Anthony Albanese backs plan to help solve Australia’s housing crisis

The Prime Minister has thrown his support behind a plan to help solve Australia’s housing crisis and also benefit the bush.

Anthony Albanese has backed the call for medium and high-density housing in the regions in a bid to tackle housing shortages and affordability.

Speaking at The Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit, the Prime Minister said he wanted to work with local governments to address the issue.

“I'm a big fan of working through elected local representatives to listen to what the solutions are rather than bureaucrats or politicians in Canberra or Macquarie St making decisions for them,” Mr Albanese said.

Just 17.5 per cent of all homes in NSW are medium or high density compared with 46 per cent in Greater Sydney.

Rent in regional NSW has spiked 30 per cent since the start of the pandemic.

Australia is in the middle of a housing crisis. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

At the same time, house prices have surged as people seek a tree or sea change.

“There are so many people who, post pandemic in particular, are thinking about how there’s a real advantage and see moving out of the capital cities and enjoying the lifestyle of moving into a vibrant community like (Griffith),” Mr Albanese said.

He made reference to the government’s commitment to introduce a shared equity scheme for home ownership, a policy the NSW government has also adopted.

It would mean low and middle income earners could purchase a home with as little as 2 per cent deposit, with the government contributing 40 per cent of the equity.

In the wide-ranging discussion, Mr Albanese flagged that Australia also needed to lessen its reliance on international supply chains.

“One of the lessons of the pandemic … is we need to be more resilient,” he said.

Mr Albanese said he would be working with local governments. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“We suffer when we’re at the end of global supply chains so that if you have an event like the Russian invasion of Ukraine (it’s) having an impact on the cost of things at war circles.”

He also signalled improvements to the visa process to allow “easier, simple pathways” to permanent residency.

“Why would you have temporary pathways whereby you have someone here for three years and then they go on, you find someone else and have them here for three years and (then) you find someone else?” he said.

“Why wouldn‘t you have easier, simpler pathways to permanent residency so that people can put down their roots just as the Italians did in Griffith for the last 100 years.

“We will need engineers. We will need nurses. We will need chefs. There’s a range of professions (with shortages) that we know isn’t about to end.

“We’re not about to wake up in 10 years’ time and say, ‘Jeez, we’ve got too many damn engineers, what are we going to do with them’?”

Originally published as Anthony Albanese backs plan to help solve Australia’s housing crisis