Housing fight spills over as double dissolution threat fails to reach hurdle

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese began the day by loosely dangling the threat of a double dissolution before the senate, only for the government to fail to reach the crucial first hurdle.

With no support from the Coalition, the Greens and the crossbench, Labor sought to force a vote on its doomed-to-fail shared equity “Help to Buy” scheme on Tuesday.

But their attempt was thwarted, prompting the government to accuse the “no-coalition” of using “procedural tricks” to weasel out of voting down the legislation and ending the saga.

The government says it will try again on Wednesday, but the Greens are expected to seek to delay a vote on the legislation until November.

If that is successful, it gives the government the first half of a double dissolution trigger, however unlikely it is to pull it.

The Greens say it would give them another two months to attempt to negotiate with the government to meet some of its demands, including rent freezes and caps and a phasing out of negative gearing.

Mr Albanese accused the Greens of being “spoilers”, and said it was “beyond comprehension” why the party would vote with the Coalition against a “very straightforward policy”, which would help more Australians into home ownership.

“They (the Senate) have been sitting for two days and they haven’t passed a thing, they haven’t voted on anything. They’re just talking away, stopping things being voted on... For goodness sake, get on with it,” Mr Albanese told ABC Radio.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the party wanted the government to stop “bulldozing, trying to get their bills through the senate and start negotiating to actually fix the housing crisis”.

“We’re saying (to Labor): ‘You can do much better, but you have to drop this my way or the highway’,” Mr Bandt said.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher accused the Greens of being ingenuine about negotiating and called on them to “bring an end” to the saga.

“Over 290 days in the Parliament, and over 100 I think in the Senate. It’s time to get a vote on. If they’re not going to support it, say so and frustrate our agenda and we’ll continue to campaign for it,” she said.

Mr Bandt said the party hadn’t just voted the legislation down entirely, because the Greens wanted the Parliament to “take action on the housing and rental crisis”.

“We’ve seen from the Prime Minister today is either sheer arrogance that says it’s my way or the highway,” Mr Bandt said.

“It is astounding that the prime minister would rather the bill failed than negotiate, which seems to be his approach.”

Senator Gallagher said even if the Bill ultimately failed, the government remained committed to the scheme.

“We’re committed to Help to Buy. It’s not over until it’s over. We’ll see what happens in the Senate, and if we need to reconsider once that vote happens, we will,” she said.

If the entire legislation fails to pass the Senate on Wednesday, the government could wait three months to reintroduce the Bill. If it fails again, the Prime Minister could dissolve both houses in a “double dissolution” election - but he would need to visit the Governor-General before Australia Day.

It’s highly unlikely, given Australians are due at the polls by May, and a double dissolution carries the risk of an even less favourable senate for the government.

But Mr Albanese did not rule it out.

“Well, we’ll wait and see ... I’ll tell you one way to avoid a (double dissolution),” Mr Albanese said on Tuesday morning.

“It’s for the Coalition and the Greens to vote for legislation that they support.”

Asked about it later in the day, Mr Albanese said he considered it a rejection but wasn’t concerned about the politics, and was instead focused on “getting this done”.

Mr Bandt said it was “astounding” the Prime Minister had made such a threat, rather than negotiate.

“That strikes me as the Prime Minister playing politics and being willing to see the bill fail rather than negotiate its passage,” he said.

“I’d rather we don’t have (a double dissolution), because instead what we (could) do is get a cap and freeze on rents, that we tackle those massive tax breaks hurting renters and rebuild public housing.”

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said delays were costly and Australians needed action now.

“Delay on housing makes Australians wait longer for affordable housing, it pushes more people at homelessness and it makes the housing crisis worse and that is why we need the Greens and the Liberals to move out of our way, so the Labor government can get on with it,” she said.