Albo’s housing pledge on brink
One of Anthony Albanese’s major election promises is in doubt after the Greens announced plans to kill Labor’s help-to-buy scheme unless the government meets its demands.
The shared equity scheme, which would allow 40,000 first-home buyers over five years the chance to co-purchase their home with the government, will be voted on in the House of Representatives this week. The
Greens have described the scheme as a “housing lottery” that would push up prices for the majority of renters wishing to enter the housing market. Greens leader Adam Bandt said if the Prime Minister was serious about fixing the housing crisis, he would limit rent increases, build more public housing, and phase out negative gearing and capital gains tax exemptions.
Buoyed by their success in negotiating with the government during last year’s fight over the Housing Australia Future Fund, Mr Bandt said “pressure works” and his party would not back down.
The government doesn’t need the minor party’s support to pass it through the lower house, but it’s a different story in the Senate. Mr Bandt said the party would “reserve its position” in the Senate.
Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said he was incredulous that Mr Albanese refused to scrap “massive tax handouts for property investors” that were pricing “millions of renters” out of the chance to buy a home, while pushing through a bill that would further exacerbate house prices.
“It should not be the case that a first-time buyer at an auction loses to a property investor who gets massive tax handouts,” he said.
“The ball is in Labor’s court. Unless we see movement on the things that are pushing house prices out of the reach of millions of renters across the country … we will vote against it.”