Clare O’Neil says Greens holding nurses and childcare workers hostage after they managed to delay Help to Buy vote

Labor accuses the Greens of holding the home ownership aspirations of childcare workers and nurses hostage after Anthony Albanese was forced to delay a vote on his Help to Buy bill.

Jacqui Lambie confers with Penny Wong on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Labor has intensified its assault against the Greens after Anthony Albanese was forced to delay a vote on a signature housing bill by two months, with Clare O’Neil accusing the minor party of holding the home ownership aspirations of childcare workers and nurses hostage.

The Prime Minister will visit the Queensland battleground seat of Leichhardt on Thursday to talk up his government’s plans to increase housing supply after the Coalition, One Nation and the United Australia Party’s Ralph Babet backed a Greens amendment to put off a Senate vote on the Help to Buy scheme until November 26.

Independent senators Jacqui Lambie, David Pocock and Tammy Tyrrell sided with Labor to reject the extension, as Mr Albanese warned: “Australians want their leaders to act now to make housing more affordable. This is too important to wait.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt declared the government had two months “to get serious about the housing crisis” and negotiate, while Housing Minister Clare O’Neil insisted the party had offered no amendments.

“What the Greens are doing is holding the aspirations of childcare workers and nurses to own their own home hostage, to generate media and attention,” she said. “This bill is not the silver bullet to Australia’s housing crisis, because there isn’t a silver bullet. Help to Buy is an important piece of the puzzle that would change the lives of 40,000 Australians and their families.”

Housing and Homelessness Minister Clare O'Neil. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Michaelia Cash on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Under the Help to Buy plan, which was a 2022 Labor election promise, eligible Australians would be able to purchase a home with a minimum deposit of 2 per cent. The government would own up to 40 per cent of a person’s home and recoup its funding, plus its share of capital gain, when the property is sold.

The Greens argue it would help just 0.2 per cent of Australia’s 5.5 million renters and push up housing prices for those who can’t access the program. They have demanded a cap on rent increases, a winding back of negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount and money for a “massive” public housing build in exchange for their support.

Mr Bandt said the market had changed so much since the 2022 election – when Labor dropped the Shorten-era negative gearing and CGT policies – that the government could make changes to those concessions. “At the last election, Anthony Albanese was trying his hardest to be a small target and their vote went backwards,” he said. “We’re talking about people who’ve got two or more investment properties. When you’ve got people who’ve got 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 20, 200 investment properties, they do not need a handout from Anthony Albanese to go and buy their next one when it comes at the expense of a first homebuyer or a renter.”

As Peter Dutton labelled the tensions between Labor and the Greens a “civil war”, Mr Albanese and Queensland Premier Steven Miles will go to the state’s biggest social housing project – with 490 homes due to be built – ahead of work commencing next week.

“In spite of the No-alition of the Liberals, Nationals, Greens and One Nation we are determined to increase housing supply,” Mr Albanese said.

“This project will deliver hundreds of homes in regional Queensland, while complementing our plan to deliver thousands of homes through our Housing Australia Future Fund all around Australia.”