Housing affordability
The housing crisis in WA has hit critical levels, with the McGowan Labor Government cutting the amount of public housing, and out waitlist being over 20,000 people strong.
The Greens will:
- Build 15,000 new low-carbon homes over 3 years to provide enough housing to meet the current waitlist creating 60,000 jobs in the construction and administration sectors
- Invest in social and affordable housing to meet the current waitlist and guarantee adequate housing supply for years to come
- Undertake a state-wide retrofit of housing supply to improve efficiency and climate-preparedness, including incentives for owner-occupiers and investors
- Protect renters by abolishing 'no grounds' evictions, putting a cap on rent rises and setting minimum standards for rental properties
- Ban political donations from property developers
This includes mandating 20 per cent affordable housing and 10 per cent social housing in new developments and abolishing the 'three strikes' eviction policy and end the eviction of children, and people with serious mental illness, from social housing.
Tourism
The Greens will support ecotourism initiatives that foster the conservation and protection of biodiversity alongside people's appreciation and respect for our much-loved natural spaces.
We'll $22 million for upgrades to nature trails, signage, and visitor centres in WA's national parks and reserves, doubling the Government's commitment, and commit $10m to construct the Australian Underwater Discovery Centre at Busselton Jetty, creating the largest natural underwater observatory in the world, 200 construction jobs and 2500 ongoing jobs, and a net economic benefit of $200m to WA.
The Greens will invest in expanding the state's regional transport network, providing regional WA with a genuine alternative to car ownership and unlocking opportunities for our tourism sector by better connecting the city with the country
We'll keep people working in Vasse by creating more localised partnership agreements between 'clean' industries (e.g. health, education, caring and arts industries), schools and communities to broaden young people's career opportunities.
Native forests
The Greens firmly want to see an end to native forest logging in the South-West, and the proper protection of our forests and unique natural biodiversity.
Household costs
The cost of living is a very real and on-going issue that has been amplified by the effects of COVID-19.
Our plan to transition to 100 per cent renewable energy with drive power prices down, while reforming market and pricing agreements to support peer-to-peer trading and shift to decentralised energy grids
The Greens will also introduce free public transport for off-peak periods. Between 9am - 3.30pm and 7pm - 6am on weekdays, and all day Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, all TransPerth and TransRegional public transport will be free.
We'll make TAFE free so students are not burdened with HECS-HELP loans, and abolish all fees for students in public schools.
Mental health
For too long underinvestment in prevention, early intervention and community mental health services has meant people have not had access to the support they need. This has resulted in far too many people ending up at crisis point and being admitted to the costly hospital system.
The Greens will ensure a system that provides quality services and supports for everyone who needs them, when they need them. People in our community should be able to expect the same level of care for their mental health as they do for their physical health. Properly funding wrap around social services in the regions is crucial.
The Greens will increase the accessibility of the mental health system and ensure a 'no wrong door' approach so that people can easily get help when and where they need it, Invest in prevention and community-managed services so that people can access help when they first need it and ensure the system can meet demand, Fund co-designed and co-produced specialist services, Provide supported housing options and sustainable tenancies for people with mental illness and invest in long-term locally-developed and delivered suicide prevention programs, including in regional and remote areas.
Education
We'll make TAFE free, abolish all fees for students in public schools, ensure state funding to schools is based on the needs of students by allocating additional funding to address disadvantages and increasing support for vulnerable students and establish an Independent Schools Commission to remove politics from school planning decisions.
Job growth
Tackling climate change will create thousands of good quality jobs in the south-west, by driving local manufacturing and renewable energy investments. Likewise, investing in social housing will create 60,000 jobs state-wide by building 15,000 new low-carbon homes over 3 years, to 7.5-star (NatHERS) energy rating and with rooftop solar systems.
All our policies can be found at: greens.org.au/wa/platform
