Australian Affordable Housing Party

The Australian Affordable Housing Party (abbreviated name, the Affordable Housing Party) is a political party registered with the Australian Electoral Commission for federal elections in Australia. Its first election contest was in the 2017 Bennelong by-election.

Australian Affordable Housing Party
LeaderAndrew Potts
PresidentAnthony Ziebell
Founded2016 (2016)
HeadquartersAshfield
IdeologyAffordable housing
Website
www.affordable-housing-party.org

The party's registration was announced to the public as an exclusive by News.com.au journalist Benedict Brook on 24 August 2017.

The party's leader and lead Senate candidate for NSW is Andrew Potts, a former newspaper editor and opinion columnist and the executive and associate producer of two Australian feature films, The Dream Children (2015) and Mongolian Bling (2012).

The party's president and second announced Senate candidate for NSW is Anthony Ziebell, a tenants rights activist and owner of the website DontRentMe.com - a service which allows renters to review bad landlords and property managers. Ziebell has appeared on several episodes of Channel 9's A Current Affair program and has been interviewed by a large range of other media.

After the High Court ruled that the Nationals MP and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was ineligible to have been elected to the Australian Parliament, the New England byelection was called. The party announced that Potts would stand for the seat. He secured the number three spot on the ballot paper for the election in which seventeen candidates were running, outpolling six other candidates and finishing just 23 votes behind the Sustainable Australia candidate.

The party announced on 16 November that Ziebell would contest the Bennelong byelection after sitting member John Alexander resigned his seat, fearing that the High Court might also find him ineligible. Twelve candidates contested the election and Ziebell outpolled four of those candidates.

Registration

It was registered with effect from 24 January 2017.[1] The party had been refused registration by a delegate of the Electoral Commission, but this was overturned by the full Commission on 9 August 2017.[2] The issue of concern had been whether the party had been able to satisfy the Electoral Commission that it had at least 500 electors in its membership. This was achieved following random sampling of the membership list submitted during March and April 2017.[3]

Policies

The party's policies include:[4]

  • Phasing out negative gearing and capital gains discount on investment property sales
  • Stopping overseas buyers from buying Australian properties
  • Taxing properties left empty by investors
  • Reducing Australia's population growth to where it was under the Hawke and Keating Labor governments
  • Banning full-time Airbnb properties
  • Ending "no fault" evictions for rental properties

References
  1. "Current Register of Political Parties - Australian Electoral Commission". aec.gov.au. 5 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  2. "Australian Affordable Housing Party Electoral Commission decision" (PDF). aec.gov.au. 9 August 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017. Decision under subsection 141(4) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 On 24 January 2017, a delegate of the Electoral Commission refused an application to register the Australian Affordable Housing Party on the Register of Political Parties. The delegate’s decision was set aside by the three person Electoral Commission. For more information refer to the Statement of Reasons.
  3. "Australian Electoral Commission - Meeting Number 264 Statement of Reasons" (PDF). aec.gov.au. 9 August 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  4. Brook, Benedict (24 August 2017). "Affordable Housing Party launches claiming renters and first-home buyers are being ignored by Canberra". News Limited. Retrieved 22 September 2017.


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