2025-07-09
Surreal to be back in the Upper House, and gearing up to tackle the bourgeoning housing problems
By Hon Tim Clifford, MLC
Wow – what a whirlwind start to the 42nd Parliament of WA!
As many of you know, this isn’t my first rodeo: I served four years in the upper house from 2017 until losing my seat at the 2021 state election. So it’s hard to describe exactly how strange, exciting and surreal this past month or so has been.
In many ways, things are much as I remember: parliamentary procedures are more or less the same, many of the faces around the halls of Parliament are familiar – I even have the exact same seat in the Legislative Council chamber as I did in my previous term.
But at the same time, so much is different. I return to Parliament in a completely different political context than when I left four years ago.
If I thought things were bad back then – and I absolutely did, because they were – they’re so much worse now. Under a four-year Labor supermajority, the housing, cost of living and climate crises have escalated beyond my worst fears. People and planet are suffering while the state sits on billions and billions of dollars in successive budget surpluses. Things need to change.
Straight into the deep end
Me and my fellow Greens MLCs Brad Pettitt, Jess Beckerling and Sophie McNeill were sworn in to Parliament on May 22, and since then we’ve hit the ground running to say the least.
Of the first five weeks in Parliament, three were sitting weeks – and one of those was state budget week! It’s been a baptism by fire with barely a moment to catch our breaths, but we’ve already done some great work both in our individual offices and as a broader team.
Towards the end of June I was humbled to deliver my first speech to Parliament – or, more accurately, my second first speech. I found myself quite emotional as I spoke about the human impact of the housing crisis – including on my own family – and mapped out a vision for how we must address it.
I was also incredibly proud to sit in the chamber alongside Jess and Sophie as they delivered their respective inaugural speeches, which set the tone for their terms ahead. We’re so fortunate to have these two bold, visionary women not only in Parliament but as part of our Greens movement, and I can’t wait to see what they achieve in the years to come.
Housing
I’m taking carriage of many portfolios I’m really passionate about, but it probably comes as no surprise that my number one focus this term will be housing and homelessness.
The reason why is painfully clear. New public housing builds aren’t remotely scratching the surface of the growing waitlist. Average rent is up almost 80 percent in just five years. The median house price has passed $1 million. Short-stay accommodation is out of control. Rough sleeping has exploded by more than 100 percent in less than a decade.
These statistics are absolutely appalling. But they’re not just numbers – they represent real people doing it tough every single day. They also represent a Labor state government that’s done criminally little over the past eight years to address what has become the worst housing crisis in generations.
The worst part – or the best part, depending on how you look at it – is that the solutions to these problems already exist. We can just turn our heads to the ACT to see how effective some of the policies I’ll be fighting for can be. Introducing a flexible rent cap and banning no-fault evictions are just two examples of policies that have helped ease the squeeze on ACT renters. WA should follow suit – particularly as the last state in Australia that still allows no-fault evictions.
We should also be exploring measures to get vacant properties into the market, like a broad-based land tax in place of stamp duty – again, something that’s underway in the ACT.
I intend to fight tooth and nail for these kinds of policy interventions that have a real impact on people’s lives. And I’m not wasting any time: just a few weeks after being sworn in, I moved a motion in the upper house calling on the government to detail how it’s tracking on delivering on its own commitments to end the homelessness crisis.
It comes off the back of a 2023 Parliamentary inquiry into the funding of homelessness services, which made no fewer than 57 recommendations in its final report. Two years ago, the WA Labor Government supported most of those recommendations. But two years on, we don’t know how many – if any – of those recommendations have been implemented.
I’m really thankful to everyone in the chamber for supporting my motion and passing it without opposition. It means the government now has to formally report back on how they’re tracking on addressing homelessness, which they have to table in Parliament by September 18. I’ll let you know what we find out!
This win is just the start. My goal is to tell the stories of those in our community impacted by the government’s failure to serve them – the stories that inform us as to the purpose of Parliament in the first place – and I won’t hold back on holding the government to account.
Thank you
Just finally, I’d like to again acknowledge the huge collective effort that’s gone into getting myself, Brad, Sophie and Jess into Parliament. Our movement is only as strong as the people within it who give up their time and resources for something bigger than themselves. We literally owe all our past and future wins to our members, volunteers and supporters. If you’re one of them, thank you so much for all you do.
There is so much work to do across so many spaces over the coming four years. I’m daunted by the scale of it, but mostly I’m incredibly energised – not just to pick up where I left off in 2021, but to really build on all the work that’s happened since.
I’m relieved to say Parliament has now entered the winter break, giving me and my team the opportunity to look ahead, strategize and plan for the next four years. I feel a great deal of hope for what we’ll achieve together – as an office, as a parliamentary team and as a movement – and I can’t wait to get further stuck into the work I’ve been busting to do since the last time I was here.
Header photo: Tim being interviewed by SBS outside WA Parliament House in early July.