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The accusations, tense debates and unlikely alliances meant the government’s plans to pass its fair housing bills were thwarted in the Senate.
Labor senators, like Foreign Minister Penny Wong, are blaming the opposition and other senators for blocking progress in solving Australia’s housing crisis.
“Well, the obstacles, Senator Ghosh, are there and there. That’s where the obstacles are, you may not like it pointed out, but you bear the responsibility because you work with the Australian Greens to prevent a plan that would allow more Australians to own their own homes I mean this is an unholy alliance between the Greens and the Coalition. this country suffers from a shortage of housing We need more housing faster in more parts of the country, those on the other side of the country don’t want that to happen. They seem to think that homeownership should be the preserve. some and the Australian Greens seem to want to allow Mr Dutton to prevent there being more housing in this country.
While the Greens and Coalition have teamed up to once again delay Labor’s fair housing bills, Labor’s plans to bring forward a vote have failed after threats to seek a double dissolution .
The Prime Minister says neither the Greens nor the Coalition have real reasons to vote against the bills.
“We have legislation. We support it. No one is offering a rational argument for why they shouldn’t vote for it. In some cases it’s just immaturity and meanness on the part of the spokesperson of the Greens who says he supports more housing but will never vote for it, and in the case of the Liberals and Nationals they are just blockers They have never been very good on housing, like. the Minister of Housing just pointed out, Minister O’Neil, they haven’t had a Minister of Housing for quite a while in government.
For the second time, Labor has failed to pass its Help to Buy Bill, which gives first home buyers access to cheaper deposits thanks to a government guarantee .
If, in at least three months, the government fails to pass the law through the Senate in another vote, double dissolution can be invoked.
Faced with a clear lack of support to pass the bill, many questioned why the government put it to a vote, with speculation on the issues being used to trigger a double dissolution election.
A decision that Mr. Albanese did not rule out before the vote.
“Well, wait and see. We’re leaving… it’s up to you. I’ll tell you one way to avoid a double dissolution. It’s up to the Coalition and the Greens to vote for the legislation they support.”
Ahead of the vote, strong criticism of Labor came from Senate seats.
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham described Labor’s attempts to push the bills forward as a failure on both counts.
“The Albanian government cannot even implement a strategy to have one of its own bills rejected. It certainly cannot get its bill passed, but it is even now managing to find a strategy or a way to defeat his bill. The Labor government has lost so much control over the way its legislative program works that it has managed to convince only one non-Labor senator to vote with it.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi says the proposed bills are simply not good for most tenants.
“You don’t have the numbers for anything. You don’t have the numbers for anything, because this Senate has decided that your bill will only make the situation worse for 99.8 percent of the five and a half million renters who live in this region so you come here and you try to destroy the will of the Senate You know, as we said yesterday, the Prime Minister wants us all to get out of his way, but we don’t get out of his way. of its path to pass a bill that. will make a lot of things even worse, it will increase property prices.”
The Help to Buy scheme would support 40,000 eligible buyers with an equity contribution of up to 40 per cent for new homes and 30 per cent for existing homes.
Another housing labor legislation, the Build to Rent bill, is also being considered in the Senate.
The build-to-rent scheme aims to incentivize developers to build homes entirely for rental by offering tax breaks.
At least 10 percent of the housing will need to be affordable housing, priced approximately 25 percent below the market rate.
The Greens demand that 100 per cent of built stock be affordable and that rents be capped at 2 per cent every two years, but this would affect the financial viability of developers.
Greens leader Adam Bandt says the government is leaving no room for maneuver in the negotiations.
“The Prime Minister must stop bulldozing and start negotiating with the Greens to resolve the housing and rent crisis by capping and freezing rents, limiting tax allowances to wealthy property investors who deprive tenants of opportunity to buy their first home and building more social housing Look, it beggars belief that the Prime Minister would rather see this bill fail than negotiate an outcome.
He also claims that Mr Albanese’s willingness to threaten a double dissolution constitutes a betrayal of the people.
“You know who the losers will be? The losers will be the millions of stressed tenants and mortgage holders who are counting on Parliament to solve the housing and rent crisis, because people are at breaking point, and instead of this, the Prime Minister threatens early elections with political posturing Well, no, stop bulldozing and start negotiating.
With the vote now delayed, the future of the bill and Australia’s housing crisis remains uncertain, with both sides appearing reluctant to move.
