The honeymoon may be over for the Greens and the Australian Labor Party after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese launched a stinging attack on the left-wing party during question time in parliament on Thursday.
The prime minister and the Greens are currently at loggerheads over the federal government’s $10 billion (US$6.7 billion) affordable Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), which is a key election promise for the federal government.
HAFF is billed as being able to finance the construction of 30,000 homes over five years for vulnerable Australians and is seen as a vital step in the process of keeping Australians out of homelessness after federal Housing Minister Julie Collins warned the country needed the policy up and running sooner rather than later.
Greens Know Rent Freeze Not Possible
Albanese said in question time on Wednesday that it was an “absurd“ move to vote for ”zero rather than vote for progress,” and expressed that Greens leader Adam Bandt knew their demand for a rent freeze was “pixie dust.”“I say to the Greens political party: pass our Housing Australia Future Fund. You can’t have credibility coming in here and saying: ‘We don’t think $10 billion is enough. We want $20 billion. Therefore, we’ll oppose $10 billion.' It’s just absurd to vote for zero rather than to vote for progress,” the prime minister said.
He added that HAFF sat on top of a field of other housing policies, including Labor’s Housing Accord, the commonwealth-state housing agreement, rent assistance and a national homelessness plan, and demanded the Greens look to pass the legislation.“All of those measures represent a comprehensive plan, but one of the things we don’t have control over, and the members know quite well, that we are not able to do, as a commonwealth government, flick a switch and demand a rent freeze,” Albanese said.
“He knows it’s not real, and he should do better than come in here and make statements that he knows can’t be delivered. We can deliver something. He can talk to his senators across there and say unblock the filibuster and the nonsense that’s around the Housing Australia Future Fund,” Albanese said.
“That will make a difference for emergency housing, and that will make a difference for affordable and social housing.”
The parliamentary scolding comes after the prime minister called out the Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness, Max Chandler-Mather, for playing politics with the Bill, declaring he was more obsessed with the politics of the issue than actually working with the government to help Australians.Greens Call PM Refusal to Negotiate Bull Dust
Meanwhile, the Greens have accused the prime minister of ducking and weaving over the its proposal for the federal government to work with Australian states and territories on a national rent freeze.They argue that during the pandemic, National Cabinet considered tenancy arrangements, and explored providing rental relief.
Bandt accused the prime minister of making excuses, and refusing to put the idea of a rent freeze on the National Cabinet agenda.
“The Prime Minister’s claim of ‘pixie dust’ is bull dust,” he said.
“When electricity prices were rising, he pulled state and territory leaders together and acted, something the Greens supported in the parliament. When I asked why he won’t do for rents what he did for power bills, he ducked and weaved and made excuses.
“During the pandemic, even Scott Morrison put rent relief on the National Cabinet agenda. The federal government has a big role in housing and can drive change.”
