As debate over the Australian Labor Party’s Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) hit a fever pitch in recent months, so too did accusations that the Greens are antidevelopment NIMBYs. The term (Not In My Back Yard) has long been an insult reserved for residents who support development in theory — only not in their backyards (or neighborhoods).

Labor Party senator Anthony Chisholm recently told the senate that the Greens are “always finding ways to oppose new developments,” adding that “Greens councilors have been doing it in communities all across the country.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Greens have “never seen a medium-density development that they supported.”

Indeed, the anti-NIMBY crusade has united the right and center-left. According to a recent article by senior News Corp journalist David Penberthy, NIMBYs are “one of the key reasons Australia is in the midst of a housing crisis,” and the Greens and their supporters “are the worst offenders when it comes to any kind of development at all.” Labor Party tragic Van Badham echoed the sentiment, calling Greens spokesperson for housing Max Chandler-Mather the “the Nimby Prince of the Greens.”