'Like sheer madness,' David Pocock targets Labor's $10b housing election promise

In a speech to a national affordable housing summit in Melbourne on Friday, excerpts of which have been seen by The Canberra Times, the senator will air concerns of "worrying" levels of housing stress, sky-high rents and the long-running, acute shortage of social and affordable housing.

Senator Pocock is getting ready to consider legislation to create the Labor government's $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) to build 30,000 social and affordable housing properties over five years.

In a pointed message, the key crossbencher, who formed a negotiating bloc with the two Jacqui Lambie Network senators over the government's climate bill, will insist the ACT's housing debt has to go.

"Like with the debate we've been having around climate, the government has to walk the talk. They have to be consistent," Senator Pocock is expected to say.

"Legislating an emissions reductions target while releasing tens of thousands of square kilometres for offshore oil and gas exploration isn't consistent with being serious about climate change.

"Saying you're serious about housing affordability while making states and territories pay millions in interest on historic housing debt is similarly contradictory."

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The ACT has a $98.3 million housing debt and a land and building debt of $2.2 million, while an extra $33 million in interest payments is expected to build over the next 19 years. The ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has been trying to get the territory's debt waived since the Morrison government agreed in September 2019 to set aside Tasmania's $150 million housing debt.

It was one of the conditions for Senator Jacqui Lambie's support for the then government's $158 billion tax cut package. The federal government also waived South Australia's $320 million housing debt in 2019.

"Historic housing debts need to be forgiven, as they have been already for Tasmania and South Australia," Senator Pocock is expected to say on Friday.

"For me, as Senator for the ACT, it seems like sheer madness that over the next decade the ACT Government will pay more than $33 million in interest on this historic housing debt.

"Money that could be going towards the construction of new social and affordable housing. Housing that is so desperately needed here where we are the most expensive city in which to rent and the second most expensive in which to buy."

The senator has met with Treasurer Jim Chalmers and separately the Housing Minister Julie Collins and asked them to forgive the debt, and it is understood he has received no assurances.

Senator Pocock is to tell the eighth Annual Affordable Housing Development and Investment Summit that a portion of the 30,000 properties being built under the HAFF must be earmarked for the ACT, as it has missed out before and there is great local demand.

"It's obviously critically important to ensure an equitable distribution tied to need," he is expected to say.

And he wants the 30,000 expanded as it "won't even touch the sides when it comes to addressing the scale of need in front of us."

"We need more. Greater ambition. Larger scale. The HAFF shouldn't be capped at 30,000," the excerpts read.

"This question of ambition, of scaling up and of waiving this debt will be front of mind to me when I'm weighing up my vote on the HAFF legislation when it comes before the parliament."

Housing debts are from historic long term advances from 1945 to the late 1980's provided at a fixed interest rate to the states and territories to provide public housing. To add to this, at the time of self-government, the ACT and NT also received assets transferred from the Commonwealth.

Correction: A previous version of this story referred to Senator Lambie's support being conditional on the Morrison government's repeal of medevac laws. The senator supported the tax package in exchange for the waiving of Tasmania's housing debt.