The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union has staged a demonstration outside the conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre this morning to launch a “pro-worker” national housing plan.

The union is urging the Labor Party to treat housing as a national emergency as it charts its course for the remaining term of government.

AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy has launched a national housing plan.Dominic Lorrimer

“For too long, housing policy in this country has been written for the benefit of investors and developers, not for the workers who build our homes and keep this economy running,” the union’s national secretary, Steve Murphy, said.

“We are an affiliate of this party, and today we are telling Labor delegates, in the clearest possible terms, that workers expect action on housing, on tax, and on the supply of homes people can actually afford,” he said.

The plan, titled Housing Charter: Our Right to a Home, calls for a permanent national housing commission to coordinate housing supply, taxes on vacant homes, regulating short-stay accommodation providers, and expanding social housing and modular builds.