Zach Smith,the new national secretary of the CFMEU – the biggest union donor to the party last election – will use a National Press Club speech on Tuesday to call for a super profits tax to be used to plug an estimated shortfall of 760,000 affordable and social homes.
“Not only can government step in to fix big,intractable national problems – it must,” Smith will say. “The state has a role to play and Australians want the state to play it.”
The pitch appropriates a Greens policy from the last election to impose a 40 per cent tax on corporations with a turnover of more than $100 million,using the revenue to create more low-cost housing.
Smith said a super profits tax was the “fairest way to raise the billions needed to guarantee every Australian has the basic right of shelter”.
The union will run an advertising campaign,which includes a video depicting a mother facing eviction. It will then take the policy to the ALP conference in Brisbane,where Socialist Left delegate Julijana Todorovic will push to overhaul the housing policy in favour of capping negative gearing and declaring housing a human right.
Labor backbenchers Jerome Laxale,Michelle Ananda-Rajah,and Josh Burns,who represent seats in Sydney and Melbourne with a high proportion of renters,are also calling for a debate on ambitious housing proposals to take to the next election.