PM seeks advice on double dissolution over housing bill
The Albanese government is seeking constitutional advice over whether the Greens’ ongoing refusal to pass the $10 billion social housing fund is grounds for a double dissolution election.
After the Greens and the Coalition teamed up in the Senate on Monday to defer debating and voting on the bill until October 16, Anthony Albanese told caucus the action may constitute the first half of a trigger for an early full-Senate election.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during question time on Tuesday. Alex Ellinghausen
“The Greens are bringing a juvenile, student politics approach which needs to be exposed,” the prime minister said of the Greens refusal to back the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) despite numerous concessions.
“Continually deferring a bill can be taken as a block, and we are seeking advice on that,” Mr Albanese told MPs.
The Greens are demanding the government enact a national rent freeze before considering the bill, but Mr Albanese said that was not only untenable but would result in less supply and make the problem worse.
A double dissolution trigger is gained when the Senate fails to pass a bill twice with a minimum of three months in between.
Mr Albanese said the government was seeking advice from the Commonwealth solicitor-general regarding whether it could keep the bill in the Senate and have the Greens fail to pass it a second time, or whether the bill would have to be withdrawn, put back through the House of Representatives and back into the Senate for the Greens to reject again.
Greens leader Adam Bandt dismissed the threat but would not say whether he would welcome fighting an election over his housing demands.
“If the government and Labor act on rising rents and out-of-control rent increases, then this bill can pass the Senate when it comes back,” he said.
The Greens are isolated on the issue, with other Senate crossbenchers – including the Jacqui Lambie Network and David Pocock – urging them to pass the bill, as are the housing industry and housing groups which represent the needy.
“I don’t see who wins by kicking this to October,” Senator Pocock said.
“My view is that we now bank these wins, we get on with building new social and affordable housing our community so desperately needs across the country.”
A double dissolution is a full Senate election that must be held more than six months before the expiry date of the House of Representatives.
At the very latest, that would be March 29, 2025, but the government could go much earlier if it wished. The earliest it could hold a half-Senate election would be August 3, 2024.
The stand-off over the HAFF has become a proxy for a broader battle between the Greens and Labor for inner-city seats populated by young renters.
The Greens have branded themselves the party of renters and the government argues the minor party is selling these voters false hope in the form of an undeliverable rent freeze as an exercise in product differentiation.
Nationals senator Matt Canavan dared Mr Albanese to bring on a double dissolution.
“Bring on a double dissolution if that is what the government wants,” he said. “I am more than happy to fight on this issue and many other issues.
“They’re making a big deal of the fact that ... they say on their own numbers they want to build 6000 homes a year while they’re letting in 250,000-350,000 people a year. Maybe we should slow down the intake of migrants.”
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