Inquiry into the National Housing and Homelessness Bill 2024 (No. 2)

The Abundant Housing Network Australia would like to thank the Senate Standing Legislation Committee on Economics for the opportunity to provide comments on this private memberʼs bill.

Our network is a national alliance of independent, grassroots urbanists who advocate for a pro-housing agenda for Australia.

As advocates for housing abundance, we are writing today on what changes to Commonwealth governance of housing policy need to happen to facilitate greater housing growth — and keep state and local governments accountable to our national housing targets.

In addition to changes to the bill in question regarding the composition and
competence of the Housing Consumer Council, we are advocating for a significant change in the machinery of government within the Australian Public Service to consolidate policymaking on housing and urban development within a central agency — namely the Commonwealth Treasury.

This submission builds on earlier work we have done as part of the Senateʼs earlier inquiry into the worsening rental crisis in Australia (appendix 1), the Department of Infrastructureʼs ongoing consultation on the draft National Urban Policy (appendix 2) in correspondence with Ministers on building completions data (appendix 3) and repurposing underutilised defence land (appendix 4).

The Abundant Housing Network Australia and our members welcome the opportunity to discuss this further with members of the Committee over the course of the Inquiry.