Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s housing policy delayed by Greens, Coalition as accusations fly on all sides

The Government has accused the Greens of holding the aspirations of would-be first-home buyers “hostage” after the party teamed up with the Coalition to delay a vote on its signature housing policy.

Labor’s joint equity “Help to Buy” scheme would help 40,000 low- and middle-income Australians into home ownership over four years, but will now not be voted on until the end of November.

The Government had hoped to have the bill voted on this week, despite knowing it would fail without the support of the Greens or Coalition. The Greens — who want Labor to commit to phasing out negative gearing, coordinate national rent freezes and caps, and build more social housing — say the Government now has a chance to meaningfully negotiate.

Leader Adam Bandt said this was one of the last chances this Parliament had to act on the housing crisis before the next election, and it was therefore imperative Labor come to the table and negotiate.

“Labor needs to take the housing and rental crisis seriously, stop with these band-aid answers that see the problem get worse, and start negotiating to fix the housing crisis,” he said.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil slammed the Greens, saying they had not expressed any “real willingness to negotiate” on the legislation in the last 12 months.

“They offered no amendments or ideas on how they believe the bill could be improved,” Ms O’Neil said.

“The Greens took a shared equity scheme to the 2022 election, that’s exactly what this is. What the Greens are doing is holding the aspirations of childcare workers and nurses to own their own homes hostage, to generate media and attention.”

Ms O’Neil said while the bill was not the “silver bullet to Australia’s housing crisis”, it would have been an “important piece of the puzzle that would change the lives of 40,000 Australians and their families”.

The Government has repeatedly ruled out touching tax handouts, especially in relation to this bill.

The delay to the vote technically counts as a failure to pass the bill, which could be considered the first trigger in a double dissolution.

While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this week left the door open to dissolving both houses given the state of the housing policy, timing-wise it is highly unlikely considering a general election is due by next May.

Nevertheless, he said late on Wednesday he would bring the legislation back based on legal advice that deferring a vote was the same thing as defeating it.

“We’ll reintroduce the legislation into the House of Representatives in October, when we sit in a couple of weeks time, and we’ll continue to argue our case,” he told ABC radio.

“There’s no legitimate argument being put forward of why this legislation is not worthy of support.”

Mr Bandt and the Greens have criticised Mr Albanese for being prepared to have his bill fail and threatening a double dissolution instead of negotiating an outcome.

“The losers out of that are renters who are skipping meals to pay for their latest rent increase, and stressed mortgage holders,” Mr Bandt said.

“The Prime Minister needs to stop with the threats about early elections, and start negotiating.”

In a post on X, Mr Albanese accused the Coalition and Greens of “teaming up to get in the way” of housing reforms.

“Australians want their leaders to act now to make housing more affordable. This is too important to wait,” he wrote.

“We won’t wait around while the Liberals and Greens play politics, which is why we’re rolling out our $32 billion Homes for Australia plan.”