A senior Labor politician has been branded “out of touch” after denying immigration was responsible for the housing crisis and giving a stunning answer to a question about the cost of renting an apartment in Sydney.
In an interview with ABC Radio Sydney’s Hamish Macdonald, NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson was asked: “What do you think is a reasonable price to pay in rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Sydney ?”
Ms Jackson initially said it depended on what part of Sydney you were looking at, then seemed to just guess and said: “Sydney is a big city, you know, I mean, a couple of hundred dollars, right?”
Macdonald then asked Ms Jackson where in Sydney someone could find a two-bedroom apartment for $200 a week.
“There are places in Sydney where you can do it,” he said. ‘Not all apartments are the same.
“This is the thing about the real estate market: there is a lot of variety, as if a luxurious two-bedroom penthouse in the eastern suburbs is quite different from a clean and tidy two-bedroom apartment next to a train station in the west from Sydney. Both are good homes.
The last median rental price for a unit in Sydney was $720 per week.
He also snapped at a question about the federal Labor government’s record immigration rate during the housing crisis.
NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson (pictured with Anthony Albanese) has been called “out of touch” after denying immigration is responsible for the housing crisis.
ABC Radio Sydney’s Hamish Macdonald (pictured) confronted the minister with a series of tough questions
“I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to categorize immigration as the source of the housing crisis,” he told Macdonald.
“We have always supported a sensible conversation about immigration, but ultimately our job is to deliver supply and one of the challenges with supply is skilled labor.”
Macdonald intervened with a forceful analysis of reality: “But demographic growth does affect the supply of housing, and they are not unrelated.”
‘States need to plan infrastructure, roads and services to accommodate more people. That’s just a fact, right?
Mrs Jackson responded: “That’s why we want a sensible conversation about it, but I don’t think it’s sensible to say that if we stop immigration to this country the pressures on our housing market will go away.”
Ms. Jackson was quickly criticized for the interview on social media, with many calling her incompetent and questioning her ability to do the job.
“It is deeply concerning that this person is in charge of addressing the housing and rental crisis,” one said. ‘Out of touch? Incompetent? Both?’
Another added: “The minister should resign immediately and this is also very offensive to all the people in Sydney looking for housing.”
A third said: “Whether you are a Labor or Liberal Housing Minister, getting it horribly wrong on rents only reinforces how out of touch the political class is,” one wrote.
“It’s sad when politicians are just out of touch with the reality of normal people, a little sadder because Rose Jackson is supposed to be one of the ones who ‘gets’ housing and planning,” said another.
In response to the backlash over the interview, Jackson was forced to explain further on social media.
‘Live radio is a challenging format, sometimes the words come out a little confusing.
‘The question of what is a “reasonable” rent for a two-bedroom apartment is also difficult to answer: where in Sydney? With parking space? A modern luxury home or a smaller, dated apartment?
‘Also, what is “reasonable” for someone to pay rent depends on their income, whether they are single or a couple, which again makes it a difficult question to answer.
‘As is evident from the transcript, Hamish interrupted me before I had a chance to explain the context around why “what is a reasonable rent to pay for a two-bedroom apartment” is not a question with a simple answer .
“I’m well aware that weekly rent in Sydney runs into the hundreds and hundreds, even thousands of dollars – if listeners misinterpreted my comment as a suggestion, I thought it was a little less than that, and I’ll be happy to clarify.”
