Australians could be headed for a rare double dissolution early election if key government legislation remains stranded in the Senate.
With three bills stuck in the upper house and appearing all but certain to be blocked by the opposition and the Greens, Anthony Albanese was asked about whether he would call a double dissolution.
“Well, we’ll wait and see,” the prime minister replied after it was suggested such a course wouldn’t play out well for the government.
“I’ll tell you a way to avoid a (double dissolution). It’s for the Coalition and the Greens to vote for legislation that they support.
“There’s nothing in the legislation on the Nature Positive Act that they say they’re opposed to, so why would you vote against it?”
A double dissolution election occurs when both houses of parliament are dissolved and every seat is contested (as opposed to regular elections, when only half the Senate goes to the polls).
They are rare – only seven have been called in Australia’s history, the last of which came in 2016.
The latest one can be held this term is January 25 – several months before an election is required to be called.
The Nature Positive Act, which would, among other things, establish Environment Protection Australia (EPA) as an environmental regulator, is one of three pieces of legislation that has passed the lower house but is still awaiting passage through the Senate.
It and the Help To Buy scheme – a pre-election housing policy designed to help eligible first-home buyers get into the property market – appear destined for defeat in the upper house, with both the opposition and Greens refusing to vote for the legislation.
The Coalition is opposed to both bills, and there are suggestions that even turning the EPA into a compliance-only body would not be enough to gain its support for the Nature Positive Act.
The Greens are also opposed to the Help To Buy scheme, which would see the government purchase an equity stake in first homes for eligible buyers.
The crossbench party says that would drive up property prices rather than make them more affordable, but has said it is willing to negotiate with the government.
Labor, though, wants the legislation passed as it.
“The shared equity scheme through the Help to Buy legislation that’s before the Senate today, that’s been held up now for over 200 days, needs to be passed today,” Albanese said.
“This is a practical plan… it’s time that the Senate stopped with their nonsense of trying to connect other things with legislation and actually passed it in order to support homeownership.”
Meanwhile, the Greens have called for a ”climate trigger” to veto major greenhouse gas-emitting projects in order to support the Nature Positive Act.
That has been ruled out by Albanese.
“What we won’t do is undermine our own legislation with amendments when it stands on its merits and when… everyone in the parliament says they support the framework and the objective of that legislation,” he said.
“It’s as simple as that,” he said.