Anthony Albanese has said the solicitor general agrees the Senate’s decision to twice delay the $10bn housing Australia future fund constitutes a failure to pass the bill, which is the first step towards a double dissolution election.
The prime minister revealed on Friday that the government had received the advice commissioned after the Coalition and Greens voted on Monday to delay consideration of the bill until 16 October.
Albanese confirmed that, although the government was not willing to release the legal advice, the solicitor general had backed its view that delaying the bill twice constituted a failure to pass the legislation.
In May the government attempted to put the bill to a vote in budget week, but the Coalition, Greens, One Nation and the United Australia party’s Ralph Babet rejected a guillotine, which would have forced a vote.
Earlier in the week the Greens briefed that they believed the delay to October was not a refusal to pass the Haff bill and that it is fair to wait to see further progress on renters’ rights at national cabinet.
If, after three months, the bill passes the House of Representatives and is rejected by the Senate again the government gains the option of using it to trigger a full house and Senate election. However, the earliest that could occur is 16 October, at which time the Senate is due to deal with the original bill.
Albanese told reporters in Canberra that “the Greens and the Coalition combined in what is a new ‘noalition’ in blocking this legislation”.
“It is completely irrational for the Greens political party to say they support more public housing and then block legislation of a $10bn housing Australia Australia fund which will result in 30,000 additional social housing units including 4,000 reserved for women and children escaping domestic violence,” he said.
“The time for these political games is well past. This is not the first time it’s been deferred, it’s the second.”
Albanese said the government “remains committed to the housing Australia future fund”, but noted it was just one of many planks of the government’s housing policy, including $2bn of “immediate injection into public housing” and the increase in rent assistance in the budget.
“The key here is to supply. The Coalition talk about that but they are blocking it. The Greens talk about it and they also talk about social housing but they are blocking it.”
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is meeting state and territory treasurers on Friday, including to discuss measures such as the housing accord and planning laws.
On Friday the Greens and Coalition combined in the Senate to set up an inquiry into the rental crisis, a process designed by the Greens to pressure the Albanese government to agree to freeze or cap rising rents.
Earlier in the week the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, criticised the government’s handling of the bill, telling reporters “they’d rather tout this as a double dissolution trigger rather than negotiate and pass their own bill”.
Bandt said despite the double dissolution threat “the Senate has said it will consider this bill again and there is still time and space to pass this”.
The Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, said the party could not “turn to a renter and say, ‘Hey, we fought for the $2bn for social housing but when it comes to fighting for you we’re just going to roll over.’ No way.”
