Major parties have traded blows on how they would solve Australia’s housing crisis, but uncertainty remains on how critical targets would be reached.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and opposition spokesman Michael Sukkar traded blows on the issue during a debate at the National Press Club, both pledging to make it easier for first-home buyers to enter the market.

Ms O’Neil said housing remained one of the nation’s most pressing issues, with many young people feeling disenfranchised.

“(Housing) is the biggest social and economic challenge facing our country right now,” she said.

“(Young people) talk about anger. They talk about frustration. They talk about rage. But then there’s other young people who have actually moved beyond that, and these are the people I’m most worried about.”

Labor has pledged to expand a scheme allowing first-home buyers to purchase a property with just a five per cent deposit, while also setting up 100,000 houses specifically for those entering the market.

The coalition has opted to make interest on mortgages tax deductible for first-home buyers for the first five years of a loan.

Mr Sukkar took aim at housing targets set by the government of 1.2 million new dwellings built by the end of the decade, which are forecast to fall short.

However, he did not provide a figure as to how many would be built should there be a change of government.

“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,” he said.

It comes as Anthony Albanese slammed housing advocate Jordan van den Lamb – known online as Purplepingers – after he urged followers to squat at a vacant home belonging to a Melbourne woman’s late father.

Intruders then changed the locks and removed belongings from the home.

“This is outrageous … having to deal with the loss of a loved one would have been traumatic enough, without finding someone essentially taking over what was her late father’s property,” Mr Albanese told ABC Radio.

Mr van den Lamb, who is running as a Victorian Senate candidate at the May 3 election, regularly shares addresses of empty properties for people who need crisis accommodation.

He hit back at the prime minister, saying he was a disgrace for not doing more to solve the housing crisis.

Andrew Brown
(Australian Associated Press)