Renters & Housing Union

By: Sadie

This is a Transcript of a speech written by West Australian Delegate Sadie Ward for the “National Day of Action” counter protests that took place last weekend (September 13th).

Hello, everyone. My name is Sadie, I’m a delegate with Renters and Housing Union. I want to start my speech by recognising that I’m a settler on stolen land who has been given the microphone. I’m thankful for this opportunity to speak and express my utmost commitment and solidarity with the Indigenous struggle for decolonisation. I was blessed to grow up on Whadjuk Noongar boodjar and I have the utmost respect for your history of resistance, your culture, and your care for country.

I’m here today to speak on the claims used by white supremacists that high-levels of immigration is the primary cause of the housing crisis. This is false. Instead, I want to give you two facts: housing insecurity did not exist prior to colonisation, and that immigration doesn’t cause the housing crisis. These two facts may not seem connected at first, but they are both linked by the underlying cause. I’ll talk more about that in a second.

Lets return to the second fact. Immigration doesn’t cause the housing crisis. Media and white supremacists have repeated the opposite of this claim again and again to the point that it seems
like unquestionable reality for many. The truth is that its false – let’s look at the stats: The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that between 2016 and 2024 1.6 million houses were built. In that same time 1.47 million households formed – a difference of 130,000 homes. On top of that, Prosper Australia estimates that in Naarm Melbourne alone that there are over 100,000 empty properties. This massive difference in numbers means that we aren’t dealing with a supply and demand issue. Furthermore, a research paper from Moallemi and Melser in the Papers in Regional Science journal found that an increase of population by 1% leads to housing prices rising by 0.9%. Between March of 2020 and December of 2023, housing prices increased by 18.8%. In that same period our population only increased by 5%. These numbers can only lead to one conclusion. We are not facing an issue of supply and demand. We are facing an issue of distribution: an issue of the market itself.

As a result, I actually reject the claims that we are in a housing crisis. A crisis implies a departure from the norm – a rupture. What we are experiencing is the natural consequence and status quo of the housing market. These claims that immigrants are causing this so-called crisis shifts blame and focus away from those in power to those that are more vulnerable (because they’re never talking about rich white immigrants). Instead we need to take control of this spotlight and shine it on those truly responsible: the politicians, the landlords, and the property developers. The commodification and exploitation of land that the colonial project of so-called ‘Australia’ is built on. Theft of Indigenous land so you can withhold and profit off of someone’s need for shelter. A system that focuses on dollar values while those at the bottom face dispossession, poverty, and violence in all its forms.

This may feel like the norm, but there is a way forward – there is a path out of this. The answer is solidarity, especially solidarity with Indigenous peoples and their struggle for sovereignty, truth-telling, and justice. Solidarity with communities and cultures that was and are in relationship with the land and focuses on collective care and responsibility. The only reason right now that you can be evicted and exploited is because the bonds of solidarity between the landlords, the judges, the politicians, and the cops is stronger than our own. We are not out-numbered, we are out-organised. This colonial ruling class works together to maintain their own power – to ensure that pieces of paper matter more than human lives. To end this, we must build bonds of solidarity that are stronger and more resilient. We must build
collective power to end this racist, classist system.

This is why I’m a member of RAHU, and its why I know its a path forward. Collective action by RAHU won several rent moratoriums during covid lockdowns in Naarm Melbourne. Every week I meet with other tenant unions that win big. We’re talking rent caps, collectively bargained leases, million dollar investments in their home. They do this by working together – by organising with their fellow tenants against those in power.

Collectively we can win. Fuck the nazis, fuck the Australian colony – together we have a world to win.

This was supposed to be delivered at the National Day of Action protests, and Sadie was invited on behalf of RAHU WA to perform a speech, however due to a error Sadie was never invited up to perform her speech.

The speech in full can be heard here in video form delivered by Sadie here.