Anthony Albanese says he doesn’t “anticipate” Australians will go to the polls this year but is not ruling out an eventual double dissolution election if the standoff over a key housing bill isn’t resolved.
The prime minister has set up a double dissolution trigger with an announcement to reintroduce the Housing Australia Future Fund (Haff) legislation into the parliament next week, with a vote in the lower house in October, after it failed to pass the Senate in June.
The Coalition ruled out its support for the bill from the outset, leaving the government to negotiate with the Greens and crossbench in the Senate. After lengthy negotiations, crossbenchers including the Jacqui Lambie Network and David Pocock have agreed to the legislation but the Greens have withheld their support, saying more needs to be done on renters rights.
During a press conference in the Greens-held seat of Brisbane, Albanese at first said he did not “anticipate” an election before the end of this year.
Later, when asked to rule out a double dissolution election altogether, he said one would not be called this year, but did not rule out taking up the option of an election early next year.
“Well, they won’t be going to the polls this year but we’re determined to get this legislation passed – we want it to be passed,” he said. “I can’t be more serious.”
Albanese said the government had a clear mandate for the housing fund, as it was an election commitment, and said the way to “ensure this doesn’t provide a trigger is to pass the legislation”.
“We don’t want to play politics with this,” he said, accusing the Greens of continuing to oppose the legislation as a political ploy.
Albanese also called on the Coalition to embrace the opportunity to make a positive difference.
Albanese accused the Coalition of taking a leaf from “the Tony Abbott playbook” and saying “no to everything”.
“This is a sensible reform that has the support of the housing industry, has the support of the building sector, has the support of community and social housing providers, has the support of Acoss and the welfare sector,” he said.
“They should support this legislation as well. This, in my mind, is less controversial than anything else we have done in this parliament.”
The acting leader of the opposition, Sussan Ley, earlier said: “Threatening the Australian people with an early election because Labor’s policies don’t stack up is the height of arrogance from Anthony Albanese.”
The government first attempted to pass the bill through the Senate before the winter break but were stymied by the Greens and Coalition. The Greens wanted to “allow time for national cabinet to progress reforms to strengthen renters’ rights”.
By reintroducing the legislation in the house, Albanese is setting up the potential for the bill to fail for a second time in the Senate, which is the trigger required before a government can ask the governor general to dissolve both houses of the parliament and call a snap election.
Under the constitution, a prime minister can ask for a double dissolution if a piece of government legislation fails to pass the parliament twice, three months apart. Albanese has said he will have a parliamentary vote on the bill in October, which would meet the three-month threshold.
The Haff legislation sets up a $10bn future fund to invest and pay out earnings of at least $500m a year to invest in social and affordable housing.
In a last ditch attempt to get the legislation over the line before the winter break, the government also announced a $2bn direct social housing investment, which has begun flowing through to the states and territories.
In April, the Albanese government asked national cabinet and housing ministers to examine renters’ rights, which the Greens hope could develop into a rent freeze or an Australian Capital Territory-style rent cap.
But Labor has so far refused the Greens’ calls to set up a fund of at least $1bn to incentivise states and territories to institute a rent freeze for two years.
