New poll reveals party supporters' sentiment
More than twice as many voters support passing the Australian government’s housing bills compared to those who want them blocked, a recent survey has shown.
According to a new Guardian Essential poll, 48% think the Greens and Coalition should allow Labor’s Help to Buy and Build to Rent legislation to pass and debate their own policies in the next election.
In contrast, 22% favoured blocking the bills, while 30% were undecided. The survey of 1,117 voters has a margin of error of 2%.
Among respondents identifying as Greens voters, 55% supported the bills moving forward. Given the poll’s margin of error of 9.7% for this group, support could range from 45.3% to 64.3%. Meanwhile, 21% of Greens voters wanted the bills blocked, and 24% were unsure.
Meanwhile, Coalition supporters were divided, with 37% in favour of passing the bills, 32% wanting to block them, and 31% unsure.
The legislation received its highest support from Labor voters, 62% of whom backed the bills, while 16% opposed them and 22% were uncertain.
Guardian Essential poll: Twice as many voters back Labor’s housing bills as oppose them https://t.co/jzszjfShdP
— Guardian Australia (@GuardianAus) September 23, 2024
The poll results come after a heated parliamentary week in which the Senate deferred the Help to Buy bill for two months. Neither the Greens nor the Coalition agreed to support the bill as it currently stands, and the government refused to make amendments. With the Build to Rent bill sent to a parliamentary inquiry earlier this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured above) suggested that a double-dissolution election could be an option if the Senate continues to block the housing bills.
The prime minister urged lawmakers to pursue amendments in the upper house rather than abandon the legislation entirely.
“The way that parliament works is we’ve had legislation pass the House of Representatives that goes to the Senate,” Albanese was quoted as saying in a report by The Australian. “You think the legislation can be improved, you move amendments, and you see whether they receive support or not in order to get the legislation through.”
Asked about the possibility of an election over the stalled housing measures, Albanese said, “we’ll wait and see.”
The Guardian poll also gauged support for the Build to Rent policy, which incentivises developers to include affordable rental units. A majority of voters backed the policy, with 60% of Greens voters, 67% of Labor voters, and 54% of Coalition voters expressing support.
Support for the Help to Buy shared equity scheme, which aims to help eligible buyers enter the housing market by underwriting part of the purchase price, was lower. Overall, 49% of voters supported the scheme, with 18% opposed.
Greens voters were 53% in favour, with 18% opposed, while Coalition voters were split, with 43% supporting the scheme and 25% against. Labor voters showed the strongest support, at 59%, with only 12% opposed.
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