23 February 2026
With Labor and the Liberals pledging stamp duty relief to encourage empty-nesters to downsize, the Greens are urging the major parties to also announce policy measures to help renters.
“Almost 30 per cent of South Australians rent, yet they haven’t been mentioned at all during this election campaign,” said Greens MLC Robert Simms.
“With rent prices continuing to skyrocket out of control, Labor and the Liberals need to get with the program when it comes to rent capping. The Greens’ sensible plan would restrict rent increases to once every two years and cap these in line with inflation. Many places around the world have rent controls in place and the sky hasn’t fallen in. It’s time for South Australia to do the same and for renters to finally get some relief. The Greens will be pushing to make this an issue in the next parliament.”
“Additionally, we will be pushing to establish a Commissioner for Renters to enforce renters rights, legislate to ban rent bidding in its entirety and allow for portable bonds. These are measures that are already working in other states, yet South Australia continues to lag behind.”
“We will also continue to urge the next Government to establish a public builder to build the public housing at the scale we need. Labor’s announcement of a new fund to purchase land for housing does have potential to boost supply, however the devil is in the detail here. There’s still no commitment from Labor to build the public housing South Australia desperately needs. How many of these homes will be public and how many will actually be affordable? Government simply purchasing land and then selling it off to private developers who will make enormous profits falls well short of what’s required.”
“Labor has a terrible track record when it comes to planning. Any development of the army barracks should preserve existing green space and be matched with appropriate investment in public transport and essential services to avoid another Mount Barker style planning disaster.”