“Let me talk to you about the Greens’ spokesperson on housing. He has had a taste of the media spotlight. Your spokesperson on housing is now prioritising media attention from stunts and obstruction over housing for women and kids fleeing domestic violence. How shameful,” Wong fulminated on the floor of the Senate.
“This man’s ego matters more than housing for women fleeing domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness ... What sort of party are you?”
Wong withdrew the remarks,but there’s no denying Chandler-Mather has become a focal point of Labor fury,as the government and Greens glare eyeball to eyeball over the housing packagelanguishing in the Senate. Hanging in the balance is Labor’s election pledge to use the fund to provide $500 million a year in returns to get 30,000 social and affordable homes built over the next five years.
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The Greens argue the fund is a pitiful attempt to address the housing crisis,and arewithholding support unless the government tips in substantially more funding for social and affordable housing every year and negotiates rental freezes with states and territories. That Chandler-Mathersnatched his inner Brisbane seat from Labor’s Terri Butler at the 2022 election is salt in the wound of the government’s indignation.
Piling pressure on the Greens was Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie,who along with her colleague Tammy Tyrrell has agreed to back the legislation. On the cusp of tears,she pleaded with the Greens to support the bills.
“We can’t hold this back. I know this is not perfect. But people out there need a roof over their heads. So for goodness sake,please can we just get a start on this? I don’t want to hold them back any further,” Lambie said.