Jacqui Lambie lashes Tasmanian Airbnb owners for taking rentals off the market

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has slammed cashed-up Airbnb owners — including politicians — taking rentals off the market, which should be going to “families living in tents and cars”. HER SAY >>

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has slammed cashed-up Airbnb owners taking rentals off the market, which she says should be going to “families living in tents and cars”.

Ms Lambie’s derision comes as she praised Hobart City Council’s decision last week to double rates for short-stay accommodation owners, saying “short stay isn’t the whole problem, but it is certainly adding to it” – referring to Tasmania’s housing crisis.

In Ms Lambie’s Talking Point in Saturday’s Mercury — which you can read in full below — she said Hobart had lost nearly 10 per cent of its rentals to short stay accommodation.

“A 2022 Shelter Tasmania report showed that most properties listed as short stay accommodation had previously been long term rentals,” Ms Lambie said.

“Entire short stay properties across Tasmania have increased by 38 per cent.”

Senator Jacqui Lambie. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Ms Lambie said she had “no problem with people renting out a room in their house, or the whole house when they’re away on holidays”, but took issue with people “buying a house to make lots of cash on the weekend instead of renting it out to a family who needs it”.

Ms Lambie also took aim at Tasmanian politicians who own Airbnbs: “There are politicians in Tasmania that have Airbnbs and I would ask them to examine their conscience,” she said. “Do you really need to Airbnb those properties when you are on a big government wage while Tasmanian families are living in tents and cars?”

On Tuesday, Airbnb’s Michael Crosby lashed out over Hobart City Council’s rates decision, saying: “This rate rise will hurt ratepayers.”

Short-term gain, long-term pain

By Senator Jacqui Lambie

I was very pleased to hear the news that the Hobart City Council voted last week to double the rates for owners of short-stay accommodation.

Hobart has lost nearly 10 per cent of rentals to short-stay accommodation.

A 2022 Shelter Tasmania report showed that most properties listed as short-stay accommodation had previously been long-term rentals.

Entire short-stay properties across Tasmania have increased by 38 per cent!

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with people renting out a room in their house, or the whole house when they’re away on holidays.

Photo: File.

I have a mate who Airbnbs her house and she moves into her granny flat. It gives her some extra income and she’s not taking a house off the rental market.

But this thing of buying a house just so you can make lots of cash on the weekend instead of renting it out to a family who needs it is just not on.

There are politicians in Tasmania who have Airbnbs and I would ask them to examine their conscience.

Do you really need to Airbnb those properties when you are on a big government wage, while Tasmanians families are living in tents and cars?

And don’t tell me that there is nothing the state government can do. Cities across the world have brought in rules capping the number of days you can short-stay your property.

In Singapore and San Francisco it’s three months, and in New York renting a home you don’t live in as holiday accommodation is illegal!

Short stay doesn’t only take rentals off the market – like fly in, fly out (FIFO) workers it also hurts communities.

A mate in Hobart told me about a friend of hers who lives in a street where seven houses are now Airbnbs. That means she no longer knows her neighbours, and the close-knit community she has lived in all her life feels empty to her now.

Short-stay accommodation isn’t the whole problem, but it is certainly adding to it.

As Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds and the Hobart City Council have demonstrated, there is more that can be done.

Let’s hope the other councils of Tasmania follow their lead.