Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

It would seem now that the coalition between the Greens and the opposition is even going to procedural points as well. The Greens want public housing so badly that they will sell their souls and wrap their arms around Peter Dutton, Pauline Hanson and every single member of the opposition. That's how badly they want public housing to happen in this country—to stop the biggest investment in public housing in this country in a decade.

It's not the first time we've seen the Greens say they want housing and then do everything possible to stop it. They've got a long record of doing that at council level in a number of states. Who could forget the Yarra City Council, controlled by the Greens, which knocked back a plan to build 100 new social housing units on council land? They wanted social housing in Melbourne so much that they blocked it! They wanted social housing so much in various Sydney councils that they blocked it! Now they want social housing so badly at the federal level that they're teaming up with Peter Dutton and Pauline Hanson to block it as well.

We know that this hypocrisy disease that surrounds the Greens has, unfortunately, spread to Queensland as a result of the Greens winning federal seats. We have the Greens housing spokesperson, the member for Griffith, out there saying: 'We need more housing! We need more housing! But, you know what? There's a housing development with 1,300 homes, and I'm going to block it.' He is out there leading protests in Griffith to stop housing developments in his electorate, while saying that he wants more public housing. The member for Brisbane is teaming up with him to do it as well. The Greens are hypocrites on this issue. It is time to call it out, and it is time to build more homes.