Greens leader Adam Bandt loses it at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as war of words erupts: ‘Disgusting’

GreenLeft leader Adam Bandt has criticised Anthony Albanese after he promised to halve immigration in a bid to tackle the housing crisis.

More than 510,000 migrants moved to Australia in the last financial year and the Labor Party wants to halve that number by June 2025.

The housing crisis was raised during question time on Wednesday, with Mr Albanese being quizzed on why so many migrants were being admitted.

The prime minister said several measures have been taken to curb immigration, including imposing restrictions on international students.

“On Question Time, the Prime Minister boasts that the Labor Party will reduce migration more than the Coalition,” Bandt wrote on social media.

‘What a disgusting, migrant-bashing race to the bottom from the Labour Party and the Liberals.’

Many Australians took to social media to disagree with the Greens leader, questioning how housing could become more affordable if the population was only going to grow.

“It’s not a dig at migrants, it’s a sensible move to help those of us who are struggling to find housing. It also gives Australians a fair chance at a health system that can cope, without putting unnecessary pressure and stress on nurses and allied health professionals,” one said.

“And at the same time you rightly complain about the housing crisis. This is a way to solve the problem,” added another.

“And you want Australians on the streets?” asked a third.

“You have called for a rent freeze several times, and the reason rents keep going up is because there is increasing demand for rental properties due to the number of people coming into the country,” added a fourth.

‘This can be solved in the long term by reducing the number of people coming here. That will lead to lower rents and eventually we can catch up with population growth in terms of housing.’

“And yet you are 100 percent unaware of this. Instead, you choose to send virtuous signals to the lackeys who follow you.”

Another wrote: ‘Out of curiosity, how else do you think we can quickly address the massive housing crisis facing most Australians?’

The Greens leader has demanded action on the housing crisis but has spoken out against Labor’s attempts to cut immigration.

A day earlier, Bandt had written on social media that the ‘housing crisis cannot wait’ and that the government must take stricter action against real estate investors.

He said the Greens had tabled a motion to “end the huge tax breaks for wealthy property investors” but that motion had been defeated by the Labor and Liberal parties.

Thanks to the capital gains tax cut, someone who buys a house and sells it after a year only has to pay tax on half of the profit he or she made.

“The unions are happy to abandon tenants and make it easier for investors to buy their fourth home,” he wrote.

‘When you’re led by a property investor, the Prime Minister, and 75 per cent of your MPs are landlords, you can understand why. Something has to change and it’s not going to be Labour.

‘If Labour were serious about tackling the housing crisis, they would stop tinkering around the edges. They would scrap the tax breaks for wealthy property investors.

Mr Albanese said several measures have been taken to reduce immigration, including imposing restrictions on international students.

“They’re supposed to make it easier to buy your first home. But they don’t.”

During Question Time, Mr Albanese said the Labour Party had inherited a “mess” from the coalition when it came to immigration.

“What we have done is we have restored immigration laws, which were cut by almost 50 percent by the leader of the opposition,” he said.

‘We raised the temporary threshold for skilled migration to $70,000, we abolished the event visa during the pandemic, we took tough action on abuses in international education, we passed a $160 million reform package, and we imposed no further stay conditions on visitor visas.

‘We are ending migration systems that forced temporary visa holders to stay long-term and we have introduced limits on the number of international students.

“We are taking action. In contrast to the mess we inherited from the superiors.”