Labor is claiming victory in its fight to deliver help to households before the federal election after winning Senate votes on housing, food prices and social media policies, while also securing a deal to toughen migration laws. Source: The Age.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared he was turning “promises into progress” after also gaining Senate approval this week for a cut to student debts and the final element of a sweeping change to the aged care sector.
But the Government jettisoned key parts of its agenda after being attacked by the Coalition and the Greens on some of its plans, forcing it to shelve its changes to political donations and its election pledge to set up an environment protection agency to regulate new projects.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton blasted Mr Albanese as “weak and incompetent” and challenged him to call the federal election, blaming him for spending too much money on the Voice referendum last year and presiding over rising prices.
In a frantic day of negotiation, the Government made a surprise addition to the agenda by gaining crossbench support for its food and grocery code, which imposes mandatory rules on supermarkets to treat suppliers fairly.
The two housing bills approved on Thursday include the Build to Rent scheme to reduce the tax on foreign investors who build major housing projects so they pay the same rate as they would on commercial property, making a swift change that could encourage more construction.
The Government estimates this would lead investors to build at least 80,000 more homes over a decade.
Labor and the Coalition agreed to combine their votes to pass strict conditions for former detainees and the law to force social media companies to turn away customers who are under 16. This increased the tally of bills to be passed to 31.
As expected, Mr Albanese gained Coalition support for the social media package, given Mr Dutton called for the age limit in June, but the debate was marked by warnings from the Greens and crossbenchers, as well as some Coalition MPs, about the lack of detail in how the scheme would work.
FULL STORY
World-first social media ban for the young passes in rush of bills (By David Crowe and Paul Sakkal, The Age)
