David Pocock’s Commonwealth Land (Affordable Housing) Bill would require affordable housing to be built into residential development on Commonwealth land. It deserves support because public land should deliver lasting public value, not simply the highest possible sale price.
Australia can’t afford to leave good housing solutions sitting on the table.
That’s why I support the Commonwealth Land (Affordable Housing) Bill 2026 and, more importantly, the principle behind it. When governments control land that could contribute to housing supply, we should be asking how that public asset can deliver the greatest long-term benefit, not just the highest sale price.
The bill sets out a framework for Commonwealth land released for residential development, including a requirement that at least 30 per cent of dwellings built on that land be affordable, subject to exemptions and the detailed operation of the legislation. It’s a conversation Australia urgently needs to have.
Public land is more than a balance-sheet item
Governments have a genuine responsibility to manage public assets well. But responsible management shouldn’t automatically mean extracting the highest possible sale price. Land carries social value as well as financial value.
If publicly owned land is suitable for housing, there’s a legitimate question about whether selling it at maximum market value is really the best outcome for the community. Sometimes the better return is measured in homes – a nurse, teacher, disability support worker or hospitality worker able to live near their job; an older person with a stable rental; a family that avoids housing stress. Those outcomes are important too.
Affordable housing shouldn’t be an afterthought
What I like most about measures like this is that they turn affordable housing from something we hope a development might deliver into something we deliberately plan for.
Under the bill, affordable housing requirements would be built into the conditions of disposal, with eligible rents capped at the lower of 75 per cent of market rent or 30 per cent of household income, rather than simply tracking market prices. That’s a meaningful shift.
For decades, Australia has tried to fix affordability after the fact: once land values have risen, development decisions are locked in and housing is already expensive. It makes far more sense to build affordability in from the start. If government knows in advance that some housing on public land must stay affordable, that expectation can shape the land value, the development model and the financing from day one.
Support for that principle extends beyond the housing and homelessness sector. The Urban Development Institute of Australia has backed the approach of setting the affordable housing allocation before Commonwealth land is sold, even while proposing changes to some of the bill’s detail. We can, and should, debate the percentage, eligibility settings and implementation while still agreeing on the underlying idea.
We need every lever available
No single policy will solve the housing crisis. We need more social and affordable housing, more supply overall, planning reform, better-coordinated infrastructure, homelessness prevention, supportive housing and more secure renting. But that complexity is no excuse for leaving individual levers unused.
Commonwealth land is one lever. State, territory and local governments should look at their own landholdings the same way, and major infrastructure and redevelopment projects should build in affordable housing from the outset rather than adding it later.
The question worth asking more often is simple: if government action creates development opportunity or lifts land value, how can some of that value be returned to the public? Affordable housing should be one answer.
This matters outside the capital cities too
It’s tempting to treat this as a Sydney, Melbourne or Canberra debate. It isn’t. Regional communities are feeling their own housing pressure, and when housing gets scarce, the effects spread well beyond people experiencing homelessness. Businesses struggle to recruit. Health and community services struggle to attract staff. Younger people leave, older people can’t find suitable housing, and even workers on reasonable incomes are competing hard for rentals.
Future approaches to public land need to account for regional opportunities, not just metropolitan ones. A modest parcel of well-located government land can make a real difference in a regional housing market.
Public investment should leave a lasting public benefit
There’s a broader principle at stake. When the public contributes land, funding, planning uplift or infrastructure to a housing development, we should expect a lasting public return – not necessarily forever, and not through one identical model everywhere, but with a clear intent: public investment should help build affordability that lasts.
That means looking seriously at long-term affordability covenants, partnerships with community housing providers, mixed-tenure developments, inclusionary requirements and other mechanisms that keep affordable homes in the community over time.
The Commonwealth Land (Affordable Housing) Bill will be scrutinised and debated, and its detail can be tested and improved through that process; the Senate inquiry is due to report on 23 November 2026. But the bigger idea deserves attention regardless of how the bill fares.
Australia’s housing crisis demands that we think differently about the assets and tools government already has. Public land is one of them.
The value of public land should be measured not only by what it can return financially, but by what it can deliver for the community.
Sometimes the most valuable use will be homes that ordinary Australians can actually afford.
Fabian Webber
Fabian Webber is a community-sector leader dedicated to driving systemic change across housing, health, and homelessness in Central Queensland. As Program Development Manager at Roseberry Qld and Project Lead for the region’s CQ Zero initiative, he champions data-driven, person-centred approaches to ending homelessness, integrating Advance to Zero methodology with strong place-based collaboration. Fabian also serves as Chair of the CQ Housing & Homelessness Alliance, working closely with local councils, health services, and government partners to strengthen coordination, influence policy, and expand regional housing solutions.