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Australia news live: Greens pledge to ‘end homelessness’; Good Life festival the latest to skip 2025

Greens pledge to ‘end homelessness’

Australia news live: Greens pledge to ‘end homelessness’; Good Life festival the latest to skip 2025

Josh Butler

The Greens have launched a plan they say would “end homelessness” in Australia, outlining a call for billions in extra funding for accommodation and supported tenancies.

At a launch in Brisbane today, the Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, will say the policy offers “every single one of the 37,800 people experiencing chronic homelessness across Australia access to a permanent home and wraparound support services, with no strings attached”. He says the Greens would push for such changes if they held a position of power in a potential minority parliament after the election.

The Greens want the federal government to fund 50,000 ongoing supportive tenancies over the next four years, as well as double housing and homelessness funding to state governments. People experiencing homelessness would be given secure housing, as well as wraparound services to manage personal, mental health or substance issues.

The minor party says current schemes leave homeless people in motels or boarding houses with little support. Their alternative plan would see an extra $5.2bn over four years to provide the 50,000 tenancies and build 40 new accommodation buildings (like youth foyers) nationwide, which would include housing and supports.

Doubling support to state governments for their homelessness programs would cost another $7.5bn over four years. The Greens say their policy would be paid for through their plans to increase taxes on big corporations and banks. Chandler-Mather said:

It might sound radical to some politicians, but the solution to homelessness is giving people homes and then providing the support they need to get back on their feet. In a minority parliament the Greens will keep [Peter] Dutton out and push Labor to fund real action on the homelessness and housing crisis.

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Butler says there is ‘no way’ Australia would negotiate over the PBS

Mark Butler also spoke with the Today Show this morning, where he made it clear there is “we’re not going to negotiate over the PBS.”

He ruled out reciprocal tariffs, saying this would make prices more expensive for Australians, and said:

I mean our the clear message we want to send to everyone, whether it’s to the Americans or to patients here in Australia who might be worried about these reports, is that … we’re not going to negotiate over the PBS. This is one of the cornerstones of, I think, one of the best health care systems in the world. We’re not interested in an American style user pays healthcare system in the Labor Party. We’re determined to protect Medicare and to protect the PBS …

There is no way we will negotiate around the elements of the PBS that has served Australians so well over the last 75 years.

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