u/TheGardenNymph

I had my second baby 12 days ago so yesterday I had a home visit from the Maternal Child Health Nurse, she told me she's seeing more and more clients who don't have any heating at all in their rentals or who are not using their heaters due to the cost of living. She saw a 10 day old baby in the appointment before us who is living in a rental without heating and the landlord has no intention of providing heating and the family is too scared of eviction to push back on the LL again.

This shouldn't be happening in 2026 in a country like Australia but it is and its heartbreaking. I'm holding my baby and thinking of all the little babies and kids living without heating right now.

Human trafficking is far more common in Australia than people may believe and it can look like many things. If you are viewing a rental property or have moved into a property and you suspect that the situation goes beyond general scum lord territory and may actually be a human trafficking situation please report it to AFP. You do not need to have evidence, but if you form a reasonable belief that human trafficking might be happening at the property, or it's has been used for human trafficking in the past, please report it.

I see posts on this sub from time to time that make me suspect human trafficking is going on but people don't know what to look for or may not be confident to report it. There was a post tonight referring to a property as a former "Asian boarding house" and the tenant recieved 20+ letters for different people in a day. There's been many other posts about illegal student boarding houses which may actually be being used for trafficking.

At the very least if you're reporting these properties then scumlords should be getting investigated by the relevant authorities.