Housing tensions between Anthony Albanese and Max Chandler-Mather boil over for a second day

MPs have been quick to return to their usual tricks despite receiving an official request to reflect on their behaviour and the standards they are setting in parliament.

It took all but a minute for MPs to revert to their old tricks after House Speaker Milton Dick asked the lower house to reflect on their behaviour and the standards they were setting in parliament.

As the final question time before the long winter break drew to a close on Thursday, Mr Dick read a statement to the House of Representatives to remind MPs of their “shared responsibility” to develop a “safe and respectful culture” in parliament.

“We have clear guidance to about general responsibilities from the safe and respectful workplaces training program, as well as those draft behaviour standards and codes for parliamentarians,” Mr Dick said.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick laid down the law on MP behaviour. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“We need to act individually and collectively to enliven those values in our culture.

“Before the house returns on the last day of July, I want to encourage each of us to genuinely reflect on our own behaviour. Consider what contribution we’re making could make towards a safe and respectful workplace environment.”

Several senior MPs from across the chamber almost immediately became engaged in a spat that included deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley accusing Anthony Albanese of displaying a “bullying attitude” towards a first-term MP and Labor minister Tanya Plibersek firing back.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during Question Time on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The fracas started when Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather rose to claim for the second time in two days that Mr Albanese had misrepresented and “selectively quoted” an article he wrote for left-wing magazine Jacobin about housing.

“Today in question time, the prime minister selectively quoted an article and then imputed meaning to those words that were the complete opposite of those words,” Mr Chandler-Mather said.

“I don’t mean to explain it in full but I would just like to quote some of the words.”

Mr Albanese called a point of order on Mr Chandler-Mather’s personal statement, saying he tabled the first-term Greens MP’s “whole article in the Hansard yesterday, which he wasn’t capable of doing”.

“Because I want people to read exactly what it is that they are saying, which is that the motivation for the holding up of the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) is all about politics,” Mr Albanese said.

Greens leader Adam Bandt then stood up and said Mr Chandler-Mather should be allowed to make his statement in full, given what Mr Dick had “just said” about appropriate behaviour.

Mr Albanese during Question Time on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

With the Greens and Labor at loggerheads over the government’s $10bn HAFF, Mr Chandler-Mather and Mr Albanese’s dispute over the Jacobin magazine article began on Wednesday.

In the piece, published on June 2, Mr Chandler-Mather wrote: “Allowing the HAFF to pass would demobilise the growing section of civil society that is justifiably angry about the degree of poverty and financial stress that exists in such a wealthy country”.

The HAFF was one of Labor’s signature election promises but it is teetering on the brink of failure because the Greens are refusing to support it in its current form and the government needs their votes to pass legislation through the Senate without the Coalition’s support.

The Greens are ramping up their calls for a nationwide cap or freeze on rent increases after having successfully used their balance of power position in the Senate to demand guaranteed funding for housing projects from the returns the HAFF generates.

Mr Albanese referred to Mr Chandler-Mather’s Jacobin article in question time on Wednesday to argue the Greens had no good reason to oppose the HAFF — an investment vehicle for social and affordable housing by raising money through the commonwealth future fund.

“He wrote, ‘This parliamentary conflict helps create space for a broader campaign and civil society’,” Mr Albanese said at the time.

Mr Albanese claimed the article proved the Greens were opposing the HAFF “because it would demobilise people from campaigning against poverty”.

“They want people to stay in poverty,” he said.

Max Chandler-Mather on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Albanese then took to his feet to “seek leave to make my own personal explanation”, prompting cries of “hear hear” from the Labor MPs who were still in the chamber.

“There were two direct quotes from his article which went to the campaign that he’s running, I’m happy to give him leave to table his article, Mr Speaker, because it exposes the political nature of the opposition to 30,000 affordable and social homes”.

Mr Albanese theatrically waved what looked like a printed copy of the Jacobin article as he talked, while Mr Chandler-Mather called out objections and pointed at him across the chamber from his seat on the crossbench.

The two men were then photographed in what appeared to be a tense moment Mr Albanese walked past Mr Chandler-Mather on his way out of the House of Representatives.

Originally published as Housing tensions between Anthony Albanese and Max Chandler-Mather boil over for a second day