No compromise: Labor targets Greens in election on up to 20 bills

Labor will harden its demands on the Greens to pass more than a dozen bills through parliament in the next four days in the belief that voters will blame the smaller party at the next election for blocking the government’s agenda.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is seeking to have the draft laws passed without a single deal with the Greens after months of argument over housing, the environment, university fees, school funding and other reforms.

The approach reflects a crucial calculation that the Greens have lost ground in recent state and local government elections and are at risk of losing federal seats because voters think the party has moved too far to the left on economic policy and the Middle East.

But in two significant retreats, Labor shelved a bill on Sunday that sought to crackdown on misinformation and did not put forward a long-awaited ban on gambling advertising after earlier saying it would unveil the package before the end of the year.

Greens leader Adam Bandt is offering a “pathway” to securing as many as 20 bills through the parliament, but he is asking for amendments on housing and the environment that the government has already refused to accept.

Labor will reinforce its rejection of the Greens’ demands on Monday by warning that some of the proposals – such as a national rent freeze in exchange for passing the housing package –would backfire on households.

While the Greens gained ground at the last election by winning three Brisbane seats in the lower house, the party lost seats at the Queensland state election in October and suffered a setback in the Victorian council elections in November.

Labor is taking a firmer line against the Greens after concluding that voters hold the party responsible for blocking government measures such as the Help to Buy scheme, which uses federal funds to help young people buy their first homes by taking a share of the equity.

Rather than submit to the Greens’ appeals for amendments, the government will target them for obstructing major bills and use this against them in seats including Brisbane and Griffith, where housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather defeated Labor at the last election.

Chandler-Mather said on Sunday he would agree to the housing changes if Labor agreed to changes such as immediate funding for 25,000 more social and affordable homes next year.

“The Greens have designed a compromise offer that is popular, achievable and easy to accept,” he said. “It requires no new legislation and sits broadly within government policy.”

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said she would expect the Greens to back the Help to Buy scheme when it goes back to the Senate on Tuesday, two months after the upper house delayed the $5.5 billion policy.

“This is the week for the Greens to work out whether they will go to the election as an ineffective party of protest,” she said.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is seeking Greens support for the creation of an agency called Environment Protection Australia to enforce federal rules on projects after rejecting calls for a “climate trigger” in the law so projects could be rejected if they increased carbon emissions.

Greens environment spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young signalled on Sunday there could be room for a deal on the reform but said the government should move to stop logging in native forests.

The government appears certain to reject this call, however, because the logging is primarily a matter for the states and any halt would put jobs and communities at risk in regional Australia.

The Coalition helped the government pass one of its most important changes last week, approving a package of aged care bills in the Senate, and the changes are due to go back to the lower house for final approval this week.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells will confirm on Monday the government plans to deliver 107,000 home care packages over the next two years – the largest ever.

The Support at Home policy will be expanded with 83,454 additional packages in the year to June 2026, adding to an additional 24,100 packages in the year to June 2025.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will target the Coalition on Monday by introducing a bill to parliament on Monday to offer production tax credits to mining companies that produce critical minerals needed for high-tech devices and batteries.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has refused to back the changes out of concern at the cost, but Labor is seeking to turn that against him in mining states such as Western Australia.

In a sign of the way its agenda is at risk in the Senate, Labor moved on Sunday to scrap a controversial plan to crack down on lies in major public debates and admitted it could not secure the votes for its plan.

The misinformation regime aimed to give federal authorities the power to force tech giants to act on alerts about damaging falsehoods and stop them spreading before they cause serious harm, citing cases such as the misidentification of the Bondi Junction knife attacker this year.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said on Sunday the bill would not proceed, without saying what else the government might do to combat misinformation and disinformation.

“Based on public statements and engagements with senators, it is clear that there is no pathway to legislate this proposal through the Senate,” she said.

Dutton welcomed the government’s move and turned the issue into a question of judgement for Albanese, while also attacking the prime minister for retreating on plans to curb the advertising of online gambling services.

“This is a cowardly and craven capitulation – and just shows this government can’t get the big calls right,” he said. The Coalition favours a ban on gambling advertising during the broadcast of sporting games.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.