30% of homes on sold federal land would be cheap rentals
Sometimes the federal government sells big blocks of land for housing, or rents them out for a very long time. This bill says the buyer would have to set aside cheap rentals. It touches renters, builders and community housing groups.
Official name: Commonwealth Land (Affordable Housing) Bill 2026
- When the federal government sells land of 1 hectare (10,000 square metres) or more for housing, at least 30% of the homes would have to be affordable rentals.
- Rent on those homes would be the lower of 75% of market rent, the normal rent for a home like it, or 30% of the household's income.
- A not-for-profit community housing group would run the cheap homes.
- Buyers who break the deal could face a fine of up to about $3.3 million.
- It comes from Senator David Pocock, an independent senator, not the government. It is still before the Senate.
Who it affects
- Renters on low to middle incomes: More homes would be kept for them at rents below the market price.
- Builders who buy federal land: They would have to build affordable rentals into any housing on the site and keep them that way.
- Community housing groups: Signed-up not-for-profit housing groups would run the affordable homes.
- The federal government and its agencies: They would have to put the affordable housing promise into every sale or long lease the bill covers.
- Taxpayers: The government would likely get a lower price for its land. Buyers pay less for land that comes with conditions.
Rents up 69%, wages 20%
Renting has got much harder in Australia. The bill's notes give the numbers. Typical rents in ads rose by 69% in the six years to May 2026. Average weekly pay rose by only 20% over the same time.
For the poorest fifth of households, housing costs went from 23% of income in 2005 to 29% in 2020. Those figures come from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It is the agency that counts and measures Australia.
Governments are building more social and affordable homes. Social housing is cheap housing for people on very low incomes. One guess from the University of New South Wales says about 100,000 will be added this decade. The notes compare that with about 640,000 households that needed social housing in 2021.
The notes say land is one of the biggest roadblocks. Good land costs a lot and is hard to find. The federal government owns land it sometimes sells. This bill says that when it does, some of the homes built there should be cheap to rent.
Who brought the bill
A member of Parliament brought this bill. The government did not write it. Senator David Pocock brought it into the Senate, Parliament's second house, on 2 July 2026.
The notes point to past ideas in New South Wales. Leaders there from both sides of politics have talked about making 30% of homes social and affordable on old government land.
Land that is covered
The rules apply when the federal government or one of its agencies gets rid of land that could be used for homes. Getting rid of land includes selling it. It also includes renting it out for 50 years or more, counting any choice to renew.
Long leases are included on purpose. Without this, the government could lease land for 99 years and the rule would not apply. Yet that would be much the same as a sale.
The bill sits alongside the Lands Acquisition Act 1989. That law already covers how the federal government buys and sells land. If the two clash, this bill wins. A sale under that law could not go ahead unless this bill's rules were met.
The affordable housing rule
Every sale or long lease the bill covers would need an affordable housing promise. This promise is written into the contract. The buyer must keep it.
The buyer would have to make sure at least 30% of all homes built on the land are affordable housing. The government could change that share for some kinds of sites. It would do this in detailed rules it writes without a new vote.
A signed-up not-for-profit community housing group would have to run the affordable homes. The buyer would need a contract with that group. The contract would give the group the right to check the rules are kept and act if they are not.
The homes could only be rented to households that qualify. Rent would follow a set formula. The promise would last as long as the state or territory land law allows. That could be forever.
Say a government agency forgot to put the promise in. The sale would still stand. The notes say this keeps land deals certain. But the agency would still have broken the law. It could still be made to answer for that in other ways.
How rent is set
Rent on an affordable home would be whichever is lower of two amounts. One is 75% of the market rent for that home. The other is 30% of the household's income.
Say a two-bedroom flat would normally rent for $800 a week. Then 75% of that is $600. If the family earns $1,500 a week, 30% of that is $450. The family would pay $450.
The income part is there for costly areas. In those places, a 25% discount could still leave the rent out of reach. The way to measure market rent would be set out in detailed rules.
Who can rent them
Only households earning under a set income limit could get one of these homes. The limit would be based on the middle household income for the area. That is the point where half earn more and half earn less.
Detailed rules could set different limits for different areas and different types of households. A single person and a family of five might have different limits.
Income would be checked only when the person moves in. Tenants would not have to keep proving they still qualify. The notes say this keeps paperwork down. They say it does not punish people who get a pay rise.
Keeping the promise
The promise has to be tied to the land itself, so later owners must keep it too. Each state and territory has its own system for this, such as a covenant. A covenant is a rule written onto the land's title papers that later owners must follow.
The bill calls this a recognised housing instrument, meaning a legal paper tied to the land. The buyer must sign it. A state or territory housing body may need to sign as well. It must be registered, or ready to register, when the sale is finished.
A sale or long lease could not be finished until this is in place. Detailed rules could set up a certificate to show everything is ready first.
Penalties for breaking rules
The government agency or a minister could take the buyer to court. The court could order the buyer to do what they promised, or stop them doing something. It could also make them pay for the harm done.
Only the first buyer could be sued this way, or someone who has openly agreed to take on the promise.
A court could also fine the buyer up to 10,000 fine units, with no jail. A fine unit is a set dollar amount. The notes say this equals about $3.3 million in 2025 to 2026. It applies only to serious cases that badly harm the affordable housing promise.
The fine could come from either of two national courts. They are the Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit and Family Court. After the land is sold on again, the promise would mostly be enforced through state and territory land law.
Land left out
Some sales would be left out. Sites smaller than 1 hectare would not be covered. A hectare is 10,000 square metres. The notes say smaller sites may not give enough homes to be worth the paperwork.
Badly polluted sites could be left out if cleaning them up would cost a lot compared with what the land is worth. The head of the department would decide this.
Land in remote areas, or places where few people want to live, would be left out, as listed in detailed rules. So would land the rules say is not right for homes, for planning, security or other reasons.
Some land in the Northern Territory is also left out. This is land linked to the Northern Territory Emergency Response. That was a set of federal steps taken in Aboriginal communities under a 2007 law.
Review required after five years
The minister could hand some powers to the head of the department. The head could hand some powers to senior public servants in the department.
Five years after the law starts, the minister would have to order a review. It would look at how many sales the law covered and whether it worked. The review would be given to Parliament within 15 days that Parliament sits.
The bill says it helps Australia keep its promises under a United Nations agreement on economic and social rights. That agreement includes a right to a decent home.
Waiting in the Senate
If passed, the law would start the day after the Governor-General signs it. The Governor-General stands in for the King.
Senator Pocock brought the bill into the Senate on 2 July 2026. On the same day, he formally asked the Senate to vote on its main idea. That vote is the main debate on whether a bill should go ahead.
The bill is still before the Senate. To become law, it would need to pass a Senate vote. Then it would need to pass the House of Representatives, the lower house. Then the Governor-General would have to sign it.
Its journey through Parliament
| 02 Jul 2026 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 02 Jul 2026 | Senate: Second reading moved |