Renters' Election scorecard
Want a quick snapshot of where key parties stand on rental issues? We've made this handy scorecard ⤵
(To learn more about the issue, click the corresponding emoji!)
Labor |
Coalition |
Greens |
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|---|---|---|---|
Rental Laws & Energy Efficiency |
 Labor has led reforms to strengthen and standardise rental laws across Australia. They've committed $2.3b to reduce the cost of solar batteries by 30%, starting July 2025. They've also invested $800m to improve the energy performance of social housing.
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 The Coalition plans to freeze changes to the National Construction Code, which means newly-built homes would have worse energy performance.
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 The Greens have proposed a National Renters Protection Authority to significantly strengthen rental laws, including introducing minimum energy performance standards and limiting rent increases to 2% every two years. They also plan to give all renters the right to solar batteries for their homes, only allowing landlords to refuse on reasonable grounds, paid for by a $10b fund from a publicly-owned electricity company.
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Supporting Social Housing |
Labor committed $2 billion through the Social Housing Accelerator to support 4000 new and refurbished homes, the biggest one-off investment in social housing since 2008. They've also introduced the Housing Australia Future Fund, planning for 55,000 new social and affordable homes over the next five years, and made it easier to borrow money to build social housing.
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The Coalition has committed to scrapping existing funding vehicles for social housing.
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The Greens have proposed increased investment in building and maintaining public housing, as well as a public property developer to build 610,000 homes over the next ten years.
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Tax Reform for Housing Affordability |
 Labor plans to maintain existing tax subsidies for wealthy property investors.
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The Coalition plans to maintain existing tax subsidies for wealthy property investors.
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The Greens aim to limit negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount to a single property for existing landlords. Negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount would no longer be available for any investment properties purchased after the policy commenced.
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How we scored:
In January 2025, we wrote to Labor, the Greens, the Coalition, and several independents, asking about their position on key issues affecting renters. We then made an assessment based on their response, their actions in the current parliamentary term, and any commitments or policies for the future.
Roughly, what we wanted to see was:
- Action to make rental laws stronger, more consistent, and better enforced. We are particularly keen to see action to help renters benefit from more energy-efficient homes.
- Increased investment in public and community housing.
- Winding back negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount to improve housing affordability and reduce budget waste.
Our rating system:
Getting worse: |
No changes: |
Slow progress: |
Fast progress: |
For more details from the major parties (and a few independents!) on their renting policies, go here.