ACT Government.

The initiatives address domestic violence, financial abuse, and challenges culturally and linguistically diverse communities face, Dr Marisa Paterson MLA, Minister for Women, said.

• The Forcibly Displaced People Network: $19,900 for safety and support for LGBTIQA+ refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants
• Families ACT (FACT):  $15,000 to establish a First 1,000 Days Coalition, focusing on health and wellbeing during a child’s gestion and first two years
• WaterWombats Aquatic Disability Services: $15,000 for coaching, mentoring, psychoeducation, and aqua-yoga to women living with or supporting those with disabilities.
• Sakhi: $11,380 for a handbook promoting South Asian women’s safety
• SiTara’s Story Incorporated: $10,500 to raise awareness of domestic violence, financial abuse, and coercive control among migrant women.
• Woden Community Service: $10,000 for art workshops for women affected by domestic violence
• Beryl Women: $8,720 for professional development
• The Queanbeyan Multilingual Centre: $7,500 to translate court orders.
• The Domestic Violence Crisis Service: $2,000 for the National Day of Remembrance ACT Candle Lighting Ceremony

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