Australian news and politics recap: Anthony Albanese flails on bills and Peter Dutton fails to land knockout

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton will face off in their second of four leaders debate on Wednesday evening.

The leaders are expected to clash on the ABC from 8pm AEST in a live broadcast moderated by David Speers from the ABC’s Parramatta studio.

It comes after the pair went head-to-head in the Sky News-Daily Telegraph’s People’s Forum on Tuesday, April 8 in Western Sydney.

Unlike their previous clash, questions won’t be asked by undecided voters in the audience. Instead they will be directed and controlled by Speers.

Mr Albanese had been declared the winner of the last debate but it was much over muchness, with little blows delivered by either side.

This debate on the ABC comes after the parties have passed the halfway point of the election campaign.

They have been on the road for 20 days with just 17 to go before polling day on May 3.

The campaign is also expected to be low tempered across the next week as Australians switch off for the Easter holidays, followed by the Anzac day weekend.

Both leaders have used the past few days in the lead up to the debate to sell their headline housing policies which teach camp unveiled at their respective launches on Sunday.

After both visiting housing developments in Melbourne on Wednesday morning, Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton travelled to Sydney this afternoon to prepare for the debate.

Following the ABC’s debate, the leaders will duel again on April 22 and then the last debate before election day will be held by Channel 7 on April 27.

Mr Albanese is also expected to give a separate address at The West Australian’s Leadership Matters on April 24 at Crown Perth. It comes after Mr Dutton spoke at the same event on Friday, April 11.

Both housing frontbenchers tried to lay out their plans to tackle Australia’s housing crisis during the National Press Club housing debate.

However, the contest between Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and shadow Michael Sukkar was instead centred on credibility.

Did we actually learn anything new? Not really. Both Ms O’Neil and Mr Sukkar were strong on their own briefs, but spent most of the debate sledging each other rather than unpacking new policy detail.

Both sides are accusing the other of making up numbers – and neither really committed to publicly releasing the modelling behind their housing figures.

The most the audience got was Ms O’Neil saying: “we will release modelling as it ordinarily occurs”.

When then asked “In the election campaign?” by National Press Club president Tom Connell, she responded: “Not committing to that, sorry.”

Ms O’Neilgave a more passionate account of wanting to fix the housing crisis after leaning heavily on stories of real Australians struggling to enter the market.

Mr Sukkar framed the Coalition as the party of homeownership and cast doubt on Labor’s track record after three years of a deepening housing crisis.

A record he used to warn of more of the same if the Government is re-elected.

As the National Press Club housing debate drew to a close, both sides made their final pitch. Both parties said they’ll fix the housing crisis and accused the other of making it worse.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil used her one-minute closing argument to portray the Coalition’s housing plans as unserious and damaging.

She warned that under Peter Dutton, Australians could expect “more of the same” from a party that neglected housing for a decade.

“I think what you have heard from Michael today is that under a Peter Dutton government we will expect more of the same,” she said.

“They will make homes more expensive through the ridiculous housing policy.

“We offer an alternative, a government that is genuinely serious about taking a running crack at the underlying problems that have led us where we are today.

“We will build more homes, we will make sure renters get a better deal and make that hard work to get more young people around this country into home ownership.”

Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar fired back, declaring this a “sliding door moment” for Australia, claiming the Coalition would give first home buyers the “firepower” they needed.

“The Labor Party is offering you three more years of the same,” he said.

“Their criticism of us is that our ambitions for homeownership are too high.

“Our first home buyer mortgage deductibility scheme is going to finally give first home buyers the firepower they need to purchase a home.

“We are going to… deliver more homes for those first-time buyers.”

At the heart of the National Press Club housing debate has been a political slugfest over numbers, with both frontbenchers accusing each other of being liars over housing figures.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has accused Coalition of inflating, twisting, or outright fabricating the figures underpinning their housing plans.

“This is a policy of weird things that were written on the back of a napkin,” she said in her closing address.

“The Coalition’s estimates are totally fanciful, absolutely ridiculous.

“If it was that easy to fix the problem we wouldn’t be in a crisis. We know that because this is something the Coalition tried last time they were in office,” she said.

But the gloves were also off for Shadow Minister Michael Sukkar who positioned Coalition as the party grounded in pragmatism while painting Labor as dangerously misleading.

He said opposition plans to unlock 500,000 homes with $5 billion in infrastructure funding was based on real consultations and line-by-line spreadsheets from councils and developers.

“We have literally met with hundreds of councils,” he said.

“Labor’s either discovered some building formula unknown to every other home builder in this country, or this is just another comical lie from the government.

“How on earth can any Australian believe you when you say… that you’re going to build 100,000 homes for first home-buyers, when you’ve failed to deliver on any of the promises you made at the start of this term?

“The numbers don’t stack up… and I think that you are treating voters like mugs.”

Towards the end of the housing debate held at the National Press Club, president and moderator Tom Connell has allowed the frontbenchers to ask each other one question.

Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar challenged Clare O’Neil on Labor’s housing record, accusing the government of failing to deliver on its key housing promises.

Sukkar: “How on earth can any Australian believe you when you say, from here on - that you’re going to build 100,000 homes for first home-buyers, when you’ve failed to deliver on any of the promises you made at the start of this term?”

Ms O’Neil hit back, labelling Sukkar’s comments as misleading and highlighting the Coalition’s record of building, claiming they had just 373 social and affordable homes over nearly a decade. Mr Sukkar rejected her figures and accused her of misleading the public.

O’Neil: “My question is actually on social and affordable housing. I want to ask Michael, if he’s committing a future government to actually supporting the people who are most in need out of the community?”

Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar was asked by a journalist a question about the specifics of Coalition housing policies and was challenged for not committing to a specific target for the Coalition’s housing plans.

Mr Sukkar responded by avoiding committing to a specific housing target, instead he described Coalition’s plans as more pragmatic and slammed Labor for pulling figures “out of thin air”.

“The numbers don’t stack up,” he said.

“I think that you are treating voters like mugs.

“We could easily pull any figure out, which I suspect is the 1.2 million figure that they’ve just pulled out of thin air.

“It’s not based on any recent research out of the industry - I can assure you.

“The Government were told that they were going to fall a couple of hundred thousand short. So what did they do?

“Instead of revising the target or coming clean with the Australian target and saying, look, we’ll try our best but we’re probably falling short, they’ve steadfastly stuck to the line that they’re going to deliver 1.2 million homes. They’re delivering less homes.”

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil says Coaliton’s housing policy which allows young people to draw from their superannuation to help with a home deposit doesn’t take into account gender inequality in superannuation balances.

She said women’s super balances are, on average, 30 per cent lower than men’s in their late 30s, and 45 per cent lower in their 50s, and warned it could exacerbate these inequalities.

Ms O’Neil argued that this approach would not only inflate house prices but also disadvantage women in competitive housing markets.

“I could give an hour-long speech about all of the problems for super for housing,” she said.

“One of the things is the terrible gender impacts of this. Very sadly, we have a real problem with superannuation balances across the country where women routinely have less amounts in their super.

“This policy… not only will it jack up house prices instantly by giving millions of people the ability to ransack their retirement savings but it’s also going to significantly disadvantage women when they’re at an auction bidding against a man.

“And that can’t be a good thing for gender equality across the country.”

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has declined to define what “sustainable house price growth” means, despite being pressed during a National Press Club debate over whether rising prices are fuelling distress among young Australians.

A journalist referred to Ms O’Neil’s previous comments on ABC Radio, where she said the government was “not trying to bring down house prices”.

The Minister acknowledged “anger, frustration and despair” among young people but said a sharp drop in prices could hurt others who recently bought in.

“Many of them have taken on incredibly large mortgages while interest rates were low. And we don’t want, nor is it good for the country, to see that generation go into negative equity,” she said.

“The things that need to happen here for us to address this situation in the long-run are about building more homes and making sure that Australian workers are properly paid, and that’s the policy objective of our Government.”

She was then asked: “What is sustainable house price growth? What is the number?”

And responded with: “I’m not going to put a number on it, but it’s really important that we see wages going up faster.

“(And that we’re) building more homes and especially at that affordable end of the market where we’re going to see most home-buyers come in.”

Mr Sukkar also didn’t directly answer the question about defining a specific number for “sustainable house price growth”.

Instead, he focused on explaining that wages should grow faster than house prices, and that modest house price growth is acceptable as long as wages outpace it.

Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar has taken a swipe at Labor’s migration priorities, suggesting the government has allowed “yoga instructors” into Australia on skilled visas while tradies are in short supply.

Speaking at the National Press Club housing debate, Mr Sukkar was asked how the Coalition’s plan to cut net overseas migration would affect the availability of skilled workers — particularly in the building industry.

“Let’s just start with where (Housing Minister Clare O’Neil) finished off. The CFMEU will not allow the Labor Party to make the changes that (National Press Club President Tom Connell) has described.

“The sorts of changes that would mean we bring in more bricklayers and less yoga instructors.

“That’s the situation we face at the moment.”

Shadow housing minister Michael Sukkar has declared the Coalition will build “more homes than Labor” if elected but stopped short of committing to a specific number.

“We will build more homes than the Labor Party,” he initially said.

Mr Sukkar was then questioned on the figure by a journalist “So, you’re saying you’ll build…” before he interrupted with “more than the Labor Party, absolutely”.

Journalist: “Than they did in this term?”

Sukkar: “More than their trajectory at the moment, which is at least 400,000 homes short.

Journalist: “You’re saying they’ll get to 800,000 out of the 1.2 million, and you’ll get to 1 million?

Sukkar: “I’m certain it will be higher than Labor. What I’m not willing to do is insult the intelligence of Australians and put in place a target that I won’t be responsible for and Clare won’t be responsible for in 10 years’ time.”

In a further fiery exchange at the National Press Club housing debate, Mr Sukkar accused Housing Minister Clare O’Neil of misleading Australians with a “comical” promise to build 1.2 million homes.

“When you continually say to Australians - who I think have every right to take you at face value - that you’re going to deliver 1.2 million homes when you’re falling hundreds of thousands of homes short, you’re insulting their intelligence,” he said.