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Bandt says Labor-Greens power share would bring ‘golden era’ and confirms goal is to stop Dutton

2025-01-15 14:00

Adam Bandt says a Greens-Labor power-sharing parliament could see a “golden era of progressive reform” that banishes conservatives to the political wilderness, as he confirms that stopping Peter Dutton becoming prime minister is now his party’s main election focus.

In an exclusive interview with Guardian Australia, Bandt said the Greens and Labor had a chance to prevent a US-style shift to the political right in Australia by implementing progressive policies that “make people’s lives better” – like adding dental to Medicare.

The Greens leader claimed Labor wouldn’t act “unless they were pushed”, meaning it could only occur in a hung parliament with the Greens holding the balance of power.

“There’s a real opportunity in the next parliament, with all of the commentators predicting a minority government, to have a golden era of progressive reform,” he said.

“A minority parliament can keep Peter Dutton out and get those progressive reforms that I think will set the country up for generations.”

Bandt’s laser-focus on Dutton is the latest sign of a strategic shift from the Greens, which spent much of 2024 locked in bitter fights with Labor on housing and recognition of Palestine.

The party’s hardline tactics in Canberra coincided with the loss of seats at the Queensland and ACT elections.

After the Queensland election in October, where the Greens were reduced to one seat, the party’s federal housing spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather, said the party needed to have a “long honest look” at its strategy.

Just weeks later, the Greens dropped their long-running resistance to Labor’s housing bills, waving through the government’s Help to Buy shared equity scheme and Build to Rent tax incentives despite failing to win concessions.

The Greens also agreed to pass several other contentious bills, including to reform the Reserve Bank’s structure and establish Future Made in Australia, amid a flurry of deals in parliament’s frantic final sitting week on 2024.

In a major win, the Greens secured an extra $500m from the government to help electrify 50,000 social housing properties.

But Bandt rejected the assertion that the party had shifted its approach after its poor election showings, in particular in Queensland – a state where it picked up three lower house seats at the 2022 federal election.

“There came a point for us at the end of last year when we realised we pushed as far as we could on issues like housing,” he said.

“Labor wasn’t prepared to act on negative gearing or capital gains tax, but we got some additional money for public and social housing.

“That was a good result that will make people’s lives better.”

The Greens are hoping to pick up five extra seats at the 2025 election: Wills and Macnamara in Melbourne, Richmond in NSW, Perth in WA, and Sturt in South Australia.

But it faces a challenge to hold the ground it won in 2022, with the Liberals hoping regain Brisbane and Ryan and Labor desperate to unseat Chandler-Mather in Griffith.

The Greens 2025 election platform is built on a package of proposed “Robin Hood-style” taxes on miners and big business, which it says could be used to fund policies such as adding dental to Medicare and building 1,000 free health clinics nationwide.

Labor swiftly ruled out introducing the new taxes, which the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, claimed were simply “designed to get attention”.

The party will unveil its latest election policy on Thursday as it attempts to outflank Labor on public education.

The Greens’ plan would raise the commonwealth’s share of the Schooling Resource Standard to 25% for all states and territories, except the NT where it would remain at 40%.

The teachers’ union has been pressuring Labor to commit to a 25% share of the payment – a pillar of the Gonski reforms – to guarantee all public schools are fully funded.

The federal government last year offered to raise its share from 20% to 22.5% as part of new funding deals but NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia are holding out for more money.

The Greens also want to establish a new infrastructure fund for school upgrades, which would disperse $1.25bn in its first year and $350m annually after that.

A further $388m would be available for schools to install air ventilation systems and HEPA filters in classrooms under the Greens’ plan.

“Every child deserves a high-quality, inclusive, safe and free public education. It’s what strong societies are built on,” the Greens’ primary and secondary education spokeswoman, Penny Allman-Payne, said.

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