The Australian Labor government’s high-profile affordable housing fund has failed to pass the Parliament’s upper house.
On May 10, Labor attempted to bring a vote in the Senate for the Housing Australia Future Fund; however, the motion was shot down by the Greens and Liberal-National Coalition.
As a result, debate on the housing fund will be paused until the Senate returns in June.
The latest development is a blow to Labor’s ambitious $10 billion fund (US$6.7 billion) that is supposed to address the lack of social and affordable housing across the country, building 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 However, the return amount that can be withdrawn from the fund is capped at $500 million annually.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 Criticise Labor for Rushing the Bill
The Greens accuse the government of rushing the bill.
“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,” Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness Max Chandler-Mather said.
“Instead, they tried to ram it through after only 45 minutes of debate.”
The Brisbane MP said his party would pass the bill straight away if Labor worked with states and territories to introduce a rent freeze and set aside $5 billion to build public and affordable housing.
“The budget revealed nothing at all for 5.5 million renters. It also has no new money for public and genuinely affordable housing,” 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.”
Meanwhile, Treasurer Jim Chalmers called the team-up between the Greens and Coalition an “unholy alliance” saying the government had worked constructively with the Senate crossbench to get the bill passed.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Greens were playing politics and that their actions would not assist homeless people and domestic violence victims.
Crossbench Senator Implores the Greens to Support the Bill
Crossbench Senator Jacqui Lambie, whose party supported the fund, pleaded with the Greens to back the stalled legislation.
The Tasmanian senator and her colleague managed to secure an amendment to the bill, guaranteeing a minimum of 1,200 homes for all states and territories.
However, the Greens still demanded more investment in social housing and a national rent freeze.
“We are falling behind because for every one we build, we’ve got nearly bloody 50 more on that waiting list,” she told the Senate.
“Let’s get the program started so we can get moving, so we don’t have as many (homeless) people out there, especially our children, that next generation.
“I don’t want to see them starting their lives while living in a tent. We cannot hold this up another day.”
While Lambie acknowledged the bill was not perfect, she said people needed a roof over their heads.
Talking about her personal experience, Lambie said her mother would have been paralysed if her family was forced to live in a tent instead of a social housing unit.
“Do you really want to keep playing with people’s lives?” she said.
Meanwhile, independent Senator David Pocock, who sided with the Greens in blocking the vote, is pushing for the bill to include an ability to increase the $500 million disbursement cap periodically as well as a 2.5 percent indexation for each year.
“From day one, I have backed calls from right across the residential and community housing sector for more ambition when it comes to the Housing Australia Future Fund,” he said.
“But I have also been clear that I’m hearing from my community that they want to see legislation pass that will start building houses.”
