PM Continues Quiet Targeting of Greens As Housing Fund Stoush Continues

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on March 30, 2023. Martin Ollman/Getty Images

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has continued his quiet targeting of the Greens Party, calling out the Greens Housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather for failing to support the Housing Australia Future Fund, and also running petitions to block the development of more housing supply in Brisbane.

“One of the things that we need to do is to make sure that planning keeps up. And one of the things that I find remarkable is that at the same time as the Greens are blocking additional support for social housing, they’re also running petitions of their housing spokesperson to block any development in medium density and development of more housing supply in Brisbane,” the prime minister said.

“You can’t have it both ways. What the government does is have a plan. We want to work with state and territory governments, work constructively, and that is what we are doing.”

Chandler-Mather, who holds the Queensland seat of Griffith in Brisbane, has joined community residents to oppose proposals to build new apartment buildings, including the Bulimba Barracks site.

Greens and Coalition Block Labor’s Push on HAFF

The comments from Albanese come after the Greens sided with the Coalition in the Senate last week to delay the Labor government’s push to get the Housing Affordability Future Fund legislation through. The bill will now be debated when the Senate returns in June.

The latest development is a blow to Albanese’s $10 billion fund (US$6.7 billion) that is supposed to address the lack of social and affordable housing across the country, with the government hoping the legislation will allow the building of 30,000 homes over five years.

Under the proposed legislation, the fund will stay in perpetuity, and each year, the government will use its returns to invest in housing across Australia. However, the return amount that can be withdrawn from the fund is capped at $500 million annually.

Greens Push Back

But Chandler-Mather has pushed back on the prime minister’s comments saying that he believes the electorate was fed up with the “petty politics” and wanted the government to tackle the housing crisis rather than “launch into personal attacks and tirades.”

“You [Albanese] get up at a press conference, and you attack me personally rather than working out a way to use the wealth in this country to lift people out of poverty and get them into homes right now,” Chandler-Mather said.

“That is frankly a disgrace.”

(L-R) Greens candidate for the seat of Griffith Max Chandler-Mather, party leader Adam Bandt, Queensland senate candidate Penny Allman-Payne and Queensland Senator Larissa Waters take a selfie during the Greens national campaign launch at Black Hops Brewery on May 16, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia Photo by Dan Peled/Getty Images

The Greens have previously said that the federal government needed to stay at the negotiating table on HAFF, which the Greens believe does not contain any plans for renters and people who need public and affordable housing.

“We thought maybe the Budget would fill the gaps left by the HAFF Bill, but there’s nothing in there. Handing out $1.12 a day extra in Rent Assistance while rents go up ten times faster is spitting in the face of struggling renters,” Chandler-Mather said.

“We’re in a once-in-a-generation housing crisis, and the government playing politics with housing in the Senate shows they don’t understand or don’t care that people are stuck in housing hell.

“We warned the government not to bring the Bill on before they’d come up with a real plan for renters and an increased guaranteed spend on public and affordable housing. Instead, they tried to ram it through after only 45 mins of debate,” he said.

“We were elected to represent people who are hurting: we’re not going to be intimidated, and we’re not going to roll over.”

Homelessness Advocates Call For Senate to Pass HAFF

Meanwhile, as the Greens and Labor engage in debate around the legislation, housing and homelessness advocate Mission Australia is urging the Senate to pass the bill, saying it will “jumpstart the much-needed investment to tackle Australia’s housing and homelessness crisis.”

“I am hearing from our frontline workers across the country that the housing situation is far worse than they have ever seen it,” Mission Australia’s CEO Sharon Callister said.

“The latest homelessness Census data demands urgent action. Every night in Australia, there are 122,000 people without a safe and secure home, a five percent increase since 2016. The number of children who are homeless has risen by 12 percent.

“In a wealthy country like Australia, this should not be the reality. We urge our politicians to keep these vulnerable women, men and children front of mind and work constructively together on a way forward.

“The legislation may not be perfect, and we still need to significantly increase the number of new social and affordable homes in Australia beyond the ambitions currently included, but it is an important step towards addressing our housing crisis and ending homelessness in Australia.”