Greens reject ‘shameless’ double dissolution threat over housing proposal
The Greens are staring down the threat of electoral wipe-out in the Senate unless they back Labor’s $10 billion housing fund, as Anthony Albanese concedes he would “rather not” send Australians to an early poll over the issue.
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The Greens are staring down the threat of electoral wipe-out in the Senate unless they back Labor’s $10 billion housing fund, as Anthony Albanese concedes he would “rather not” send Australians to an early poll over the issue.
The Prime Minister said he would prefer the federal government’s housing proposal passed the Senate, but if the Greens block it a second time he would be handed a double dissolution trigger to hold an election in both houses from next year.
With a lower threshold then required to win a Senate seat on first preferences, several Greens senators would be at higher risk of losing to independent or other minor party challengers.
But Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather rejected the electoral threat, accusing the government of turning the housing crisis into a “shameless political fight”.
“The reason (Mr Albanese) is using that threat is because he does not want to answer questions on the government’s housing policy,” he said.
“He doesn’t want to explain what will happen to the millions of renters about to cop massive rent increase … if this government gets its way and they are left behind.”
Mr Chandler-Mather said he believed going to an early election on housing would be “catastrophic” for Labor more so than his own party.
At the last double dissolution election in 2016 the Greens lost a senator and a record number of crossbenchers were elected due to the lower quota of the total vote required compared to a normal election when only half of the Senate positions are vacant.
Mr Albanese described the Greens’ demands for a national rental cap or temporary freeze on increases as “frankly absurd” and urged the minor party to back Labor’s proposal, which would build up to 30,000 affordable and social houses over five years.
“I want this legislation to be passed, I want more housing to be built,” he said.
Labor’s fund would spend $500 million a year building the new homes, but the Greens have called for this to be raised to $2.5bn.
Mr Albanese said it was “extraordinary” the Greens were refusing to support the bill in its current form.
“The Greens don’t say that it’s bad policy,” he said.
“They’ll just say we want more therefore we’ll have nothing.”
Opposition leader Peter Dutton also questioned Mr Albanese’s contemplation of a double dissolution election, saying it would be “very interesting” to see what the public thought of Labor’s track record on issues like cost-of-living.
“If the Prime Minister is looking at some political opportunity, in some tricky underhanded way to go to an early election so that he can try and belt the Greens around … I don’t think the Australian public will reward that.”
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