Editor’s view: Greens’ hypocrisy must be called out

It is really not easy being Green – particularly when you find yourself calling for more housing while at the same time opposing more housing, writes the editor.

It is really not easy being Green – particularly when you find yourself calling for more housing while at the same time opposing more housing.

Ridiculous as this predicament may sound, that is the exact situation Queensland’s three fledgling federal MPs for the Greens have found themselves in.

The party has been hypocritically campaigning on housing issues relentlessly, both before and especially since the federal election.

As mortgages and rents have begun to soar, the Greens have seized on the issue to invigorate their base and attract more disaffected, younger voters away from the major parties.

While the Albanese government has been attempting to get through its Housing Australia Future Fund, intended to deliver up to 30,000 new homes a year, the Greens have been doorknocking in electorates accusing Labor of “gambling money on the stockmarket” and blocking the Bill in the Senate.

It says the Bill doesn’t do enough, fast enough, while also demanding the commonwealth force the state governments to sign up to some form of national rental freeze – despite warnings from some economists this will only choke supply and make a bad situation worse.

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

But as it turns out, the Greens, including housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather – the MP for the inner-Brisbane seat of Griffith that has led the charge against the Future Fund – have meanwhile been busy actively opposing almost 2000 homes being built in their own electorate.

Their protests include a campaign against the Kurilpa temporary local planning instrument, which proposes a relaxation on height limits in the inner-city area specifically to create higher density and relieve the supply shortage driving much of the crisis.

With migration on the rise and residents in southern states looking to escape to Queensland, we are going to need not only more houses as soon as possible, but also a pipeline to keep even more new homes coming.

What the Greens don’t seem to understand is that you cannot address the housing crisis without building more houses.

A NIMBY attitude will not get more people in homes.

Opposing legislation to deliver more public housing will not see the men, women and children sleeping in tents in Musgrave Park or under the Go Between Bridge – both smack-bang in the heart of the Griffith electorate – able to get a roof over their heads.

Mr Chandler-Mather says he has suggested 15 other locations in his electorate where new homes can be built. But saying you would support housing in an area nobody is proposing new homes be built is a far cry from actually easing any pressure on the housing squeeze.

There is no doubt that the party has been effectively using the issue in its social media campaign, reaching out to young people who are disproportionately affected by the rental squeeze and difficulties entering the property ladder.

But this can backfire if the same group they rally becomes disillusioned by the talk not backed up by – or even contradicted by – their actions.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers belled the cat earlier this year when he said the Greens “cared more about TikTok than housing stock”.

The Greens have always been a party of protest, a group focused all on care, but no responsibility. Now they have seen their numbers in parliament increase as they become a bigger political force. But the problem with being a party of protest is that once you’ve gone mainstream, there is a responsibility to actually make a difference.

That is when reality starts to bite.