A housing minister’s embarrassing gaffe that a ‘reasonable price’ to pay for an apartment in Sydney was just ‘a couple of hundred bucks’ appears to rule out every rental apartment across the city but does leave options open for a long commute.
NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson took to TikTok on Thursday to claim she ‘mangled’ her response to the ABC Radio’s Hamish Macdonald on Wednesday when he asked her what ‘a reasonable rent’ in Sydney was.
After the minister replied ‘a couple of hundred bucks’, Macdonald pressed her on where in Sydney, which has a median rent of $720, you could find somewhere for just $200.
‘There are places in Sydney you can,’ Ms Jackson insisted.
A search on realestate.com unearthed no apartments within greater Sydney for under $200, although there was a room available for that price in a 12-bedroom sharehouse in Merrylands in the city’s west for ‘males only’.
However, there is a ‘neat and tidy unit with built-in wardrobes, large lounge/living area and two spacious bedrooms’ available for only $180 a week for those willing to make a six hour round trip to and from work each day.
Located in Merriwa, 270km north-west of Sydney, it’s one of four two bedroom units across NSW available for $200 a week or less.
The other available properties are in the NSW northern tablelands in Glen Innes and Moree, located 577km and 633km away from Sydney respectively.
The closest ‘reasonable’ priced unit, that being for $200 or less, to Sydney is this two-bedroom unit inn Merriwa
The NSW town of Merriwa is located 270km northwest of Sydney or about a three-hour drive
Wednesday’s interview earned Ms Jackson plenty of derision online with one social media user asking: ‘Out of touch? Incompetent? Both?’
Ms Jackson on Thursday claimed she was talking about what might be hypothetically reasonable rather than what ‘people in Sydney actually paying’.
‘Did I say that rent in Sydney is $200 dollars a week? No,’ she said.
The mnister insisted she was well aware of what Sydney renters was ‘really expensive’ but radio interviews were a ‘hard format’ where she sometimes ‘garbled’ her answers.
‘Sometimes your words get a bit mangled, you’re only kinda human,’ she said.
‘I can be a pretty intense person whose words don’t always come out nice and synched,’ she said.
‘I know rent is in Sydney hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.
‘That is why I talk about the housing crisis all the time; I wouldn’t do that if I thought rent was affordable.
‘I’m trying to recognise how hard it is for people.’
Ms Jackson confessed she had history of ‘getting a bit mangled’ such as when she went on live TV and confused the Pavlovian response with Pavlova.
She also reminded viewers that Thursday is World Kindness Day.
‘It is important that we are all just a bit kinda to each other, recognise each other’s flaws and stuff ups and jumbled words and mistakes,’ she said.
NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson took to video-sharing platform TikTok to defuse her gaffe about $200 being the reasonable price to rent a flat in Sydney
During her interview with Macdonald, Ms Jackson defended her ‘couple of hundred bucks’ remark by pointing out there was ‘ lot of variety’ in the Sydney housing market.
‘A luxe two-bed penthouse in the eastern suburbs is pretty different to a neat and tidy, two-bedroom flat next to a train station in Western Sydney,’ she said.
‘They’re both good homes.’
She also responded abruptly to a question about the federal Labor government’s record immigration rate during the housing crisis.
‘I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to categorise immigration as the source of the housing crisis,’ she 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 interjected with a blunt reality check: ‘But population growth does impact housing supply, they’re not unrelated.
‘States have got to plan the infrastructure and the roads and the services to accommodate more people. That’s just a fact isn’t it.’
Ms Jackson hit back: ‘That’s why we want a sensible conversation about it, but I don’t think it’s sensible to say if we stopped immigration to this country, the pressures on our housing market will disappear.’
Ms Jackson was quickly slammed over the interview on social media, with many calling her incompetent and questioning her ability to do the job.
‘It’s deeply concerning that this person is in charge of addressing the housing/rental crisis,’ one said. ‘Out of touch? Incompetent? Both?’
Another added: ‘The minister should stand down immediately and it is also highly offensive to all people in Sydney seeking housing.’
A third said: ‘If you are a Labor or Liberal Housing Minister, being wildly wrong on rents just reinforces how the political class is out of touch,’ one wrote.
‘It’s sad when politicians are just out of touch with reality for normal people, a bit extra sad because Rose Jackson is meant to be one of the ones who ‘gets it’ on housing and planning,’ another said.
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