Housing Minister Julie Collins will reintroduce Labor’s $10 billion housing bill to parliament on Wednesday.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The Coalition and Greensteamed up to stop the passage of the housing bill in June. The reintroduction of the unchanged legislation,with a vote delayed until October,means three months will have elapsed,setting up a double-dissolution trigger if it again fails to pass.
That ups the heat on the Greens,which want Labor to significantly boost its plan to spend $500 million a year to build 30,000 social and affordable homes over five years and freeze rents,to back the government’s policy or face voters.
On Monday,Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said the minor party was willing to discuss a number between Labor’s $500 million and the $2.5 billion in funding for housing the Greens had asked for. They had already halved their demand from $5 billion and reduced the money they want for a rent freeze from $1.6 billion to $1 billion.
Housing Minister Julie Collins and Chandler-Mather are due to meet later this week to restart negotiations over housing policy. But neither side expects serious progress until Albanese and Greens leader Adam Bandt sit down together,which is not expected to be for weeks.
A Greens strategist,who asked not to be named so they could speak freely,said the party “don’t think Labor’s being serious. If they want to go to a national election fighting the Greens to build less housing and not help renters,I don’t think that will end well for them”.
Collins said reintroducing the Housing Australia Future Fund bill demonstrated the government was using every process available to pass important legislation that would build tens of thousands of new homes.