Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce have clashed over measures to address affordable housing for Aussies, after the latest Newspoll said it dominated voter concerns ahead of the next election.
The poll, conducted for The Australian newspaper, showed rents and interest rates were at the forefront of voters’ minds when it comes to household financial pressure, eclipsing grocery prices and power bills.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Tanya Plibersek and Barnaby Joyce go head-to-head on Sunrise.
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Support for Albanese has dipped as a result, with Labor’s primary vote falling to 31 per cent, according to the poll. The Coalition, which is yet to announce its housing policy, is holding steady at 38 per cent.
On Monday, Plibersek clashed with Joyce when the pair joined Nat Barr on Sunrise for Hot Topics, blaming the Coalition and the Greens for blocking the government’s Help to Buy bill in the Senate last week.
“Right now, we have got legislation stuck in the Senate that would help another 40,000 Australians buy a home of their own. That the Liberals, the Nationals, and the Greens are blocking right now,” Plibersek said.
In response, Joyce took aim at Albanese’s $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund — a key policy designed to deliver new homes to Aussies to help solve the crisis.
In June, It was revealed by The Australian, the program is yet to deliver any new homes after it paid $24 million to external consultants and $6 million in annual salaries last year.
“They keep making these announcements, ‘We are going to do this and do that’ (but they don’t do anything),” Joyce said.
“We are sceptical, they have been in government and living in this alternate universe, where they tell people things are better.”
Joyce said the government needed to “bring down interest rates” and the government would need to “move away from lunatic policies” they were rolling out.
“The Housing Australia Future Fund … it was a complete debacle,” Joyce said.
Joyce also took aim at the popularity of state-based share equity schemes, saying that was why the Coalition is blocking the government’s Help to Buy bill.
Shared equity schemes are running in the states, including in NSW, where the government can contribute up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of a brand-new home. Similar programs exist in other states.
Plibersek disagreed, saying Western Australia’s Keystart program worked.
According to Keystart figures, it assisted in more than 122,000 Western Australians achieve homeownership.
“(The national scheme will) help 40,000 Australians buy a home of their own,” Plibersek said.
