Voter Verdict: immigration and housing divide the panel
Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese have unveiled massive initiatives to combat the housing and cost of living crisis, but undecided voters still have big questions. WATCH THEIR VIDEO VERDICT
Federal Election
Don't miss out on the headlines from Federal Election. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Migration and housing have remained front of mind for voters as Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton head into their final week of the election campaign.
Despite both sides injecting major cash on housing policies including the Coalition’s tax-deductible mortgages and Labor’s 5 per cent house deposit – voters remained unconvinced either side could pull Australia out of a housing crisis.
WATCH THE VOTER VERDICT PANEL HAVE THEIR SAY IN THE PLAYER ABOVE
“I’ve noticed they’ve put targets up to build houses, they’re totally unachievable in my opinion based on previous promises to build houses,” voter Brett Terry from the Victorian seat of Holt said referring to Labor’s promise of $10b billion for 100,000 new homes.
“Neither of the policies work because I’m a renter and it’s not adding anything.”
Queenslander and Fairfax resident Gail McIntyre was also sceptical of policies from both sides saying that while they may be able to help people get into the market, they would still struggle to pay their repayments.
“The questions remain, will people still be able to buy their home off? And where and when will all these homes be built,” she said.
Ms McIntyre also questioned how the housing policies would work if immigration – although lowered under both sides than current levels – would still see the population grow.
“We still have immigrants coming into our country when we can’t house the people we already have here.”
Emily Cookson from the Sydney electorate of Mitchell said Labor’s policies would help improve housing supply but questioned the Coalition’s plans to allow Australians to use up to $50,000 out of their super to buy a first home.
“We shouldn’t have to use our retirement money in our youth to just be able to afford a house. That money should be reserved for what it’s meant for, which is retirement,” she said.
Rebecca Free from the seat of Lyons in Tasmania said there was no clear winner between the two sides on housing on immigration but welcomed Mr Dutton’s commitment to ban foreign investment, something Labor has matched.
“I couldn’t say that there’s a clear winner for me in relation to housing and immigration, but the one policy that I do like is Dutton’s two-year ban on foreign investment,” she said.
“I do feel that housing here is just so scarce and I think we should be looking at housing people that are already here that need a roof over their head.”
Renter Aaron Teboneras from the Queensland seat of Moncrieff is not opposed to migration but said people should be encouraged to stay in regional towns over cities where housing is already unaffordable.
“I mean, I went to three places just to look for rents – that’s the rental market and there were 19 applicants there, just at the rental place for each property,” he said.
“(When) a lot of migrants come in, that’s going make it even harder for everyday Australians.”
The group of everyday Australians are selected by Pollster Redbridge. Every week of the campaign these undecided voters rate the leaders out of ten.
This week Anthony Albanese won by less than 0.1 point.
WHO WON THE WEEK
ALBANESE 6.0
DUTTON 5.9
NAME: Dinesh Nagappan Anitha
AGE: 32
OCCUPATION: Engineer
LOCATION: Blacktown
ELECTORATE: Greenway
Who won the week? ALBANESE
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 7/10
DUTTON: 5/10
“All of Dutton’s policies I felt were going to be inflationary … for housing prices. Having a stricter migration system to improve the quality of migrants is valid but that should not come at the detriment of making it harder for genuine migrants.”
NAME: Emily Cookson
AGE: 24
OCCUPATION: Student
LOCATION: Kellyville, NSW
ELECTORATE: Mitchell
Who won the week? ALBANESE
Score out of 10:
Albanese: 7/10
Dutton: 5/10
“Anthony Albanese won. I just think that he had more clear strategies of his approach to the immigration and housing issues across Australia and more direct with his strategies.”
“We shouldn’t have to use our retirement money in our youth to just be able to afford a house.”
NAME: Karen Treloar
AGE: 56
OCCUPATION: Homemaker
LOCATION: Basin Pocket, QLD
ELECTORATE: Blair
Who won the week? ALBANESE
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 7/10
DUTTON: 5/10
“I worry about them (my kids) because they’re young and even with working full time and studying full time, Like It’s so expensive.”
“Not everybody is going to be able to get a new house built.”
NAME: Gail McIntyre
AGE: 63
OCCUPATION: Retired
LOCATION: Mountain Creek Qld
ELECTORATE: Fairfax
Who won the week? DUTTON
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 4/10
DUTTON: 8/10
“Peter Dutton won the week for me in a cost of living crisis. His policies addressing that scored with me.”
“I think both parties’ policies would help people get into housing, but will they be able to pay it off?”
NAME: Rebecca Free
AGE: 51
OCCUPATION: Manager
LOCATION: Honeywell, TAS
ELECTORATE: Lyons
Who won the week? DRAW
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 5/10
DUTTON: 5/10
“Dutton’s two-year ban on foreign investment is probably the main thing for me because I do feel that housing here is just so scarce.”
“We should be looking at housing people that are already here that need a roof over their head.”
NAME: Muhammad Ahmad Ashraf
AGE: 39
OCCUPATION: IT professional
LOCATION: Logan Reserve, QLD
ELECTORATE: Forde
Who won the week? ALBANESE
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 8/10
DUTTON: 6/10
“Albanese highlighted Labor’s Medicare plan in which he pledged no cuts on health or education … these pledges seem quite promising.”
“Dutton pledged to increase defence spending – I don’t agree with this as Aussies are under cost of living pressure so the government should focus on giving relief.”
NAME: Katie Hows
AGE: 30
OCCUPATION: Chartered Accountant
LOCATION: Woodvale, WA
ELECTORATE: Moore
Who won the week? DUTTON
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 6/10
DUTTON: 8/10
“There’s a lot incentives and a lot changes that they’re recommending for first-time owners. However I am interested to know what the Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are going to do for current homeowners.”
NAME: Julie-anne Perich
AGE: 47
OCCUPATION: Homemaker
LOCATION: Kalangadoo, SA
ELECTORATE: Barker
Who won the week? ALBANESE
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 6.5/10
DUTTON: 4.5/10
“I think Albanese won, only by a touch though.”
“He (Dutton) wants to cut everything. He’s the cutter. That’s the impression I got, the cut, cut, cut, cuts.”
NAME: Rachel Zappia
AGE: 50
OCCUPATION: Office Manager
LOCATION: Concord West
ELECTORATE: Reid
Who won the week? DUTTON
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 6/10
DUTTON: 7/10
“Housing policies are pretty forefront for me right now. Immigration, not as much.”
“We get some amazing students coming to this country. They pull money into this country if we were to cap that, and there’s some very smart students out there too, if we were to cap that then our universities are going suffer.”
NAME: Apurva Soni
AGE: 33
OCCUPATION: Project Officer
LOCATION: North Parramatta, NSW
ELECTORATE: Parramatta
Who won the week? ALBANESE
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 6.5/10
DUTTON: 6/10
“So both the leaders have had their opinions and they were quite successful in convincing voters like me.”
“Dutton’s approach was more focused on stringent security measures and reducing migration numbers while Anthony Albanese’s approach … emphasised the benefits of robust and well-managed migration policies.”
NAME: Brett Terry
AGE: 56
OCCUPATION: Security officer
LOCATION: Hampton Park, VIC
ELECTORATE: Holt
Who won the week? DRAW
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 5/10
DUTTON: 5/10
“For me personally, neither of the policies work because I’m a renter and it’s not adding anything.”
“With respect to immigration, I think we need to control it, reduce it.”
NAME: Parag Khandekar
AGE: 43
OCCUPATION: Chartered Accountant
LOCATION: Rowville, VIC
ELECTORATE: Aston
Who won the week? DUTTON
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 5/10
DUTTON: 5.5/10
“ I still give a slight edge to Peter Dutton because of his aggressive comments, which actually can stand in favor of us in the future.”
“The election has to be won on three points. One is Medicare, one is housing, another one is inflation.”
NAME: Aaron Teboneras
AGE: 41
OCCUPATION: Business Owner
LOCATION: Southport, QLD
ELECTORATE: Moncrieff
Who won the week? DUTTON
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 5/10
DUTTON: 5.5/10
“I feel both parties are not doing enough to really target the housing crisis.”
“ I feel like they should migrate to country towns, not so much the big cities because it’s putting pressure on everyday Australians.”
More Coverage
Bolt: Albo’s weakness leaves us exposed as world prepares for war
Other countries are readying for a potential world war, unlike Labor, which has recklessly crippled our military and mocks the Coalition for promising $21 billion more for our defence.
Dutton’s defence pledge ‘plucked out of air’
A senior Labor minister has slammed the Coalition’s $21bn defence spending pledge, saying the figure was “plucked out of air” by Peter Dutton.