Albo accused of housing roadblock ‘stunt’
The Greens have accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of being “a bulldozer” and pulling “a stunt” by potentially forcing a vote on two key pieces of housing legislation which remain roadblocked in the Senate.
Support from the Greens appears the government’s only pathway to pass its Help to Buy and Build to Rent bills, with the minor party saying it won’t guarantee its support unless Labor begins negotiations on reforming capital gains tax and negative gearing provisions, and rent freezes and caps on rent increases.
On Monday, Greens Leader Adam Bandt said the Greens were “willing” to work with Labor, but said there had been “no meaningful offers” to negotiate.
“The housing crisis is breaking people, so instead of playing political games and bringing stunts before the Senate, the Prime Minister should start negotiating seriously with the greens to fix the housing and rental prices,” he said.
Mr Bandt’s comments come after debate on government’s Help to Buy shared equity scheme began in the Senate on Monday.
The proposed scheme would allow up to 40,000 first-home buyers over four years to purchase a property under a shared equity scheme with the government footing up to 40 per cent of the funds for a new home and 30 per cent for an existing home.
Although the Greens have been fixed on limiting negative gearing tax incentives, Mr Bandt indicated there was flexibility in their demand, and said they would consider a “phased in” approach.
“We’re realistic. We understand it might not all change overnight, but it’s got to start somewhere, and nothing changes if nothing changes,” he said.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young accused Mr Albanese of being “a bulldozer,” dredging up the criticism of former Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
“The government needs to negotiate and to work collaboratively to get outcomes. It is not leadership to bulldoze your way through. Our previous prime minister was a bulldozer … and that didn’t end so well,” she said.
Earlier on Monday, Mr Albanese lashed out at the senate crossbench, telling the Greens and other senators to “get on with it” and pass the two pivotal bills.
Mr Albanese said the legislation was “not complex” and “based on things that is their policy”.
“If there are alternatives, you have a chance to move amendments, and people vote on those amendments, and then you vote on the (legislation),” he said.
“They all have that opportunity, but get on with it. Don’t sit back and do what they did with the Housing Australia Future Fund.”
Mr Albanese announced that some 13,700 new homes were in the pipeline funded under the government’s Housing Australia Future Fund Facility and National Housing Accord Facility.
He said those projects could have been announced “six or eight months ago” if the Greens had not “stood in the way”.
“The senate have a week where it’s just them … there’s no distractions here,” Mr Albanese said.
“Can they get anything done? Can they get anything done this week? That’s the question.
“If not, I reckon Australians will question what they are doing because they continually come up with talking to the media, rather than talking in the parliament and moving amendments or coming up with suggestions. They need to get this done.”
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil also said she wasn’t “giving up” on further negotiations, and called on the Greens to put “politics aside”.
“One of the things that’s really challenging about housing in our country is that we’ve got a broken political debate,” she told Sky News.
“We’ve got Labor, in my view, trying to do the right thing and lead the conversation. The Liberals saying no to everything, and the Greens kind of backing them in to do it.”
Labor’s second housing Bill, Build to Rent, aims to incentivise the construction of rent-only developments through tax incentives.
The Senate knocked back the legislation earlier this year, sending it to an inquiry for further scrutiny.
But it failed to garner the support of the opposition and the Greens, with the Coalition saying it perpetuated a “rent forever” approach to housing and the Greens saying it would do nothing but give tax handouts to property developers to build homes nobody can afford.
Neither Bill will pass the upper house without support from the Greens, who have asked for action on rent freezes and caps, an end to tax concessions for property developers, and a government-owned property developer that would build homes to sell at just above the cost of construction.