The Federal Government has seven sitting days – the final sitting fortnight – left this year to pass dozens of bills.
The Prime Minister is required to call an election by May. Parliament can’t sit within 33 days of an upcoming election.
That means there’s a small window of time left for Labor to pass bills on housing, environment, education, aged care, and political donations reforms.
Here’s what you need to know.
Negotiations
Bills need to pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate to become law.
The Government doesn’t have a majority in the Senate.
That means it needs either support from the Coalition, or a combination of the Greens and at least three crossbenchers (independents, minor parties) to pass bills into law.
The Government is still negotiating to get some of its key reforms through, wanting to pass dozens of bills in the final sitting fortnight of the Parliament.
Housing
The Government has two major housing bills stuck in the Senate.
Build to Rent is a tax concession for developers who agree to build multi-unit buildings where the units are rented out, instead of being sold.
Help to Buy is a scheme that would see the Government contribute to the purchase of a home, in exchange for split ownership of the property.
The Greens previously called for a range of other reforms in exchange for their support.
This included scrapping a tax discount for property owners, known as ‘negative gearing’.
In recent days, the Greens have dropped some of their previous requests. Instead, the party’s housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather has called for the “immediate construction of 25,000 social and affordable homes” and tweaks to the legislation to make it more accessible to lower-income earners.
The Coalition voted against the bills and does not support the measures.
Environment
The Government first announced the ‘Future Made in Australia’ bill in the May Budget.
The bill would increase funding to renewable energy and green technologies, and encourage investment from the private sector.
The Government also has three ‘Nature Positive’ bills, which would create a national environmental data agency, and increase penalties for companies and individuals that damage the environment.
The Greens previously called for a ban on native forest logging and the inclusion of a ‘climate trigger’, forcing new fossil fuel projects (e.g. coal mines or gas drilling) to be assessed based on their expected impact on climate change.
Greens environment spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has dropped the climate trigger in recent negotiations, but not forest logging.
The Coalition wants to cut regulatory requirements that overlap with states and territories.
Shadow Environment Minister Jonathon Duniam said he will oppose any efforts to end forest logging.
Education
HECS debt changes are expected to pass through the Senate. The bill will change indexation – annual increases to reflect the value of money – to either the rate of inflation or the rate of wage growth, whichever is lower.
The measure is expected to erase $3 billion of student debts.
Another bill includes a plan to curb the number of international higher education students in Australia to 270,000 a year. The Government has a self-imposed deadline of January 2025 to introduce the caps.
The Coalition isn’t formally opposed to the HECS debt changes. It has blamed the Government for higher inflation, which in turn has led to higher student repayments.
In recent days, the Coalition has vowed to block the international student caps coming into effect, saying it won’t “touch the sides” of what it describes as a “migration and housing crisis”.
The Greens has urged the Government to cancel all student debt, but hasn’t suggested it will stop HECs indexation changes.
Separately, it accused the Government of having “shamefully scapegoated” overseas students for housing shortages.
Other
Among the other bills the Government is trying to pass is the Aged Care Bill, which would see retirees who aren’t reliant on government pensions pay more for aged care services.
The Coalition has expressed support for this reform, meaning it’s likely to pass.
Political donation overhauls have also been introduced this week, which would limit the amount a party or candidate can spend during an election. It would also lower the public donations disclosure threshold from the current rate ($16,900) to $1,000.
