Three in four Australians believe rents should either be capped to inflation or frozen until economic conditions improve, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.
Presented with choices about rental policies, 44% of the 1,151 respondents supported an annual increase to rents by no more than inflation, while 34% believed rents should be frozen until the economy turns around.
A further breakdown of the responses showed people who identify as financially struggling or in serious financial difficulty were more likely to support a rent freeze (42%). People who said they were comfortable or secure were more likely to support rent increases linked to inflation (46%).
Half of those who rent supported a total rent freeze – a key demand of the Greens, who are seeking to win support from the one-third of Australians who rent.
Rents have become a hotbed federal political issue despite being the domain of the states and territories, with the Greens linking the plight of renters to the Albanese government’s housing plan.
Labor has so far refused to budge on the party’s demands for a rent freeze or rental caps in return for its support in passing the $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund.
Last week, the government announced the shared equity scheme that was the jewel in its election housing policy would begin in the first half of next year, after the states and territories agreed to begin progressing the legislation needed to enact it.
National cabinet also agreed to work towards increasing the supply of housing in each of its jurisdictions by working with councils to unlock more land, with the states and territories to receive a “new home bonus” of up to $3bn if they help reach an updated target of 1.2m new homes over five years.
However, there has been no appetite for uniform rent freezes or rental caps which have formed the basis of the Greens’ rental right reforms. Instead, national cabinet has agreed to work towards uniform laws limiting rent increases to once a year but with no cap.
It is also yet to decide on a definition for “no grounds eviction”, which the Greens say should include preventing landlords from evicting tenants at the end of a rental agreement.
Anthony Albanese accused the Greens of being “blockers” and said Labor was the party of “builders” in his keynote address to the ALP national conference, which dedicated a large section to criticising the minor party.
The Greens held a rally outside the conference with the Griffith MP, Max Chandler-Mather, appealing to Labor left members to join it in the fight for progressive causes, accusing Labor of acting “more like the party of banks and property investors than the party of the worker”.
So far, the rental tussle has not impacted Albanese’s popularity, with the Essential poll finding the number of respondents feeling positive about Albanese moved from 36% in June when the question was last asked to 37%, although the number of people feeling negative slightly increased from 27% to 29%. Of those surveyed, 30% had neutral feelings about the prime minister.
Albanese remains in front of Peter Dutton, who recorded an unchanged 27% positive result and slightly higher negative response of 35% compared to 34% in June. And 31% (down one point) felt neutral about the opposition leader.
The Greens leader Adam Bandt’s positive popularity rating remained steady at 21%, while 36% (down from 38%) felt negatively about him, and 32% (up from 29%) were neutral.
Just 15 months into the Albanese government and 57% of respondents said they were “glad Anthony Albanese’s Labor government won the last federal election”, while 43% responded that it “would have been better if Scott Morrison’s Liberal government had been re-elected”.
