Australia politics live: Labor rejects Greens’ compromise offer on housing bill; NSW reveals master plans for 60,000 homes
Housing standoff continues after government rejects Greens’ Help to Buy compromise
Josh Butler
The government has rejected the Greens’ latest compromise offer to pass the Help to Buy housing bill, continuing the long-running stand-off into the parliament’s final week for 2024.
Government sources said the Greens’ demands would be variously unlawful, unhelpful or require spending Labor saw as wasteful. The government is now challenging the Greens to back the Help to Buy bill anyway, still not budging on any demands – with a final vote in the Senate scheduled for tomorrow. Clare O’Neill has today said:
This continuous charade from the Greens has to stop. You get the distinct impression the Greens want Australians to continue to be in housing distress, so Adam Bandt can try to harvest those grievances into votes. It’s the crassest form of politics there is, straight out of the Peter Dutton playbook.
After initially demanding changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, among other requests, the Greens last week backed down and gave a revised list of compromises for their support. They included the government funding more homes under the Housing Australia Future Fund within the next year, increasing the number of affordable tenancies under the Build to Rent legislation, and altering settings around Help To Buy. Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather said yesterday:
The Greens are offering Labor an opportunity to announce the construction of 25,000 social and affordable homes, helping over 60,000 people into affordable homes in the middle of a housing crisis, why on earth would Labor block that?
But the government has rejected the updated offer, claiming the Greens’ ideas won’t work and that they would go against legislation banning the minister from making specific funding decisions. The employment minister, Murray Watt, a senior government voice in the Senate, said yesterday that passing Help to Buy was the government’s biggest priority this week.
O’Neil said:
Consistently throughout this Parliament, the Greens have blocked and delayed action on the housing crisis, looking for every excuse to vote down legislation which is clearly good for the country.
The Build to Rent saga continues ahead of the vote coming this week. It remains to be seen how the Greens will vote.
Key events
Q: You’re blaming the Greens for blocking progress on housing, but isn’t this a failure on the government’s part to find a workable solution? You don’t have the majority in the Senate, isn’t getting their approval or the approval of the Coalition part of your job in delivering more houses?
The housing minister Clare O’Neil said the government had “tried to work with parties around the parliament to address these issues” – and again accused the Greens of “consistently coming in to back in Peter Dutton’s approach on these things”.
O’Neil said the time of negotiation and conversations was six months ago, saying:
The Greens are going to go to the next election either as an ineffective party of protests that has blocked and delayed action on things they say are important to them, or a party that lets the government get on with addressing the housing needs of Australia.
Housing minister says Greens’ proposed concession to pass bill ‘nonsense’
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, is speaking with ABC RN about the housing legislation due to go before the parliament this week.
She said the Help to Buy scheme would come before the Senate tomorrow, and its second housing bill “a little bit later in the week.”
Asked about the Greens’ proposed concessions, which the government didn’t agree to, O’Neil accused the Greens of working with Peter Dutton to “block and delay everything that our government has tried to do on housing”.
It is a consistent approach of the Greens … It was yet another political stunt.
O’Neil said the government “seriously” looked at the Greens’ proposal and got advice from treasury, but described the proposals as “nonsense” and “unlawful.”
One of the proposals put forward would have required me as minister to direct Housing Australia to fund homes that Housing Australia has … looked at and decided not to fund, and that is against the law. That is against the Housing Australia Act. So this is just one of a whole range of serious problems with what was put forward.
Is the eSafety Commissioner concerned about role of Musk in Trump administration?
Julie Inman Grant was also asked about the role that X owner Elon Musk is going to play in the incoming Trump administration? She responded:
Well, my job is not to be concerned with what Elon Musk is doing, unless he is hurting the safety of Australians, and that is why we will continue to regulate without fear or favour and to make sure that we’re safeguarding Australians online safety, and that has always been my focus.
eSafety Commissioner weighs in on under-16 social media age ban
Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, says it is her role to “enforce the laws”, not endorse, and that the under-16 social media age ban was a matter for the parliament.
She was asked about the legislation while speaking to ABC RN earlier this morning, and said:
There’s an inquiry happening today, and what I have continued to say is that it’s really, really important that any bill like this is nationally consistent, and that this is just one piece of an interlocking set of provisions – including the digital duty of care that minister [Michelle] Rowland has announced – and the education, digital literacy work that we’ve been doing for years.
So all of these need to work in tandem together, and we’ll see what the outcomes of the inquiry are. And of course, we will enforce and carry out what the will of the parliament is.
She said it had been an “important national debate”, particularly around the “addictive design features” of social media platforms, and “we understand the ideas behind this”.
We also need to make sure that particularly vulnerable and marginalised kids still have a way to connect and to create and explore. So whatever we do, when we implement what will become the law, we’ll try to do this in a way that is really protective of the range of children’s rights, including their ability to communicate and express themselves online.
More on the NSW housing announcement: larger proposals to get fast-tracked
Continuing from our last post: the rezoning will come into effect on Wednesday and development applications will then be able to be lodged to build new homes. Proposals that are more than $60m will get fast-tracked.
The government also has a 3% affordable housing rate for all new developments across the eight stations, though it is higher in some areas. In a statement, Paul Scully said:
The finalisation of the TOD Accelerated Precincts means development applications can be submitted and assessed, so that housing construction can start as quickly as possible. Elements of the planning pathway have been streamlined for the assessment of proposals in these locations, which will allow for greater speed without compromising the quality of the assessment or the final result.
We made an election commitment to rebalance Sydney’s housing growth around existing transport infrastructure and today we’re delivering the blueprint for those homes.
NSW government to build 58,000 homes around eight Sydney train stations
More than 58,000 homes will be built on land around eight train stations across Sydney, according to the New South Wales government, who will today release their master plans for the precincts.
Last year, the government announced the rezoning of land within 1.2kms of stations at Bankstown, Bays West, Bella Vista, Crows Nest, Homebush, Hornsby, Kellyville and Macquarie Park, as part of their signature housing policy, called the Transport Oriented Development Program. The program also includes $520m to improve community infrastructure in the areas.
Following a six-week consultation period, the planning minister, Paul Scully, will today announce the final plans for each area. He said the rezoning will allow for:
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18,000 homes for Homebush, accompanied by new open spaces and active transport links.
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6,000 homes in Hornsby plus a new library, community and culture centre and road, walking and cycling upgrades. There are also plans to increase the local tree canopy by “up to 50%”.
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4,600 homes in Bella Vista and Kellyville, with new playing fields and active transport links to be created.
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14,000 homes in Bankstown, with plans to “encourage the delivery of a new bus interchange” near the shopping centre.
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9,600 homes in Macquarie Park, to be accompanied by the creation of 14 hectares of “new and improved parks, plazas and open spaces”. Some 3.15m square metres of commercial floor space will also be opened up, which the government says provides capacity for about 100,000 jobs.
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5,900 homes in Crows Nest and new road and public open space upgrades and increased tree canopy.
Housing standoff continues after government rejects Greens’ Help to Buy compromise
Josh Butler
The government has rejected the Greens’ latest compromise offer to pass the Help to Buy housing bill, continuing the long-running stand-off into the parliament’s final week for 2024.
Government sources said the Greens’ demands would be variously unlawful, unhelpful or require spending Labor saw as wasteful. The government is now challenging the Greens to back the Help to Buy bill anyway, still not budging on any demands – with a final vote in the Senate scheduled for tomorrow. Clare O’Neill has today said:
This continuous charade from the Greens has to stop. You get the distinct impression the Greens want Australians to continue to be in housing distress, so Adam Bandt can try to harvest those grievances into votes. It’s the crassest form of politics there is, straight out of the Peter Dutton playbook.
After initially demanding changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, among other requests, the Greens last week backed down and gave a revised list of compromises for their support. They included the government funding more homes under the Housing Australia Future Fund within the next year, increasing the number of affordable tenancies under the Build to Rent legislation, and altering settings around Help To Buy. Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather said yesterday:
The Greens are offering Labor an opportunity to announce the construction of 25,000 social and affordable homes, helping over 60,000 people into affordable homes in the middle of a housing crisis, why on earth would Labor block that?
But the government has rejected the updated offer, claiming the Greens’ ideas won’t work and that they would go against legislation banning the minister from making specific funding decisions. The employment minister, Murray Watt, a senior government voice in the Senate, said yesterday that passing Help to Buy was the government’s biggest priority this week.
O’Neil said:
Consistently throughout this Parliament, the Greens have blocked and delayed action on the housing crisis, looking for every excuse to vote down legislation which is clearly good for the country.
The Build to Rent saga continues ahead of the vote coming this week. It remains to be seen how the Greens will vote.
Welcome
Emily Wind
Good morning and welcome back to the Australian politics live blog, as we begin the final sitting week of the year. There is a raft of legislation the government is still hoping to pass, with MPs and senators not due to return until February – and possibly not until the other side of an election if Anthony Albanese calls one in late January.
So, can Labor pass its legislative agenda? Paul Karp has written this analysis, a must-read for the week ahead.
On the Help to Buy housing bill, the government has rejected the Greens’ latest compromise offer to pass the legislation, continuing the long-running stand-off. Josh Butler will have all the details in a moment.
The under-16 social media age ban – likely to pass with the backing of the opposition – remains the topic of much discussion after the three-day inquiry only opened submissions for a single day. The eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant spoke with ABC RN earlier and said it was her role to “enforce the laws”, not endorse, and that it was a matter for the parliament. We’ll bring you more of her comments in a moment.
And in New South Wales politics, more than 58,000 homes will be built on land around eight Sydney train stations, with the state government expected to release their master plans for the precincts today.
I’m Emily Wind and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage today. You’ll have the whole Canberra team bringing you the latest – Karen Middleton, Josh Butler, Paul Karp, Sarah Basford Canales and Mike Bowers.
Let’s get started.
