People are struggling to keep their head above water because the cost of everything is going up, and real wages have fallen.. While many of us struggle to get by, big banks, coal and gas corporations and property developers continue to make billions.
Low wages are also contributing to cost of living pressures. With inflation increasing and wages flatlining, too many people in New South Wales are coming under financial strain.
The current government’s wages cap for public sector workers has meant that teachers, nurses, paramedics and many other vital public sector workers are actually experiencing a real wages cut. Suppressing the wages of public sector workers is also keeping wages low across the economy.
The Greens want to improve the standard of living for everyone across New South Wales.
We are committed to addressing the housing crisis by significant reforms for renters and investing in more public, social and affordable housing.
We will scrap the public sector wages cap, invest to ensure lower energy prices and build affordable housing. The Greens are committed to easing cost of living pressures by making public transport cheaper and ensuring public schools are genuinely free.
The Greens will:
- Make Housing Affordable
- Free public transport
- Put power assets back in state hands and bring down energy bills
- Scrap the Public Sector Wage Cap
- Fully fund public education
Taking the Power Back - Affordable energy, for every household
As we navigate a Just Transition for the energy generation industry, we must also ensure we are supporting a Just Transition for energy consumers as well.
As household solar, batteries and other energy efficiency technologies continue to spread, we must ensure the benefits don’t exclude people already financially insecure. Currently, those with the most means are able to make the capital investment required to reduce their exposure to the energy market, or remove themselves entirely, which will provide long-term financial benefits.
Failure to support financially insecure people, including people who own apartments rather than standalone homes, and renters, will risk further entrenching economic inequality, with less financially secure people stuck paying increasing electricity prices from power companies seeking to extract the final drops of profit from their ageing power generator assets, while the more financially comfortable are able to insulate themselves from the energy market, resulting in energy poverty layered on top of existing economic divisions.
The Greens will:
- Establish a new government-owned electricity retailer, while working to take all energy generator and grid assets back into public hands, which will offer electricity prices without the excess charges or inflated margins demanded by the major energy companies.
- Help households get off gas with grants and zero-interest loans for replacing old polluting gas heating and hot water appliances with energy-efficient electric heat pumps and induction cooktops.
- Introduce a ban on installing gas in new residential builds.
- Provide support for people to install solar panels on their homes and businesses.
- Introduce requirements to ensure low-income earners and renters can access energy efficiency measures in their homes.
Free public transport
It’s time for free public transport. The Greens will scrap all public transport fares in New South Wales, introducing free public transport on all buses, trains and ferries. Free, frequent and reliable public transport would take pressure off families, cut congestion and transform how we move around in our state.
Free public transport would provide a massive economic stimulus at a time when our economy desperately needs it by putting more money in people’s pockets, increasing travel around cities and making our neighbourhoods and communities accessible, thriving places to live.
Introducing free public transport will save us money by scrapping our expensive ticketing system, reducing spending on roads and cutting costs associated with fare evasion like court costs.