Opinion: Annastacia Palaszczuk’s rent cap solution defies basic economics

Opinion: Putting price caps on rental properties would only make the situation facing thousands of Queenslanders even worse, writes Kylie Lang.

Premier, you have to be kidding.

Your part-solution to the housing crisis you and your government have allowed to fester is to put a cap on private rents?

Don’t you get it? This is a matter of supply and demand. Basic economics, if you will.

There is already a gross shortage of properties available and you are now threatening to make it worse by forcing investors to sell up – thereby turfing more people out on the streets. Literally.

Yes, a new report into the housing crisis is ghastly – more than 300,000 Queenslanders are facing housing insecurity – but punishing investors would be one of the dumbest decisions you could make.

You are right to be “very concerned” about the crisis which has exponentially gotten worse since 2017, with the rate of homelessness up by 22 per cent. You are also right in saying it is “a big issue for families”.

But it’s been this way for years, so why have you waited so long to feign concern?

And, as plenty of Courier-Mail readers have been asking since this ridiculous rent-freeze notion was articulated, will your government be slapping a freeze on electricity, registration, land tax, gas prices and every other way it seeks to boost revenue and reduce living standards?

Go back to the drawing board, and take a Year 9 economics student with you.