Greens Lock Horns With Labor Again Over Aussie Battlers

Party leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt addresses the media after the resignation of Senator Lidia Thorpe from the Australian Greens Party at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Feb. 6, 2023. Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

The federal Labor government has been accused of failing lower-income Australians after deciding not to increase the Jobseeker rate, as well as rental assistance.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the decision showed Labor did not care about the Aussie battler.

“Labor is forcing people to live in poverty while giving a $9,000-year tax cut to billionaires and politicians,” he said, referring to the decision of the Labor government to keep the Stage Three tax cuts legislated under the previous government.

“Labor’s not making ‘hard choices’ in this Budget; they’re making everyday people make hard choices, like whether to pay the rent or put food on the table.”

Treasurer Says Government Can’t Support Everything

The comments from the Greens leader come after the federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers released an interim report by the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee (pdf) outlining measures to repair the Budget.

“We thank the committee for the report, which is helping inform the government’s considerations ahead of the Budget to be delivered on 9 May,” the treasurer said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

“While we can’t fund every good idea, there will be measures in the May Budget to address disadvantages. This will include energy bill price relief that prioritises those on payments and pensions.”

The treasurer also noted that the government would look to provide support “where we can to those most in need, where it is responsible and affordable to do so, and weighed up against other priorities and fiscal challenges.”

Chalmers did say there would be an expansion in the number of hours pensioners could work and better support for disabled individuals to find work.

The Budget is also expected to include energy price relief which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spruiked on April 19 on Radio 2SM, saying one-and-a-half billion would be put aside to help households.

But the Greens were still critical saying the Labor government had forgotten its ideological roots with its commitment to tax cuts and the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal.

“Labor is becoming a centre-right government, making economic decisions Scott Morrison would have been proud of,” said Bandt.

Disagreement Over Housing As Well

The Greens have been at loggerheads with the Albanese government over rental assistance for the past month following failed negotiations over the $10 billion (US$6.7 billion) affordable Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF)—a key election promise.

HAFF is billed with supporting the construction of 30,000 homes over the next five years for vulnerable Australians to deal with the country’s housing crisis.

Both the Greens and independent Senators David Pocock and Tammy Tyrell are calling for significant amendments in the bill, including a nationwide freeze on rents.

Prime Minister Albanese called the idea “absurd” and said Bandt knew the demand was “pixie dust.”

“I say to the Greens political party: pass our Housing Australia Future Fund. You can’t have credibility coming in here and saying: ‘We don’t think $10 billion is enough. We want $20 billion. Therefore, we’ll oppose $10 billion.' It’s just absurd to vote for zero rather than to vote for progress,” the prime minister said.

“He knows it’s not real, and he should do better than come in here and make statements that he knows can’t be delivered. We can deliver something. He can talk to his senators across there and say unblock the filibuster and the nonsense that’s around the Housing Australia Future Fund,” he added.