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Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather says the party is willing to consider any additional spending and is also open to negotiating on extra assistance for renters.Credit:Rhett Wyman

The minor party initially sought an additional direct investment of $5 billion a year in social and affordable housing and a $1.6 billion cash injection to get states and territories to agree to a two-year rent freeze,beforecutting its request in June to $2.5 billion a year for housing and $1 billion for the rent freeze.

On Monday,Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said the party was willing to consider any additional spending and was also open to negotiating on extra assistance for renters.

“We’ve said we’re willing to discuss a number between $2.5 billion and $500 million on the housing figure,” he said in an interview with this masthead.

“If Labor came to us with something less than what we’re proposing,we would look at it seriously,but it needs to be done in good faith,and it needs to be done in a proper negotiation process.”

The Greens later clarified their stance,saying they were willing to negotiate any amount over the $500 million a year guaranteed from the fund,but would not say what figure would be acceptable.

They also want a ban on unlimited rent increases,and say the government should spend $1 billion on getting jurisdictions to agree to the caps on rent increases.

“Everyone’s heard us say,bottom line,we want unlimited rent increases to be illegal,” Chandler-Mather said.

While Chandler-Mather said the Greens would be prepared to vote the legislation down if Labor refused to move,he was still working towards a deal.

“We don’t expect to get everything,but at the very least negotiate a plan that doesn’t see the housing crisis get worse,” he said.

TheGreens teamed up with the Coalition and One Nation in June to defer a vote on the bill in the Senate until October 16. If the legislation fails to pass the Senate a second time,Labor could then have a case for fully dissolving both houses of parliament any timefrom early next year and calling an early election.

In question time on Monday,Housing Minister Julie Collins said Labor’s housing policy was broad,ambitious,and backed by community housing builders and providers,while the Coalition and Greens were blocking any progress.

“These are homes for people who desperately need it,Mr Speaker,these are homes that we want to build,” she said.

“Why are you standing in the way of getting more homes on the ground for Australians that need them most when we’ve got so many housing challenges today?”

Independent senator David Pocock has backed the housing bill and dismissed the Greens’ calls for two-year rent freezes,which he said would simply “kick the can down the road”.

“The[fund] is not going to solve all the problems,but it’s one piece of the puzzle,” Pocock said.

He said he was not personally worried about an early poll but he thought Australians would be “pretty annoyed” by one.

“Frankly,I think they expect politicians to actually negotiate and come to agreement on policy,” Pocock told reporters on Monday.

Opposition leader in the Senate Simon Birmingham said the Coalition believed the housing fund was bad policy that would not help home ownership,and reintroducing the legislation was pure politicking by the government.

“If the government wants to play politics,threatening double-dissolution elections,reintroducing the bill unnecessarily in the House of Representatives ... well,that’s a matter for the government in terms of the political stance they’re pursuing,” he said on ABC’s RN Breakfast on Monday.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley.Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

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