Coalition, Greens Block Government’s Shared Equity Scheme for Housing

The motion was suspended after receiving 19 ‘yes’ votes and 41 ’no' votes in the Senate.

A general view of housing in the suburb of North Sydney, Australia on June 28, 2024. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

The Labor government’s latest attempt to pass its Help to Buy Bill has stalled with the federal opposition, Greens, and One Nation opposing it.

The motion was suspended after receiving 19 “yes” votes to 41 “no” in the Senate on Sept. 17, leaving Senator Murray Watt frustrated.

“We’ve had the extreme right of Australian politics and the extreme left of Australian politics pair up, for what purpose? To stop young people being able to buy a home,” Watt said.

“We see from the Liberals, the Nationals, the Greens, One Nation back there voting together to stop young people getting to buy a home.”

Watt countered the Greens’ claims that the Bill would only help a small percentage of people and make it more expensive for others.

“Just because we can’t help 100 percent of renters buy their own home, we shouldn’t allow some people to buy their own home?” Watt asked.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Simon Birmingham took a dig at the party for not being able to convince senators to vote for the proposed bill.

“You are failing to convince people of the merits of this policy,” he said.

“None are convinced that the Albanese government’s policies are going to make any significant difference to the housing problems. Of course, if hot air and rhetoric were homes, the housing crisis in Australia would be solved.”

Before the motion was moved, Labor Senator Penny Wong panned both the Liberal-National Coalition and the Greens for blocking the Bill for close to a year now.

“That scheme was introduced into this Parliament 290 days ago,” she said.

Wong mentioned that her party has made repeated efforts to introduce the bill.

“But you know, it hasn’t passed this place. Because the Liberals and the Greens have paired up against it.”

What is the Help to Buy Bill?

The Help to Buy Bill sets up a shared equity scheme to help low-income individuals and families get a foot into the housing market.

Via Housing Australia, the Commonwealth will pay up to 30 percent for existing homes, and 40 percent of the purchase price for new homes.

There will be 10,000 allocations for the scheme each year over four years.

“I understand the eligibility criteria for the scheme will include income thresholds of around $90,000 for a single home purchaser, and $120,000 for two people,” explained Helen Haines.

There will also be property price caps in the scheme, depending on whether you are buying in the city or country.

Greens Urge Suspension For More Negotiation

Meanwhile, Greens’ Senator Mehreen Faruqi accused the government of trying to “bulldoze the will of the Senate” with what she claimed, was a policy that would worsen conditions for the vast majority of renters.

“You don’t have the numbers for anything because the Senate has decided that your bill will actually make things worse for 99.8 percent of the five and a half million renters in this country,” Faruqi stated.

“Rather than trying to negotiate with the Greens to make things better for the millions of people who are suffering and struggling under the housing crisis, you come in here and try to ram your bill through.”

The Greens have long advocated for policies such as rent caps, freezing rent increases, and phasing out negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts for investors, which they argue has inflated housing prices.

A day earlier, Liberal Senator Paul Scarr criticised the idea of rent caps, arguing that countries across the globe have tried the policy, and failed.

“It has been proven beyond doubt that rent controls didn’t work in Australia after World War II in Melbourne. They didn’t work in Egypt, the United States, England, or Canada. Nowhere where they’ve been tried have rent controls actually worked. They always make the problem worse,” he told the Senate on Sept. 16.