Early election trigger to spark from housing failure

The PM blasted the Greens for taking a ‘juvenile student policy approach’ in dealing with the government’s $10bn housing fund.

Anthony Albanese is seeking legal advice on the Green’s blocking of Labor’s signature housing policy, leaving the door open to the prospect of a double dissolution

Anthony Albanese is seeking legal advice on the Greens’ blocking of Labor’s signature housing policy, leaving the door open to the prospect of a double dissolution.

The Prime Minister on Tuesday condemned the minor party for taking a “juvenile student policy approach” in dealing with the government’s $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund, ­accusing the Greens of “building their profile” rather than more homes for vulnerable people.

“This isn’t about renters, it is not about people in social housing, it is not about people in ­affordable housing, it is about them,” Mr Albanese said.

“They want the issue, not the outcome. They deal in protest, we focus on progress. They see issues to campaign on, we see challenges to act on. They want to build their profile, we want to build more homes.”

The Greens and the Coalition on Monday teamed up to delay debate on Labor’s $10bn housing policy to October 16 after the minor party said its demands for a federally co-ordinated rental freeze had not been met.

The party has continually ­rejected the government’s offer to guarantee a minimum $500m investment to build new social and affordable homes each year, and demanded more funding for housing, including a spend of at least $2.5bn and a rent freeze.

Constitutional law expert Anne Twomey said the government would have a reasonable case to argue that the Greens’ block would constitute the first of two steps needed to gain a double dissolution under the Constitution.

If the bill fails at least three months after the first failure, the government will have a trigger for a double dissolution, which involves a full Senate election.

“It’s not that the bill is going to a committee inquiry or awaiting submissions, it seems that at least some of the senators want to wait to see whether the government will change its policy, and whether there will be some movement from national cabinet,” Ms Twomey said.

“There seems to be not that the Senate needs further time to consider the bill but it’s about further time for the government to change its mind. There is a reasonable argument for the bill’s deferral to October is in fact a failure to pass.”

But the Greens on Tuesday rejected the government’s characterisation of the bill’s delay as a sign the minor party had voted against it.

Following a partyroom briefing on Tuesday morning, the Greens said the party was not blocking the housing fund but was waiting for national cabinet to meet in August in the hope it would act on stronger rights for renters.

A spokeswoman for the Greens said the bill’s delay did not constitute enough grounds to provide the first step towards a double-dissolution election given the minor party was ­prepared to deal with the bill on October 16.

Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said Mr Albanese was “out there threatening elections” rather than negotiating with the minor party.

“Time and again the Greens have bent over backwards to reach a negotiating position while the Prime Minister is out there threatening elections,” Mr Chandler-Mather said.

“His job as the most powerful person in the country is at the very least to provide some representation to the one third of this country who rents.”