Senator Larissa Waters speaks on the Housing Australia Future Fund in the Senate
From the outset, the Greens identified two major problems with the HAFF: the initial bill provided woefully insufficient funding for housing now, as it was entirely contingent on stock market returns; and it does nothing for the one third of the country who rent.
Since negotiations began, the government has agreed to a guarantee that the HAFF would disburse $500m regardless of the performance of the fund, and has now agreed to an additional $3 billion directly spent on housing and delivered immediately. Importantly the Greens have also forced the issue of the rental crisis onto the national agenda.
With these changes, the HAFF does more to urgently fund housing, with $3 billion immediately and directly spent on housing, instead of the delayed and indirect model of the HAFF. The Greens will accept this offer and use our balance of power to pass the Housing Australia Future Fund.
However, with Labor still refusing to do anything to support renters, and with further significant Senate balance of power bills coming up, the Greens have warned that the campaign to force the government to move on renters has just begun.