Anthony Albanese and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil have been slammed over a video where they cram into a new home owner’s apartment to spruik Labor’s controversial ‘help to buy’ scheme.
Mr Albanese uploaded the footage to his X profile on Wednesday evening, featuring himself, Ms O’Neil, and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek speaking with Codie, who entered the housing market with a five per cent deposit.
The group could be seen crowding inside the kitchen of her new apartment, laughing and drinking tea on the patio, and generally singing Labor’s praises about the First Home Guarantee Scheme.
The scheme allows first-home buyers and single parents to purchase property with a deposit of five per cent or less, rather than the usual 10 to 20 per cent typically required for a home loan.
In the video, Ms O’Neil asked: ‘Do you think you would have been able to manage it without the Home Guarantee Scheme support?’
Codie replied: ‘I don’t think so, I really don’t think so. Saving the 20 per cent deposit…’
Ms O’Neil interrupted: ‘That’s a huge barrier, isn’t it?’
Codie continued: ‘It’s a huge barrier, and I guess having to pay that extra lenders mortgage insurance would have been an extra burden that I just couldn’t have managed on top of the mortgage repayments and strata and everything.’
Lenders Mortgage Insurance, or LMI, applies to deposits of less than 20 per cent, but some states and territories either have schemes, or will soon have schemes, to help purchasers avoid the extra cost. It is yet another fee that can stymy first home buyers, who already face steep stamp duty charges in most states.
Australians were not impressed with the Labor video. One asked if the clip was a joke, while others said the scheme didn’t address the overarching problem of an inflated housing market that is largely inaccessible to young people and renters.
Anthony Albanese is pictured with Codie inside her new apartment, making tea
Pictured left to right: Anthony Albanese, Codie, Clare O’Neil and Tanya Plibersek, at Codie’s new apartment
One X user commented on the video, saying: ‘I honestly thought this was a parody, had to look twice.’
Another said: ‘A lifetime of being a slave to bank debt due to ridiculous prices.’
A third user wrote: ‘Immigration through the roof, housing crisis, cost of living crisis but sure just take credit for getting people into massive debt at the expense of tax payers who will only flip the bill for you. You did that.’
Others pointed out that the plan only increases the demand for home ownership, pushing prices up further.
‘We don’t want to go halvsies with you in our family homes,’ one user wrote.
Some also pointed out that Mr Albanese was fact-checked by X more than once on Wednesday regarding posts about the government’s proposed ‘help to buy’ scheme.
The PM claimed Labor’s bill was ‘blocked’ in the Senate when it was actually deferred until October.
Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather (pictured) ordered Labor to negotiate on housing schemes
On Wednesday, Mr Chandler-Mather issues Labor with an ultimatum: ‘You have two months to negotiate with the Greens’
Anthony Albanese uploaded a post on X saying the Greens and Liberals had voted to ‘block’ the help the buy scheme, but he was fact-checked
The Greens and the Coalition were unlikely allies in a move to delay the final decision on the scheme, with Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather later issuing an ultimatum to Labor on X.
He said: ‘A message for Labor – you have two months to negotiate with the Greens on a housing plan that will actually help the millions of [people] doing it tough. You tried to force a vote to defeat your own broken bill & failed. Work with the Greens.’
Labor’s ‘help to buy’ plan would allow 40,000 low-income Australians enter the housing market with a minimum of a two per cent deposit, without lenders mortgage insurance.
The government would front 30 per cent of the sale for existing homes and 40 per cent for new homes, which it would then be able to recoup upon sale – along with its share of any appreciation in the property value.
The scheme already exists in some states and territories, but Labor’s plan to make it national has been hit with heavy criticism in the Senate – the Greens have called for a freeze on rent hikes, and for tax handouts for landlords to be scrapped.
Labor says those demands are unrealistic.