2026-10-29
By Barbara Pocock
Senator for South Australia
Over the past 12 months, we have pursued the failures of the Albanese Labor Government. There are many in our portfolios of housing, finance, workplace relations, employment and the public sector.
We have achieved some significant wins along the way. However, we are living in a new political moment where we have seen One Nation realise a 22% vote in South Australia as more and more Australians have lost faith in parliamentary politics that does not recognise the reality of their lives or offer solutions that are real.
Australians are grappling with the stark realities of a cost-of-living crisis, an acute housing emergency, and the undeniable impacts of climate change. As one of your Greens representatives in the Senate, I have continued the fight for a fairer and more sustainable future for all Australians.
I have also worked with our state representatives to fight for our parklands, and to fight against the Walker multi-story towers on North Terrace and against MotoGP – all changes which threaten South Australian icons like our Parklands.
Housing and Homelessness
We have all watched an historic housing crisis spiral out of control in the hands of Labor. Rents are up by 43% under the past five years of Labor, house prices by 50% and homelessness is increasing dramatically. In a rich country like ours, no one should be without a roof over their head. Not everyone is suffering, however. The big 4 banks have pocketed $30 billion in the last year, developers and the real estate industry are making bank, and property hoarders have made a fortune from tax benefits over recent years.
While our young people and many older Australians live in chronic, painful and increasing housing stress, others do well. The Albanese government’s changes to capital gains and negative gearing tax concessions are a step in the right direction but they have grandfathered enormous benefits, much of them benefiting very wealthy property owners. Labor had a once in a generation moment to help young Australians through comprehensive changes to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing. Instead, Labor’s low ambition grandfathered existing wealthy property investor tax perks.
In good news though, we were able to secure an amendment to prevent wealthy property investors from exploiting a loophole to use Self-Managed Super Funds to buy up tax-advantaged investment properties, and we removed ministerial discretions that would have allowed a Minister to wind back these reforms. But these tax changes are nowhere near what is needed. I put forward a motion calling on the Senate to recognise Australia’s housing crisis as a matter of public urgency. In a surprise to no one, the Government did not support the motion despite overwhelming evidence to support it.
We have called out Labor on housing in every sitting of parliament throughout the year. A major part of the cost-of-living crisis in our country is a result of the housing debacle that the major parties have created over the past 30 years.
In March 2026, the Greens established a new Senate Select Committee on Intergenerational Housing Inequity which I chaired. This inquiry focused on inequality in housing, and the particular cost for those born in the 1980s and 1990s – the first generation in Australian history
who look to go backwards in economic terms relative to their parents. Young people face a housing market that is out of control, extraordinary rent increases, high education debts, a more insecure jobs market, the prospect of AI rewriting employment, and a climate crisis which is likely to cost their generation a great deal.
Our inquiry focussed on these facts, and especially the housing crisis across Australia, including tax settings, rental and homelessness experience, and the collapse of public housing. We investigated real solutions for tackling housing inequality that address the widening gap between current and future generations. We focused on renters and their changing circumstances, the rising rate of homelessness, and the particular and extreme challenges facing First Nations communities. This inquiry took me on a six-month journey around the country hearing powerful evidence from numerous witnesses and experts in the field.
I heard from organisations, academics, government departments and everyday people about a housing crisis that is out of control. We heard evidence that migration is not the cause of this crisis, given that the number of houses has increased faster than population in recent years. The problem is not migration: it is who owns, hoards and makes money from housing.
Younger generations of renters, first home buyers and people experiencing homelessness are being left behind. Australia sits well behind the rest of the world with social housing stock, and we know the federal government is missing all of its inadequate targets for building more homes. The Housing Australian Future Fund is a failure: too slow, too small, too complex and has to date added just 1,432 homes to social housing stock. We know that to really tackle the housing crisis, Australia needs to expand public housing to at least 10 percent of housing stock. It needs to cap rents and make unlimited rent increases illegal.
This year I called on the Prime Minister to use National Cabinet to coordinate a nationwide freeze on rent increases and a ban on evictions for the duration of this crisis. I called out the government and Reserve Bank of Australia for hitting struggling Australians with interest rate hikes while banks rake in obscene profits. And I tabled a petition in parliament with 20,500 signatures calling for an end to the unfair tax breaks for wealthy property investors.
I will keep pushing for real solutions to ensure that housing is treated as a human right in this country, not just a wealth hoarding opportunity for the rich.
Workplace Relations and Employment
Last year I pushed to establish a legal right for all Australians to work from home at least two days a week, where it is reasonable to do so. We know that this is a great way to increase workforce participation and boost productivity. Yet again, Labor voted against my amendment; but in November 2025, I secured a Senate inquiry into the right to work from home. The inquiry, which is still going, will soon hear from a range of stakeholders and gather evidence to show that Australia’s workplace rules should reflect our modern times.
Also in November 2025, I put forward a legislative amendment for all workers under the age of 18 to be paid super contributions irrespective of how many hours a week they work. We know that young workers should receive the same workplace rights as everyone else, regardless of their age and hours of work. Most young workers work less than 30 hours and so miss out on super. Despite being the supposed party for workers, Labor voted against our motion. But the Greens don’t give up. Multi-billionaire big corporations like Coles, Woolworths and Maccas are profiting from the failure to make them pay super for young workers and it’s time this was fixed.
Again, in June 2026, I introduced a partial disallowance to Labor’s Payday Super bill (Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025) regulations which would ensure all workers under 18 are finally paid superannuation but the Labor government that vowed to leave no one behind teamed up with the Coalition to vote against it again.
At their national conference in Adelaide this July, Labor committed to employers paying super to their employees who are under 18 and work less than 30 hours a week. So, in August I introduced the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Fair Super for Young Workers) Bill. We again gave Labor the opportunity to work with us to ensure that every young person is paid super on every dollar they earn and again they wouldn’t pass it! Every week of delay, is another week of young workers being ripped off by the largest corporations in the country. Labor did agree to send this bill to inquiry, so we hope to see a positive win here soon.
In another hard-fought win in June, I secured amendments to the government’s Building Cooperative Workplaces Bill that will protect workers' pay and conditions and empower unions during industrial relations disputes. These changes boost protections for workers across the country during bargaining, and in particular support educators, teachers and firefighters. The reforms we have won will stop employers from weakening agreed terms. We will always stand with workers and their unions in the fight to improve working life.
An April Senate committee inquiry I took part in reported on its investigation into the job and program cuts at the CSIRO. This inquiry exposed a deliberate shift away from public good science at the nation’s leading scientific research agency. Sadly, despite additional funding being allocated in the May budget, CSIRO workers are still facing persistent uncertainty about their jobs and research. These are highly skilled workers, essential to Australia’s scientific future, and we will continue to fight for them.
In June I also highlighted the working conditions for Carnival Cruise ship workers and shed light on working conditions in this toxic workplace in Australian waters. Carnival is the biggest cruise ship company in the world and can afford to pay these workers a liveable wage. Yet, many crew members fear retaliation if they speak openly to the union or engage in any form of collective activity. This is a huge problem, and Labor can't let this exploitation of workers keep happening. There is still so much to do to protect workers in this country.
The Big 4 Consultants and Finance and Public Sector Integrity
The controversies just keep coming out of the big consulting firms. The latest ‘Big 4’ to come undone this year was KPMG. Repeated scandals include mistreating a whistleblower, sharing confidential client information to rig audit tenders, using AI to cheat on internal exams, and breaching audit independence. And the behaviour of partners towards both Parliament and the Australian people? Disgraceful. And the government’s response? To award more multi-million contracts to them.
We have called out Labor on spending more on consultants that Morrison did. Through parliamentary inquiries we have discovered a tidal wave of malpractice, poor governance and structural failures by consulting firms.
These consulting firms are the high priests of minimising tax and turbocharging billionaire profits and the architects of privatisation by stealth. They have stripped back our public services over the past 30 years and have shocked parliament with multiple scandals revealing a lack of integrity, coverups, dishonesty and pursuit of revenue at any cost. Unsurprisingly the Government’s response has been woefully inadequate.
In October 2025 Estimates I roasted the Finance Department for letting PwC back into the fold, shone a spotlight on Deloitte's wilful negligence, and grilled the Future Fund for their unethical weapons and fossil fuel investments. Then at the May 2026 Estimates I questioned agencies about the KPMG scandals and what action is being taken on consulting reform. In August I grilled KPMG further in a committee hearing and pushed Labor to stop kicking the can down the road on taking real action to regulate the consultancy sector.
I also drafted a bill that would enable the Commonwealth to bar dodgy contractors from government work and deter unethical conduct. The Greens want to ban dodgy contractors and block suppliers who have acted unethically from government contracts for up to five years. This bill is currently with the Parliament for consideration, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for support from the captured major parties, which receive political donations from the Big 4.
We know that if Labor was serious about making savings in the federal budget it would cut consulting spending, not public service budgets. And it must legislate reform so that big consulting partnerships who take billions in revenue each year are regulated in the same ways as large corporations, including in relation to tax and the treatment of whistleblowers.
South Australia
Across the year I have been working with community groups such as the Save Festival Plaza Alliance and Adelaide Park Lands Association to stop the destruction of our civic, public and green spaces. The South Australian Labor Government has been relentless in its attacks on our national heritage, and I have represented thousands of South Australians who want to protect our Park Lands in parliament, at Estimates, in the Senate Chamber, in submissions to inquiries, at rallies and more.
The images of the trees being destroyed in Adelaide are heartbreaking. Yet, there has been nothing but excuses for a lack of action to protect our shared heritage from the Minister for the Environment and Water, and Labor. I'm willing to predict that in the years ahead Labor is going regret what they have done to our public spaces and heritage.
In May I questioned Minister Watt further in Estimates about the failures of our woefully inadequate environmental protection laws and called for a compliance investigation. The Minister and Department didn’t feel there was an offence to investigate. Both state and federal governments have no intension to Stop the Chop, but this is why we need to keep growing this movement and increasing pressure on them until they do.
I have also been in communication with Adelaide University to encourage them to remove big polluters branding from their buildings.
Gaza, Palestine and foreign policy
Like so many other Australians I have watched in anguished disbelief as Labor have failed to stand up against the US and the state of Israel in the face of more than 70,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza, more than 22,000 of them children. We must see a permanent ceasefire, an end to occupied Palestine, unconditional access for aid, the prosecution of war crimes and an end to the two-way arms trade with Israel.
I am proud to stand with others and say it is Time for A Red Line against genocide.
Other events
This year, I have had the opportunity to speak at numerous events and engage with communities across the country.
Major moments and events include:
- Speaker, National Day of Action Rally for Palestine, Adelaide, October 2025
- Speaker, Changemakers Program Influencing Politics Session, Conservation Council SA, Adelaide, October 2025
- Hosted How Can We Lead on Workers Rights workshop at Australian Greens National Conference, Darwin, November 2025
- Rising Tide, Newcastle, November 2025
- Parliamentary delegation to the Tibetan government in exile, Dharamsala, India, December 2025 – including an audience with the Dalai Lama on the 36th anniversary of his Nobel Peace Prize award.
- Speaker, Iftar event, Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, Adelaide, February 2026
- Speaker, Nowruz & Eid Festival, Australia Uyghur Community, Adelaide, March 2026
- Hosted Politics in the Pub: Madmen, War and US Politics with Dr Emma Shortis and Margaret Hallock, Adelaide, April 2026
- Speaker, Adelaide Park Lands’ AGM, Adelaide, April 2026
- Attended the protest at the Santos AGM, the May Day March in Adelaide, May 2026
- Speaker, Save Public Housing rally, Melbourne, May 2026
- Speaker, Housing with Jenny Leong & Sylvie Ellsmore event, Sydney, June 2026
- Speaker, Housing Launch Party with Gabrielle de Vietri, Melbourne, June 2026
- Speaker, Tibet Lobby Day, Canberra, June 2026
- Speaker, Housing forum in Secret Harbour, Perth, August 2026
- Hosted, House Party with Chels Hood Withey from House You, Adelaide, October 2026
- Speaker ‘Nukes versus People’ The Australia Institute public event, 10 years after nuclear waste royal Commission. October 2026
- Speaker, ‘Tax the 1%’ Revenue Summit, Parliament House, October 2026
Lastly, after much consideration, I made the decision in August that I will not be seeking a second term in the senate. The reasons are personal: for the past year my partner has had brain cancer and despite his good prognosis, I reached the view that running for a second term is not right for me.
The next federal election is a long way off and I have plenty of work to do on housing, securing super for under 18 year olds, holding KPMG to account and reforming the Big Four. I remain committed to continuing my work on climate and environmental justice.
Thanks so much to all of you for your support and encouragement this year – as ever. We could not do it without it! Thanks too to my amazing staff who work so hard alongside me. The big Greens family of activists and supporters sustains our work every day.
- Barbara