<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>329230</docID> <postdate>2024-09-17 16:10:56</postdate> <headline>Early election threatened to ram through housing bill</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-329231" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240916157209095304-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Anthony Albanese is threatening to call an early election if Labor's legislation is not passed. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Kat Wong, Andrew Brown and Jacob Shteyman</b> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>The first hurdle to an early election has been cleared after the Albanese government failed to ram its housing laws through parliament.</strong></p> <p>For the second time, Labor was unable to pass its <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_LEGislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r7123">Help to Buy bill</a> - which would give first-home buyers access to cheaper deposits through a government guarantee - in the Senate on Tuesday, ensuring the first trigger for a rare double dissolution election.</p> <p>Only Jacqui Lambie voted with the government, with the coalition, the Greens, One Nation and UAP's Ralph Babet torpedoing a motion to force on a vote.</p> <p>"What a dysfunctional government was on display today," said Liberal senator Slade Brockman</p> <p>"They can't run this chamber, how can they possibly run the country?"</p> <p>A double dissolution occurs when there is a deadlock between the Senate and the House of Representatives on a proposed law, prompting the governor-general to dissolve both chambers, paving the way for an election.</p> <p>If the government fails to pass the law through the Senate in another vote in at least three months from now, the double dissolution can be invoked.</p> <p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier put pressure on parliament to pass the housing bill, along with another bill giving tax incentives for build-to-rent projects, a separate environment law overhaul and its <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_LEGislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r7219">Future Made in Australia bill</a>, unamended.</p> <p>"We'll wait and see," he told reporters in Sydney when asked if he would reach for the nuclear option.</p> <p>"The way to avoid a (double dissolution) is for the coalition and the Greens to vote for legislation that they support.</p> <p>"We're always open to sensible discussions ... but what we won't do is undermine our own legislation with amendments when it stands on its merits."</p> <p>Greens party leader Adam Bandt called on the prime minister to continue negotiating, saying a double dissolution would be a "betrayal of every renter and first home buyer".</p> <p>Labor's schemes before the Senate - Help to Buy and Build to Rent - have faced criticism that they wouldn't make housing affordable.</p> <p>The Greens are calling on the government to amend its housing bills by including a cap on rent increases, further investment in public housing and a phase-out of tax handouts for property developers.</p> <p>They also want to adjust the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/NaturePositivebills#:~:text=Environment%20and%20Water.-,The%20Nature%20Positive%20(Environment%20Law%20Amendments%20and%20Transitional%20Provisions)%20Bill,compliance%20powers%20on%20the%20EPA">Nature Positive legislation</a> to at least consider the impact mining and gas projects can have on climate change.</p> <p>But the minor party says the government has refused to provide any wriggle room in negotiations and MP Max Chandler-Mather said Labor would rather let a key housing bill fail than fight with the minor party.</p> <p>"We recognise we're not going to get everything in our negotiation with the government," he told ABC on Tuesday.</p> <p>"But right now they've offered nothing - literally no counter offer.</p> <p>"That's very frustrating when we're in such a serious housing crisis."</p> <p>Mr Albanese said boosting supply levels was the best way to solve affordability issues.</p> <p>"When I was young, more than two-thirds of Australians in their early 30s could buy their own home, now it's less than half," he said.</p> <p>It's estimated 40,000 Australians would be able to buy their first property through the Help to Buy scheme.</p> <p>But Mr Chandler-Mather, alongside some economists, say the scheme would make housing more affordable for a select few, while pushing up prices for everyone else.</p> <p>"It's desperately cruel for the government to hold this out as some sort of solution to the housing crisis," he said.</p> <p>Coalition home ownership spokesman Andrew Bragg says the Commonwealth's shared equity scheme gives up on the Australian dream.</p> <p>"Australians need to own houses, not the government," he told ABC radio.</p> <p>A similar program, the <a href="https://www.housingaustralia.gov.au/support-buy-home/first-home-guarantee">Home Guarantee Scheme</a> had been used by 120,000 people.</p> </body>