Jim Chalmers says the Greens are more interested in differentiating themselves from Labor than housing the nation’s needy, after the minor party rejected a compromise from the government to secure the passage of the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund.

Anthony Albanese, who has told colleagues he would rather take the policy to the next election than compromise any further, said the demands being made by the Greens were “absurd and untenable” and amounted to nationalising the private housing investment market.