Labor threat of another double dissolution over housing policy ‘not credible’, Greens say
Anthony Albanese will attempt to pressure the Greens and Senate crossbench to pass his signature housing scheme for first-home buyers by reintroducing stalled legislation in the lower house, accusing his opponents of choosing ‘politics over progress’.
Anthony Albanese will attempt to pressure the Greens and Senate crossbench to pass his signature housing scheme for first-home buyers by reintroducing stalled legislation in the lower house, accusing his opponents of choosing “politics over progress”.
Labor’s Help to Buy legislation is one of many bills that has neither Greens nor Coalition support, including the Environmental Protection Act, Future Made in Australia, privacy reforms and changes to tax settings for high-value super accounts, foreshadowing a difficult parliamentary week for the government.
The Australian understands the government considers the Senate’s decision on September 18 to postpone debate on the Help to Buy Bill until late November counts as the legislation being blocked.
If the reintroduced bill is blocked a second time from December 18 – at least three months after the Senate deferred its consideration of the legislation – the Prime Minister would have a trigger for a double dissolution election up his sleeve.
While any suggestion of a DD election has been widely dismissed by MPs from across the political divide, Mr Albanese has not ruled out using it as an option.
Mr Albanese would then need to call a DD election by January 25, at least six months before the three-year term of the House of Representatives ends.
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil urged the Coalition and Greens to pass the government’s housing legislation.
“Every time the Coalition and the Greens have had a chance to help renters or first-home buyers, they have chosen politics over progress,” she said.
“This week they get the chance to make progress for first-home buyers in the parliament. Australians wanting to buy their first home expect more than further delay.”
Despite Labor sources expressing optimism that forcing another vote on housing would pressure the Greens to come to the table, Greens sources said the party would hold firm until major changes to the legislation were achieved, similar to what took place following negotiations on the Housing Australia Future Fund last year.
Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said the current Help to Buy scheme would make little difference to those the government had identified as standing to benefit, including nurses and teachers, declaring it was “deeply dishonest” for Labor to suggest otherwise.
Mr Chandler-Mather pointed to analysis by the parliamentary library, commissioned by the Greens, showing average full-time earnings for a registered nurse sat at $112,90 and $127,600 for a paramedic, rendering them ineligible for the scheme due to its $90,000 income threshold for single Australians.
He said Labor’s desire to reintroduce the Help to Buy bill this week was “an apparent threat” to establish a double dissolution election trigger, but the grounds for doing so were “not credible”.
“The Greens are ready to negotiate on a plan that actually helps people buy a home,” Mr Chandler-Mather said.
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