Live: Lambie puts pressure on government’s ‘absolute mess’ ahead of final sitting week

Long-awaited reforms to restrict gambling advertising will be pushed into next year, despite the government previously insisting it would be addressed this year.

A bipartisan committee led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy handed back it’s recommendation for a total ban nearly 18 months ago. The government has yet to respond to the report.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil was asked why Labor could move so quickly on a social media ban for kids but couldn’t pull together something on gambling advertising.

She told ABC’s RN Breakfast it was “complicated” and the communications minister was “diligently working” through the proposals.

“If this was a really simple problem to fix, then it would have been fixed a long time ago,” O’Neil says.

“The government is fiercely committed to making sure that this occurs. The minister is working with people, experts, stakeholders, others who will be affected by this legislation, and the government has said will come forward with finite proposals early next year.”

Does a delay have anything to do with the demands of gambling lobbyists?

“It’s not about lobbying … it’s about making sure that we get this right.”

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil also stopped by the RN Breakfast studio this morning, signaling she’s willing to play hard ball to get the government’s housing bills over the line.

Labor’s Help to Buy and Build to Rent schemes are hanging in the balance. The government has already rejected a deal from the Greens and is moving forward with a plan to bring on the legislation for a vote later this week.

She describes the Greens proposal as “nonsense” and was nothing more than “another political stunt”.

But is there still a deal to be struck?

O’Neil says its the government’s way or the high way, denying it was actually a failure of Labor to find a way to pass the legislation.

“The time for this negotiation and conversation was six months ago … when we had the conversations with the Greens,” she says.

“They, instead of working with the government, decided to block and delay legislation.

“Since that time, they have not been good faith partners on housing. Every Australian can see that and the consequence of those actions.”

O’Neil says she wants the Greens to be held accountable for not backing the bills.

The eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant spoke earlier to ABC’s RN Breakfast, where she was asked about the government’s social media ban for under 16s.

She said ultimately it was her job to enforce the laws made by parliament.

“I’m here to enforce the laws and this is a matter for parliament,” she said.

“What I have continued to say is that it’s really, really important that any bill like this is nationally consistent.”

She says the ban would be just “one piece of an interlocking set of provisions” including a digital duty of care that was recently announced as well as digital literacy education work the eSafety commission is undertaking.

She says the focus of the national debate has rightly been on the “addictive design features” of social media.

“I think that’s really important because these algorithms are opaque and can be sending people down rabbit holes,” she says.

“Unfortunately, we’ve only seen the social media sites moving incrementally, not monumentally, in terms of keeping kids safe, and so we understand the ideas behind this, we also need to make sure that particularly vulnerable and marginalised kids still have a way to connect and to create and explore.”

A one-day senate inquiry into the social media ban will kick off later today.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has hit back at the Greens, claiming the minor party has done little to negotiate to end the Senate’s housing stalemate.

Speaking with ABC’s News Breakfast, the Labor frontbencher says she had advice the Greens’ latest proposal was “unlawful and unworkable”.

(You can read more about that here).

She says she knows the Greens think the bills are “good ideas” as one of them is in the minor party’s platform that they took to the last election.

“For two-and-a-half years now, the Australian Greens have done nothing but block and delay the action the government has attempted to take housing,” she says.

“They’ve worked with Peter Dutton to do so.

“It’s time to stop playing games.”

Greens senator Larissa Waters has taken aim at the government after it rejected the minor party’s latest attempt to end a Senate stalemate over two housing bills.

Labor is set to bring on a vote to pass its Help to Buy and Build to Rent schemes, even though it doesn’t have the support of The Greens or Coalition.

Speaking with ABC’s News Breakfast this morning, Waters said she was astounded the government knocked back the Greens’ offer.

“It seems like the prime minister’s ego is getting in the way of people having the homes they need,” she said.

“I can’t quite understand the psychology there. We are willing to work with the government to get good outcomes for people.”

Are the Greens willing to block the bills?

“We’ll now have discussions about what we should do and what will best help renters and people who are trying to get a roof over their heads,” she says.

“We’re just extraordinarily disappointed that the prime minister seems to have dug his heels in.”

Independent Jacqui Lambie has urged the Greens to strike a deal with the government to pass two key housing bills this week.

The Help to Buy and Build to Rent schemes will be put to a vote in the final sitting week of the year without a deal to pass. The Greens latest offer was rejected.

As the final sitting week of the year closes in — potentially the last before the election — the government is applying pressure to clear its backlog.

Lambie fears that if this week is anything like the last sitting week, the government will only tick one thing off its long to do list.

“They’ve just got a list of stuff. You’ve got no idea really what they’re going to list each day,” she says.

“It’s an absolute mess up in the Senate, to be honest with you.

“But I will say one thing. We need that housing deal ticked off because people need roofs over their heads. So if anything, can they please get that done?”

Housing support to help first home buyers to purchase a property will be sent to a vote this week without a deal, meaning it will be shot down unless the Greens or Coalition change their stance.

The latest offer by the Greens to strike a deal has been rejected, though the government had consulted to see whether it could be agreed to as time runs out for legislation to be passed.

The federal government will now call the bluff of the parties, who if they reject the bill will face campaigning at the federal election that they refused housing support.

As the final sitting week of the year closes in — potentially the last before the election — the government is applying pressure to clear its backlog.

“It’s time for this silly charade to end. Australians are in real housing distress here, and the Greens need to stop working with Peter Dutton to delay action,” Housing Minister Clare O’Neil told the ABC.

“The Greens have been playing politics on this for two years now, almost everything the Labor government has tried to do on housing the Greens have either blocked or delayed, or played politics with. The time for that is over.”

Hi! Welcome to our politics live blog.

Courtney Gould from the ABC’s Parliament House team here to guide you through the morning.

Can you believe it’s the final sitting week of the year? How time flies. We’ve got a major logjam of legislation the government wants to get passed this week, so I’m anticipating it’s going to be a busy one.

Let’s get straight into it.