Greens' support of housing bills ends major political showdown

A key plank of the Federal Government’s housing policy has become a reality after The Greens agreed to support Labor’s Help to Buy bill.

Monday’s revelation that The Greens would end their standoff with the government came on a day of political brinkmanship, before the Help to Buy bill successfully passed through the Senate Tuesday and Parliament the following day (27 November).

Anthony Albanese’s government had earlier shut the door on any compromise deal with them or, predictably, the Coalition.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil announced earlier in the week that the government was “moving forward” on the Help to Buy and Build to Rent schemes without the Greens.

“This is a continuation of the political parlour games that the Greens have been playing for the past two and a half years on housing,” Ms O’Neil said.

“The time for negotiation on this is over. It was six months ago when these bills were first delayed by the Australian Greens.”

Ms O’Neil had insisted there was “no plan B” if the bills failed to pass.

The government’s bill to incentivise build-to-rent projects also passed on Thursday (28 November), the last parliamentary sitting day of the year.

Under the Help to Buy program, 40,000 eligible participants will be provided with an equity share from the government of up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of new homes and 30 per cent for existing homes.

The build-to-rent legislation offers a tax incentive for developers of apartment complexes designed for renters.

The buyer won’t need to pay rent on the share owned by the government, but they will need to pay a corresponding share of any capital gains earned on the property once it is sold. Price caps will be in place depending on the location of the home, with salary limits for eligible participants.

Political stoush avoided

The Greens had been looking for concessions from the government on negative gearing and capital gains tax policy settings.

They shifted their focus last week to a pitch for the funding of more affordable and social housing construction.

The compromise by the Greens was rejected after advice it may not be legal or viable to implement.

The likelihood that the bill will now pass unchanged is a major win for the government.

The policy had looked likely to fall to the wayside, hurting the government’s housing policy agenda and diluting the loose alliance between Labor and The Greens in their electoral battle with the formally united Liberal and National party coalition.

Two housing bills will now be put to a vote in the final sitting week of the year.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said his party tried to get support for additional plans to address the housing supply crisis but ultimately said they would not stand in the government’s way.

“We will wave through Labor’s housing bills … but this issue is not going away,” he said.

Max Chandler-Mather, the Greens’ housing spokesperson, refused to apologise for the delays that Ms O’Neil said had been costly.

“At the end of the day, if the government doesn’t care about [renters] then it’s up to them, but you can’t accuse us of not trying,” he said.

Ms O’Neil said The Greens had “held Australian’s home ownership dream to ransom” and that 10,000 people would have been in home ownership had the bill been passed when it was first put to parliament a year ago.

This article was first published on 25 November and updated through the week to 29 November to reflect the passage of the two housing bills through parliament.