ressure works. Continuous, powerful force on an object to change its form and purpose.

We have an object - a political system that favours property investors and developers over people’s basic need for shelter. And we are a powerful force. But to change the object, we need to use our power continuously, strategically and methodically.

In Victoria, we’re showing how pressure works in our campaign to tackle Labor’s housing crisis. A crisis fueled by the ideology that properties are meant for investing in, not living in.

As a result of this objectively bad idea, we’ve now got a situation where 4 out of 5 renters are in housing stress, others are drowning in mortgage debt, while hundreds of thousands of homes sit empty or operate as de facto hotels on the short stays market.

In Victoria listed rents have gone up 20% in the last year. Rent rises are forcing families to uproot and move far from work or school. Tent cities are popping up across regional towns. Elderly people are couch surfing or worse, sleeping in cars. Young people are the fastest growing group of homeless people.

Outside each rental inspection the queues of people are growing. In Victoria, we have some of the highest rent increases in the world, and we’ve been campaigning hard to get relief for renters.

So we applied pressure. Renters have joined together to make a plan. We’ve been crashing rental inspections to talk to other renters, knocking on doors, sharing rental horror stories and building a huge petition that the government can’t ignore.

We pushed the government to secure an inquiry into the rental crisis, which heard the stories of thousands of people across the state. We got in front of the media, asked questions in Parliament and introduced bills. We negotiated on government bills and used our shared balance of power push for outcomes for renters.

We exerted continuous physical force. Pressure. And it’s working.

ow, after having absolutely no plan for renters for years, Victorian Labor is finally talking about limiting rent increases to once every 24 months, and capping the amount rents can go up by.  They’ve also put short stay regulation and an effective vacancy tax on the agenda - all Greens policies.

The reality is, Labor won’t act if we ask them nicely. They won’t act simply because they know their policies hurt people. They will only act if they face real community and political pressure.

When we build power, and use it, we can’t be ignored. We can generate hope, push the government and deliver outcomes.

And we’re just getting started.

Because politics doesn’t just happen on polling day. Politics happens every day. Change happens when we connect with people and talk with them about how things could be different. Change begins with the look of relief from a burnt out renter when we hand them a card about our rent freeze policy.

We need to keep building our movement of renters ready to take action, devise creative ways to engage, organise and mobilise, keep renters’ stories in the public eye and rebuild our politics so it delivers for people.

Community and political pressure work hand in hand. Change happens when both come together. When the strength of public pressure grows, and that pressure is brought into the chambers of parliament, it can no longer be ignored. Our job is to show that when we work together, stand up and fight, and put pressure on Labor, we can make the impossible possible.

Everything is impossible until it’s not.

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