Anthony Albanese funnels $1bn in new home funding amid Senate impasse

Anthony Albanese will unveil $1bn to help states and territories build new homes amid a Senate impasse, with the Liberals and Greens uniting to block Labor’s build-to-rent reforms

Anthony Albanese in question time on Thursday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Anthony Albanese will on Friday unveil $1bn in funding for the states and territories to build new homes amid a Senate impasse that saw the Liberals and Greens unite to block his build-to-rent reforms.

The funds, being channelled through the priority works stream of the Housing Support Program, are aimed at achieving the national target of building 1.2 million new homes over the next five years, which building industry groups warn is not on track.

The funds will be directed towards amenities essential for new homes and social housing, including sewers, energy, water and community infrastructure.

The government’s plan to boost rental housing construction was blocked in the Senate after the Liberals and Greens joined forces, as Jim Chalmers warned there could now be “160,000 fewer homes for homeless people and young people to rent”.

The legislation was aimed at levelling the investment playing field by lowering the managed investment trust withholding tax for “build-to-rent” assets to the same level as other types of investments such as offices or hotels. However, the Liberals and Greens teamed up in the Senate to strip out the build-to-rent provisions from a larger omnibus bill and have them referred to the economics legislation committee for inquiry and report by September 4.

The Greens’ motion, backed by the Liberals, passed by 40 votes to 20, with Mr Albanese saying the progressive and conservative parties had formed an “alliance” to oppose housing.

Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said Labor’s plan would “see property developers and foreign investors pocket tax handouts in exchange for building unaffordable apartments that will only make the crisis worse”.

“The Greens will support Labor’s build-to-rent bill on the condition that it is guaranteed 100 per cent of the apartments will be actually affordable and good quality, by imposing rent caps, longer leases and linking the definition of affordability to a tenants income,” he said

Coalition home ownership spokesman Andrew Bragg said the Labor government wanted to “give foreign fund managers a tax cut so that 150,000 houses will be owned by these managers”.

“Australians must not become serfs to foreign fund managers. The Australian dream is not about foreign fund managers renting out houses to Australians,” he said.

Speaking in parliament, the Treasurer warned the Greens and the Coalition had teamed up to “knock off tens of thousands of rental properties to help fix the problem that we have with housing supply in this country”.

“This is the hypocrisy at the very, very core of the Greens political party,” he said. “If you really gave a stuff about homelessness in this country, you would vote for the policies that would build more housing supply in this country.”

Mr Albanese said the extra $1bn would “help build more homes, more quickly, in more parts of our country”.

“Building more homes will make housing more affordable whether you’re building, renting or buying,” he said.

Of the new funding, $304m will go to NSW, $249m to Victoria, $199m to Queensland, $105m to Western Australia, $67m to South Australia and $25m each to Tasmania, the Northern Territory and ACT.