Labor renews Housing Australia Future Fund push

The Labor government’s Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) Bill, a package aimed to deliver on Anthony Albanese’s promise to create a $10 billion fund to bring about a million private homes and 30,000 additional public and social housing in the next five years, will be reintroduced to Parliament.

The government said the HAFF legislation would pay out earnings of at least $500 million a year to invest in social and affordable housing.

The bill has been stuck in Parliament since being introduced in February and has faced opposition from what Mr Albanese has termed “the new No-alition”, made up of the Coalition, One Nation, and the Greens.

At a doorstop interview in Brisbane on Friday (28 July), Mr Albanese said that his government would reintroduce the bill in the lower house this week and that it would “be debated and passed through the House of Representatives in October because we want to see this legislation passed”.

The Property Council of Australia welcomed the renewed effort by the government as the country “faces an increasing housing supply shortage”.

Property Council chief executive Mike Zorbas said “the HAFF is the shot in the arm the nation needs to close the housing deficit”.

“The 30,000 new social and affordable houses that hang in the balance need to be green-lighted by all senators as soon as possible,” Mr Zorbas said.

“Beyond the HAFF, the fastest paths to new housing remain setting housing targets, creating incentives for more supply and fixing broken state planning systems.”

Mr Albanese specifically called on the Greens Political Party to support the bill in the Senate as “they say that they care about social housing, that they care about affordability, to be blocking this is quite absurd”.

Double dissolution not ruled out

When asked if he would use the HAFF legislation to trigger a double-dissolution election, Mr Albanese said “I don’t think that there will be an election this year” but did not completely rule it out.

“We want this to be passed. The way to ensure that this doesn’t provide a trigger is to pass the legislation,” Mr Albanese said.

“We don’t want to play politics with this. We want this to build additional social housing.”

Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said his party would be willing to “negotiate a housing plan” but remained steadfast in the party’s call for a national freeze and cap on rent increases.

“Now is the time for the Prime Minister to go to national cabinet, put money on the table, and coordinate a national freeze and cap on rent increases because if he does not, then millions of people will cop more unfair rent increases,” he said.

He reinforced the Greens’ stance, which it took before the legislation failed to pass previously when Greens Leader Adam Bandt said “if Labor acts on soaring rents at national cabinet, their bill can pass.”

However, Mr Albanese ruled out the Greens’ proposal, which he likened to “abolishing the states.”

“The Greens say we’ll vote for your bill as long as you abolish the states, or in some cases, abolish the private housing market. We’re not doing that,” Mr Albanese said.

“Australia deserves better and they need to put aside the politics and put aside the posturing and pass this legislation.”

The reintroduction of the legislation comes after the Labour government launched a petition to try and stop the Greens from blocking it previously.

[Related: Labor launches petition to stop Greens HAFF blockade]