World-first social media ban for the young passes in rush of bills

Labor is claiming victory in a fight to deliver help to households before the federal election after winning Senate votes on housing, food prices and social media policies, while also securing a last-minute deal to toughen migration laws.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared he was turning “promises into progress” after also gaining Senate approval this week for a cut to student debts and the final element of a sweeping change to the aged care sector.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was pleased with the progress made in the final sitting week of 2024.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

But the government jettisoned key parts of its agenda after being attacked by the Coalition and the Greens on some of its plans, forcing it to shelve its changes to political donations and its election pledge to set up an environment protection agency to regulate new projects.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton blasted Albanese as “weak and incompetent” and challenged him to call the federal election, blaming him for spending too much money on the Voice referendum last year and presiding over rising prices.

Albanese dismissed the idea of an imminent election and accused Dutton of taking too long to release a detailed plan for nuclear energy after promising the policy in June.

“He has spent all year saying the costings on his nuclear policy are coming next week or next fortnight. The clock is ticking and it never happens – tomorrow never comes,” Albanese told parliament.

Albanese said on Thursday night he wanted parliament to return in the new year to pass changes such as tax credits for critical minerals, signalling he would not race to an election at the start of the year.

“We fully expect to be sitting in February,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 program.

In a frantic day of negotiation, the government made a surprise addition to the agenda by gaining crossbench support for its food and grocery code, which imposes mandatory rules on supermarkets to treat suppliers fairly.

The two housing bills approved on Thursday include the Build to Rent scheme to reduce the tax on foreign investors who build major housing projects so they pay the same rate as they would on commercial property, making a swift change that could encourage more construction.

The government estimates this would lead investors to build at least 80,000 more homes over a decade.

In a negotiation with independent senator David Pocock and the broader crossbench, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil agreed to amendments that would require the investors to offer five-year leases for the renters in the build-to-rent projects, while also ruling out no-fault evictions. In addition, 10 per cent of the homes must be affordable housing for people in need.

The second housing bill passed on Thursday sets up the Help to Buy scheme to offer federal funds to 10,000 home buyers each year in return for equity in their homes, but this requires work by government officials and will not be open to applicants until the middle of next year.

Greens leader Adam Bandt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Greens leader Adam Bandt backed the government’s move to force the final votes on 27 draft laws on Thursday after securing more concessions from Albanese including $500 million to cut energy bills in social housing by improving energy efficiency.

Albanese met Bandt in the prime minister’s office on Thursday morning and agreed on the outcome to speed up the votes in the Senate, helped by the Greens’ decision earlier this week to drop their objections to the government’s housing bills.

In exchange, the Greens also agreed to help pass Labor’s landmark changes to the Reserve Bank structure and the Future Made in Australia program to encourage local manufacturing.

Labor and the Greens successfully voted to gag debate in a so-called guillotine, clearing the path for the speedy approval of bills on Thursday night.

Separate from this deal, Labor and the Coalition agreed to combine their votes to pass strict conditions for former detainees and the law to force social media companies to turn away customers who are under 16. This increased the tally of bills to be passed to 31.

The migration bills were passed about 9.40pm on Thursday.

As expected, Albanese gained Coalition support for the social media package, given Dutton called for the age limit in June, but the debate was marked by warnings from the Greens and crossbenchers, as well as some Coalition MPs, about the lack of detail in how the scheme would work.

The government will take up to a year to run trials and finalise the regulations to support the law. Tech tycoons, such as X owner Elon Musk, have warned that it will not work.

With critics worried that the regime would require customers to hand over personal information to social media companies to confirm their age, Labor put an amendment to the package at about 10pm on Thursday to accept calls from the Coalition for tougher privacy protections.

The changes give the federal communications minister the power to set rules that prohibit social media companies from forcing customers to provide information such as drivers’ licence details.

The laws to change the rules on political donations were pushed back after Labor and the Coalition could not agree on the details.

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie slammed the government for rushing too many laws through the Senate too quickly, without enough scrutiny.

“To say that I am disappointed in this government is an understatement,” she told the Senate.

“When it comes to transparency and integrity, this government has been an epic failure.”

Credit: Matt Golding

The bills passed on Thursday night also included a new regime for mergers and acquisitions, requiring companies to notify the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission about their deals and giving the regulator greater scope to reject them. The new rules start in January 2026.

The Senate passed a new law to define the objective of superannuation, seen as a way to guide the purpose of super funds, but the government postponed a law to raise revenue by increasing tax on all funds with more than $3 million.

The government also gained support for the Future Made in Australia (Guarantee of Origin) Bill to set up a voluntary scheme to certify products that help reduce carbon emissions.

However, it delayed a bigger “made in Australia” bill that aims to offer tax credits for miners who produce critical minerals, given the Coalition rejects the need for this financial assistance. This sets up a political fight at the election over which of the parties offers the most help to miners, especially in Western Australia.

With Olivia Ireland, Shane Wright and Nick Bonyhady

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