2026-05-05
Our survey confirms renting has never been harder, but we have solutions. And worried how a data centre will disrupt local life.
By Hon Tim Clifford, MLC
Somehow we’re a third of the way through 2026 already! The past couple of months have been marked by just half a dozen or so sitting days, almost as many public holidays, and so much important work in between.
Renters’ rights campaign
Over the past couple of months we’ve been working hard on our renters’ rights campaign, building off the back of the survey we ran in February and the surprise news over Easter that the Cook Labor Government is set to ban no-fault evictions at the May state budget.
My office held a snap renters’ rights forum in late April, where we updated the community on our work in this space – the most notable of which is the Greens’ rent cap bill, which I’ll be reading into Parliament when it returns in early May. My team has been toiling away on this bill for months, and I’m really proud of the policy ideas it puts forward: legislating a cap on rents in WA pegged at CPI plus 10 percent – like the ACT – and banning no-fault evictions across the board. I’ll be sure to share how it all plays out in Parliament when I next report back!
In April my office also finally released the topline results of our renters’ rights survey, which more than 700 people completed – a huge response! If you were one of those hundreds of renters who completed the survey, I want to say a huge thank you for contributing to our campaign in such a powerful way.
As you can imagine, the results confirmed what we already know: that renting has never been harder in WA than it is right now. 82 percent of our respondents said they spend more than a third of their income on rent, which is the definition of financial stress. More than 70 percent consider their rent unaffordable. 62 percent have experienced a no-fault eviction.
These figures are shocking, and sadly they just scratch the surface of what the community shared with us. But if there’s anything positive to take away from it, it’s that I’m more committed than ever to fixing this diabolical status quo.
My office has just printed thousands of ‘Rent Cap Now’ postcards, which we’re going to post directly to the Cook Labor Government to show them just how strong community support is for addressing WA’s rental affordability crisis. The more postcards we can inundate them with, the harder it will be for them to ignore – so if you have something to say to the government about renting and want to take a powerful action, email me your message and we’ll write it on a postcard on your behalf (or feel free to drop by my office to pick one up).
Hazelmere data centre
In April I visited the site of a proposed new data centre in Hazelmere, where I was generously shown around by City of Swan councillor Sarah Howlett and some of the excellent staff at Trillion Trees. They’re all deeply concerned about the $1.1b data centre, proposed by Swiss-owned company GreenSquare DC, which would back onto the Helena River with a colossal footprint of 14,883m2.
In a suburb that is currently rural and residential, many locals are rightfully concerned about the data centre’s potentially disastrous impacts on the environment, climate, local amenity, traffic, pollution and safety. I’m going to continue to throw my support behind the campaign to stop this from going ahead, and will be looking at what I can do in Parliament to update our laws and regulations when it comes to the rapidly changing landscape of AI and data centres.
Other happenings
From attending the rally outside the Woodside AGM and a sombre service to mark International Workers Memorial Day, to speaking on a panel at a housing Politics in the Pub in Freo and contributing to my colleague Sophie’s anti-billionaire motion in the chamber, there’s been no shortage of issues, events and work to do. With the amount we’ve achieved so far, it stands to reason that we’re fast approaching the one year anniversary of me, Brad, Jess and Sophie being sworn into the 42nd Parliament. What an incredible year it’s (almost) been – thank you for all your support along the way.
Header photo: Tim with Sophie, Jordon and Chilla at the rally outside the Woodside AGM in April.