Labor now has two months to seriously negotiate on their Help to Buy legislation, or face the consequences of failing to help renters and first home buyers during this Parliament.
The Senate voted today to delay consideration of the bill until 26 November, at which point a vote on the bill will happen immediately. 

The Greens adopted a similar approach with the HAFF - providing time for negotiations in which the Greens secured an immediate $3bn of direct spending on housing to pass the bill.

The Greens say that Labor shouldn’t be seeking to push up house prices in a housing crisis, calling for Labor to get serious about negotiating.

The Greens points of negotiation on Labor’s housing agenda:

• Coordinate an emergency national freeze on rental increases for two years, followed by an ongoing cap on rent increases of 2% every 2 years.
• End the handouts for wealthy property investors that prevent renters buy their first home by phasing out negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount
• Build high quality public homes through the creation and funding of a Public Developer

Expert evidence economists presented to the inquiry into this bill showed that it was likely to push up prices for everyone, while only helping a maximum 0.2% of renters. A very similar shared equity scheme in NSW has been a failure due to the restrictive nature of the scheme, with 94% of its places remaining unfilled last year. A detailed policy briefing of these issues including Senate expert testimony is available here.

Despite the PM’s bulldozing, it is not credible that this bill could be a double dissolution trigger for an election, as the government would have to successfully have the Senate consider the bill again the week before Christmas, likely requiring the agreement of the Senate, and then call an election before Australia Day for a February election which would be unprecedented. 

Lines attributable to Adam Bandt MP, Leader of the Australian Greens:

“Renters and first home buyers across the country are at breaking point, but Labor’s housing policy will push up rents and house prices for everyone,” Mr Bandt said.

“Labor now has two months to get serious about the housing crisis. The Greens are willing to negotiate. The time is ticking for the Prime Minister to stop bulldozing and let his ministers negotiate with the Greens to pass this bill.

“This is a test for Labor. Do they want this bill to pass, or are they trying to make it fail? While Anthony Albanese is refusing to let his ministers negotiate with the Greens, the housing crisis is just getting worse, and renters are being pushed to the brink.

“The Greens want Labor to negotiate seriously and to wind back tax handouts for wealthy property investors, work with the states to cap and freeze rents, and build public housing for all.

Lines attributable to Max Chandler-Mather MP, Australian Greens Housing spokesperson:

“Labor has two months to start negotiating on a plan that will actually help the millions of people being smashed by this devastating housing crisis, rather than trying to ram through a bill that will make the crisis worse.

"The Greens are not going to let Labor sabotage what could be the last opportunity to help renters & first home buyers during this Parliament.

“It is desperately cruel of Labor to pretend Labor’s two bills will help, when one locks out 99.8% of renters and drives up house prices for everyone, and the other gives tax breaks to developers to build expensive apartments they already planned to build.

“The Greens are ready to negotiate on capping rent increases, a mass investment in public housing and phasing out negative gearing and the capital gains discount, the $176 billion of tax handouts for property investors denying millions of renters the chance to buy a home. 

“The Greens don’t expect to get everything in negotiations, but right now Labor has offered literally nothing for the millions of people getting smashed by this housing crisis.

“The Prime Minister might like to throw around insults, but he should try telling the millions of renters one rent increase away from eviction or poverty that it is immature to ask for rent caps. The PM may be attacking me, but really all renters hear is a Prime Minister who thinks their pain doesn't matter. They won't forget that.

“This government is running out of time to negotiate on housing - but the Greens have given them a two-month lifeline to get things back on track.”