By Adam Bandt, MP and Leader of the Australian Greens

In the last few weeks in Canberra we have been doing everything we can to get Labor to actually take the cost of living, housing and the climate crisis seriously. Labor and the Liberals are not interested in actually solving the problems. They are just tinkering around the edges.

They are not interested in helping tenants, mortgage holders or people being ripped off by supermarkets.

They simply mask the cracks, refusing to do their job and eliminate the pressures that cause the cracks.

The cost of living for many is a full-blown economic crisis. Millions of people have nothing. An electricity subsidy or childcare subsidy won’t fix that.

When we push for more, we are told that we are threatening the immediate solutions they are proposing.

We have been accused of being obstructionists and extremists. We have been told that we are unrealistic and that our policies are unattainable pipe dreams.

That’s why people are so bored with politics. There’s no vision. No one is prepared to strive for something bigger than what we have now. No one is prepared to reach for the stars and change people’s lives for the better.

Meanwhile, large corporations are making record profits and 1 in 3 are not paying taxes. Imagine what we could do if we started taxing them properly to fund the things everyone needs.

Now, with their poll numbers falling, Labour are looking for someone to blame. And they’re looking at us. Trying to drag us down to their level.

If Labour wanted to solve these problems, introduce free childcare, fund a massive expansion of publicly owned renewable energy, freeze and cap rents, write off all student debt and cut mortgage interest rates, it has the tools to do so.

We are ready to cooperate with them.

If they wanted big corporations to pay their fair share of taxes, they would have the numbers. The Greens would use our numbers in parliament to support changes that would benefit ordinary people.

We must show courage and we must lead. Everything is impossible until it is impossible.

We’ve been in this situation before – we recently negotiated with the Labour Party, We managed to secure an additional $3 billion for social housing.

We need to get out there and fight for lower rents, lower mortgages, free childcare, student debt relief, publicly available renewable energy, and an end to coal and gas.

Our message to people is simple:

We can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expect different results.

We deserve better and we can achieve it.