Greens demand Labor negotiate as major housing bills face the senate

The Prime Minister has been accused of “pathetic and childish” behaviour when it comes to the nation’s housing crisis.

The Prime Minister has been accused of “pathetic and childish” behaviour when it comes to the nation’s housing crisis, with the Greens claiming he is more focused on fighting them than fixing the problem.

The Help to Buy and Build to Rent bills will face the Senate next week and are essential to the government’s plan to tackle soaring housing costs across the country.

But neither will pass the Upper House without support from the Greens, who have asked for action on rent freezes and caps, an end to tax concessions for property developers, and a government owned property developer that would build homes to sell at just above the cost of construction.

“Labor has offered absolutely nothing,” Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said on Sunday.

“No movement on rent caps. No extra money for public housing or a public developer.

“No proposal on negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount that deny so many renters the chance to buy a home.

“Labor is not negotiating, they haven’t made a single counter offer, and frankly we have lost

patience with a property investor Prime Minister who would rather reject good ideas just so

he can pursue his personal dislike of the Greens instead of helping renters and first home

buyers.”

Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather says the government is more interested in fighting the Greens than ‘helping renters and first home buyers.’ Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

If passed, the Help to Buy Bill would allow to first home buyers to purchase a property under a shared equity scheme with the government.

Simply, the government would foot up to 40 per cent of the funds for a new home, and 30 per cent for an existing home.

Meanwhile, Build to Rent aims to incentivise the construction of rent-only developments through tax incentives.

The Senate knocked back the legislation earlier this year, sending it to an inquiry for further scrutiny.

But it failed to garner the support of the opposition and the Greens, with the Coalition saying it perpetuated a “rent forever” approach to housing and the Greens saying it would do nothing but give tax handouts to property developers to build homes nobody can afford.

“Labor thinks they can win a political fight with the Greens, but in reality the only losers out of Labor’s stubborn refusal to negotiate will be the millions of people across this country right

now struggling to put food on the table and pay the rent because Labor won’t cap rent

increases,” Mr Chandler-Mather said.

“I am bitterly disappointed that in a parliament where we have an opportunity to negotiate a

historic plan to alleviate the housing misery of millions of Australians, Labor is pursuing a

pathetic and childish political strategy to try and pick a fight with the Greens.”