2025-09-22
The Greens (WA) condemn Housing Minister John Carey’s claim that WA’s rental crisis fuelled by a growth in short-term accommodation is the responsibility of local councils, and urge the Cook Labor Government to do more to address its devastating impact on the long-term rental market.
In an ABC News article published this morning, Minister Carey said the state government “had done all it could” on the rental crisis, placing the responsibility for solutions instead onto local councils.
In Australia, housing laws and policies are overwhelmingly the responsibility of state and territory governments.
The Greens (WA) are calling on the Cook Labor Government to introduce bold regulatory reforms in order to push more investment homes into the long-term rental market and ease the squeeze on renters.
This should include greater incentives to push short-term accommodation back into the long-term market, and greater financial penalties and restrictions on short-term accommodation.
Lines attributable to Tim Clifford MLC, Greens WA spokesperson for Housing and Homelessness:
“Minister Carey has hit a new low by throwing local councils under the bus for a rental crisis his government is responsible not only for fixing, but for creating in the first place.
“It absolutely beggars belief that the Minister thinks this is what the state government doing its job looks like.
“Minister Carey says he wants to see fewer short-term rentals and yet he seems totally unwilling to do anything meaningful about it. Has he forgotten that he’s the Housing Minister, for God’s sake?
“Renters need immediate relief while we work on long-term solutions, like building the new houses the government continues to point to as a panacea.
“That means looking at stronger regulations, rental reforms like banning no-fault evictions, vacant property taxes, and limiting short-stay rentals to 90 days a year.
“Last week the ACT Parliament passed Greens-led legislation enshrining housing as a human right.
“The Greens will take every opportunity to achieve the same bold reforms we need here in WA – because if what Minister Carey says is anything to go by, WA Labor has done its job already.”
Lines attributable to Dr Brad Pettitt MLC, Greens WA spokesperson for Housing (Planning):
“It’s deeply troubling to hear Minister Carey say the state government has done all it can to address what is clearly a spiralling rental crisis.
“All they have done is create a list with rental numbers that we already knew.
“This government must do more to discourage the move towards short-term accommodation in what is the worst housing crisis in living memory.
“We need stronger incentives for bringing short-term rental properties back to the long-term market, but carrots alone are not enough.
“We also need sticks in the form of new regulations and penalties for those who choose to stay in the short-term market and make a substantial profit.
“That could look like limiting the number of nights a dwelling can be rented for short stays, or imposing a targeted tax on residential properties left to sit vacant.
“There’s no doubt there is a place for short-stays, but the status quo is unsustainable, unfair to renters, and leaving families homeless.”