Federal Election Guide

The Greens are aiming to support social housing residents by creating a public property developer to build 360,000 good quality public homes over 5 years. This would sit under a new Federal Department of Sustainable Cities, Development and Housing.  

Of these homes, 30% would be available to purchase and 70% would be available to rent. This differs from the targeted approach of public housing, with homes available to any renter or first home buyer, with 20% of the rentals allocated towards the bottom 20% of earners.  

The Greens argue that both major parties plans for home buyers will drive up property prices and won’t make housing more affordable. 

The Greens are aiming to support homeowners and purchasers by:

• Introducing discounted mortgages – it is not clear how this will work
• End tax concessions for wealthy property investors, including negative gearing.

The Greens are aiming to support renters, by:

• Freezing rent increases for two years, and capping future rental increases at 2% every 2 years and enforced by a new, independent National Renters Protection Authority.
• New national tenancy standards, such as the guaranteed right to lease renewal.

The Greens are aiming to end homelessness by:

• Investing $5.2 bn over the first four years to:
  • Provide 50,000 ongoing Housing First supportive tenancies nationwide
  • Build 40 new supportive accommodation buildings around Australia, such as Common Grounds and Youth Foyers
  • Double federal funding to states and territories for homelessness services and public and community housing ($7.5 bn over first four years)

• Legislated changes to create a $10 billion investment fund called the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).
• The HAFF will build 20,000 new social homes and 10,000 new affordable homes across Australia over five years.
• National Housing Accord agreement with States & Territories to build more affordable housing – $350 million over five years.
• Gave $2 billion to the States & Territories for social housing investment.
• Developed a new National Housing and Homelessness Plan.
  • Currently, the government is introducing legislation to create a Help to Buy scheme, a contribution of up to 40% for 40,000 low- and middle-income households to purchase a home of their own.
• Invested $1 billion towards crisis and transitional accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence, and youth.
• Invested $90 million to boost the number of construction workers – to build homes, including 20,000 new fee-free training places.
• Maintain the Home Guarantee Scheme for people to buy homes with smaller deposits.

In April, Labor announced changes to the Home Guarantee Scheme, allowing people to buy homes with a 5% deposit with higher property price limits and no caps on places, or on income as is the case at present.  

They also announced plans to build 100,000 homes specifically for first home buyers only.  

There is no mention of social housing in 2025 campaign documents released so far. The primary focus of the Liberals’ housing policy is on measures to improve affordability for purchasers.

Examples of this include:

• Allowing superannuation savings to be used to help build a house deposit.
• Maintain the Home Guarantee Scheme, which currently exists, allowing eligible buyers to purchase a home with a 5% deposit. They have also announced planned changes to income and price of home caps for the Scheme. 
• Add skilled visas in the construction sector.

They claim that they will manage housing demand through migration policy to handle housing supply, and intend to implement a two-year ban on foreign investors and temporary residents purchasing existing homes in Australia.

It is unclear how these changes will lead to significantly increased housing supply.

The Liberals claim that they will free up more than 100,000 homes in the next five years and unlock up to 500,000 new homes through new infrastructure funding.

They also aim to fight inflation to take pressure off interest rates and rents. It is not clear how this will be achieved.

In April, the Coalition announced a First Home Buyer Mortgage Deductibility Scheme.  

This will allow first home buyers who purchase a new build to live in to deduct the interest paid on up to $650,000 of their mortgage from their assessable income with no cap on size of mortgage or price, but only the interest on the first $650,000 of the loan will qualify for deductions.  

The Greens are calling for the Government to increase all income support payments to above the poverty line. 

In 2024, they highlighted an intention to create a Poverty and Inequality Commission (PIC), with an explicit focus on poverty. 

Commonwealth Rent Assistance was included by 15% in the 2023 Budget, and 10% in 2024; and the JobSeeker Payment increased by $20 per week in September 2023.

Labor have not made any election promises on income support as yet.

The Liberals have not made any commitments regarding changes to the income support system or increasing payments.

In their campaign platform section on Indigenous Australians, the Liberal Party indicate they will reintroduce the Cashless Debit Card for working-aged welfare recipients.

This program was extremely controversial and abolished by the current Government in 2022, citing a lack of evidence in the success of the program.

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) reviewed several of these trial programs (2014-2019) and found that they did more harm than good.

• Support a return to bulk-billed GP appointments, by tripling the bulk-billing incentive for all people with a Medicare card.
• Remove the cap on subsidised psychologist applications to make mental health sessions unlimited for everyone with a Medicare card.
• Establish 1,000 free healthcare clinics, allowing people to access a GP, dentist, registered nurse or psychologist with no out-of-pocket costs.
• Support trainee GP workforce by paying them equally to their hospital trainee counterparts.
• Include free dental care for everyone with a Medicare card.

Labor highlights their initiatives regarding Medicare funding, additional mental health services, cost of medicine and women’s health in the 2024 Budget.

In February 2025, Labor have announced an $8.5 billion expansion of the bulk billing incentive payments for GP clinics that bulk bill all patients, from 1 November 2025 should they win the election. Currently, this is available for GPs for bulk billing concession card holders and people under 16.

In addition, these practices will receive an additional 12.5% loading payment on their Medicare payments for bulk billing all patients.

Labor estimate this will mean that 4,800 practices will be in a better financial position if they adopt full bulk billing.

They have also announced 400 nursing scholarships and new GP training places, for 2000 new GP trainers each year by 2028.

In April, Labor announced $1 billion in mental health commitments, including:  

• $225 million for 31 new and upgraded Medicare Mental Health Centres 
• More than $200 million for 58 new, upgraded or expanded headspace services 
• $500 million for 20 Youth Specialist Care Centres for young people with complex needs 
• $90 million for more than 1,200 training places for mental health professionals and peer workers. 

The Liberal party have announced the following detail regarding health policy:

• $500 million to restore the arrangements for more Medicare-subsidised mental health sessions from 10 to 20 (as was the case during the Covid-19 pandemic).

In February, the Liberal Party announced they would match Labor’s promised $8.5 billion investment, in addition to the mental health commitments above.

They have also indicated they will invest $400 million to build the GP workforce and encourage junior doctors to become GPs.

There is no detail about how this will work at present.

In relation to homelessness, the Liberal Party say they will ‘address the root causes of homelessness by investing in improved services in areas such as mental health’.

The Greens have a clear stance against all further development of coal and gas, and any nuclear power investment. They also intend to increase the amount of tax paid by non-renewable energy businesses.

Other environment commitments from the Greens include:

• Expansion of publicly owned renewable energy
• Lower power bills by transitioning to more reliable clean energy
• Support for households and businesses to electrify (reduce dependence on gas)
• End native forest logging

There is no significant detail on how these policies will work as yet.

In April, the Greens announced a plan to allow renters to request an average-sized solar panel system to be installed at their rental properties, with landlords only be able to refuse on reasonable grounds. The upfront costs would be paid by the government, via a new $10 billion fund established through the publicly-owned electricity company Snowy Hydro.

The Albanese Government passed the Climate Change Act 2022, which enshrines emission reduction targets into legislation – reducing emissions by 43 per cent, and zero net emissions by 2050.

As part of the March Budget, Labor announced $150 of direct energy bill relief for households and some small businesses from July 1.  

Further election promises include:  

• $800 million for a Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative, specifically to reduce energy bills for people in social housing and lower emissions. 
• $1 billion Household Energy Upgrades Fund, to reduce up-front costs to assist people to upgrade their homes with modern, energy efficient appliances and other energy efficient improvements. 

The Liberal Party has a plan to establish a nuclear program in Australia, with the goal of replacing coal power generation – this would require lifting the moratorium on nuclear technology.

They claim that their plan for nuclear technology will reduce energy bills for consumers and be cheaper than Labor’s current plans. They also claim it will be ‘zero-emissions nuclear energy’.

They have also stated that they will continue to grow renewable energy, alongside gas developments.

It is important to consider that because Australia has not previously invested in nuclear energy, it would take at least a decade to start producing electricity generated by nuclear energy.

In April, the Liberal Party announced a Gas Plan, including an East Coast Gas Reservation to grow the domestic market and supply, prior to additional supply being exported. This seeks to reduce gas prices. There is also an intention accelerate investment in new gas projects for domestic needs. It is claimed this will reduce gas prices. There is no detail on the environmental impact of new gas projects.