Labor’s housing bill has been rejected in the senate by both the coalition and the Greens. Source: Thennicke, Wikimedia Commons
The federal government has experienced its first defeat in the Senate after both the coalition and the Greens have rejected Labor’s centrepiece housing policy.
The government must now wait three months until it can bring back the Housing Australia Future Fund bill – a bill which aims to establish a $10 billion fund to build social and affordable housing.
This loss has also created a major stand-off between the Greens and Labor, which may enable the government to dissolve the parliament and head to an early election.
Labor’s deputy Senate leader Don Farrell told the chamber, “If the Senate defers bills to October, the government will regard this as the Senate failing to pass the bill, and I’m sure you understand the consequences of that.”
The government wanted a vote this week and to have the bill already passed through the House of Representatives but was unable to make this happen with the Greens and coalition voting to defer the matter until October.
The conditions that allow for a double dissolution election are outlined in the constitution, and one of those conditions is the Senate failing to pass a bill with a gap of at least three months.
During a typical election, half of the Senate is up for election, but during a double dissolution, all seats in the chamber are up for election.
Australia’s last double dissolution election was back in 2016 and was the first in roughly 30 years.
Stakes continue to rise between Labor and the Greens as they fight over housing solutions.
Over the weekend prime minister Anthony Albanese announced a one-off $2 billion investment in social housing across the country with funding being distributed across states.
As part of this deal, the funding must also be committed to projects within two years. This can include new builds or renovating existing, uninhabitable housing stock.
This fund came after the government had earlier altered its housing future fund and confirmed that $500 million would be spent each year from the fund from 2024 to 2025, regardless of the fund’s performance.
But neither of these have gained support from the Greens who say they want the government to do more to freeze rent increases.
Greens leader Adam Bandt wrote in a statement, “The pressure is now on the prime minister and the Labor premiers to act on a rent freeze and limit rent increases.”
“This is a test for Labor. It’s wall-to-wall Labor across the mainland, so rent rises are their responsibility.”
