Australia’s chief housing liar spreads more disinformation

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New housing minister Clare O’Neil should be reported to the Albanese government’s disinformation register.

Last month, O’Neil was accused of misleading parliament by making up expert evidence on the housing crisis:

Tarric Brooker Tweet
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Last week, O’Neil then that “Australia is in a housing crisis because we have a housing shortage. To answer this crisis, our country needs to build more homes”:

Clare O'Neil Tweet

Conveniently neglecting to mention that the primary reason why we are short on homes is because she, as Home Affairs Minister, let in a record one million net overseas migrants over two years, roughly half a million more than was projected in Labor’s first federal budget in October 2022:

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Budget NOM projection

NOM Projection – October 2022Federal Budget

This week, O’Neil boasted about helping to deliver 12 new social homes, as well as increasing Commonwealth Rent Assistance:

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12 new social homes against a population increase of 1.4 million since June 2022 when the Albanese government came to office is laughably small.

According to the ABS Population clock, one migrant arrives to live in Australia every 42 seconds, with Australia’s population increasing by one person every 47 seconds:

ABS population clock
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This extreme population growth is the primary reason why Australia has an imbalance between housing demand and supply:

Dwelling construction vs population change

And why rents have soared across Australia, especially the major capitals:

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Asking rents

Spending taxpayer money to cover up the hyperinflation of rents caused by Labor’s extreme immigration is the ultimate gaslighting.

About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.