ANU experts have released their report card assessing the health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic of federal, state and territory governments across housing, employment and income support, and there were no A’s givens.
The Federal Government was handed an F for their poor housing policy, and ANU have considered it a failure for health equity.
Lead author of the report, Professor Sharon Friel, said good and affordable public housing is required from the Federal Government, rather than homebuilder grants.
“The only thing government brought in was a $25,000 homebuilder grant, which is worse than useless when it comes to health inequity because it privileges those who’ve already got the homes and are in a position to do renovations,” Professor Friel said.
“There has been deafening policy silence in terms of actions to address the structural issues of power, money and resources, which drive the conditions in which we live, and which are very unequally distributed.”
The ACT Government scored a B for their housing policy, and Professor Friel said it was because they did some positive things that are likely to slightly improve inequality.
“The introduction of funding for social housing and housing infrastructure is really important, so the ACT Government should be commended on that,” she said.
“There were other things they did which increased their score, like enhancing tenancy protections to stop people being evicted.”
According to Professor Friel, although state and territory governments performed better than the Federal Government, more needs to be done.
“It’s such a missed opportunity to do something about health inequities. Health inequities are produced or prevented by policies and actions that are primarily outside the health sector. This includes employment, income support, and housing, which are three of the most important determinants of health inequities,” Professor Friel said.
“We must do better. The employment, income support and housing policy responses across Australia not only failed to reduce the observed health inequities produced by the COVID-19 pandemic, they will entrench long-standing policy conditions that have contributed to widening health inequities in Australia over several decades.”
ACT Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness Mark Parton put forward a motion in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday 9 November calling on the ACT Government to conduct an independent review into the Territory’s housing prices and rent levels.
“We are clearly in the grip of a housing crisis of the ACT Labor-Greens Government’s own making, and we cannot go on like this. We don’t become the most expensive place to buy and rent overnight – it’s the product of 20 years of a Labor-Greens Government,” Mr Parton said.
“The Labor-Greens Government continually puts the blame elsewhere, while turning a blind eye to the controls and levers it has over land supply and land prices; not to mention the raft of rates, taxes and charges that impacts directly on high rental prices in the Territory. It’s time that this government looks at the impact their policies are having on the rising cost of housing in the ACT.”
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