Scott Morrison slammed by Ally Langdon for telling struggling Australians renters to buy a house

The Prime Minister was doing the morning show rounds to spruik Tuesday night’s budget including $8.6 billion in handouts and $8.6 million in homebuyer subsidies.

However, although petrol tax was slashed and millions were handed $250 cash handouts and $420 in additional tax relief to combat rising costs of living, there was nothing for rental relief. 

This was not lost on Today show host Alison Langdon, who asked why huge, rapidly rising rental costs for most Australians was overlooked.

‘It’s about Australians getting into homes. The best way to support people who are renting a house is to help them buy a house,’ he replied.

‘And over the last three years, we’ve got over 300,000 Australians directly into their own home and particularly single mums, where we are addressing the amount of deposit they need from 20 per cent…’

Langdon interjected to point out Mr Morrison was not answering the question, which was not about home ownership – as dire an issue as that was.

‘I’m talking about rental relief for the thousands and millions of people who are renting. And I think that for a lot of places like in regional Australia, rents have gone up about 18 to 20 per cent,’ she said.

Langdon was referring to a Australian Council of Social Services and UNSW report that compared pre- and post-pandemic rent costs.

The PM replied: ‘I know, but that’s my point. People who are buying houses are renters. And ensuring that more renters can buy their own home and get the security of home ownership, this is one of the key focuses of this Budget.’

He said renters were already supported by rental assistance payments – which have been in place for decades and only benefit people on welfare.   

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny made a capital gain of 198 per cent on their first property

The comments sparked a furious backlash, with Australian Council of Social Services chief executive Cassandra Goldie branding the government’s attitude ‘perverse’.

She said renting should be ‘a decent, secure, long-term option for putting a roof over your head and having a home.’

She added: ‘How is someone on JobSeeker, on $46 a day – just $16,700 a year – supposed to buy a home? How is a pensioner in severe rental stress going to buy a home?

‘The best way to support renters is to lift their incomes so they can better afford rent, and build social housing.

‘Perversely, its housing measures will very likely push up house prices and make housing affordability worse.’

Activist Grace Tame – and perpetual critic of Scott Morrison – also joined a growing online backlash, tweeting: ‘If you can’t afford to rent a car, buy a luxury yacht.’ 

Others also vented their fury on social media, branding the PM hopelessly out of touch for his comment.

‘Oh, Scotty. You might as well have said let them eat cake,’ posted one. 

Another added: ‘Scott Morrison says best way to help renters is to ‘help them buy a house’ For a bloke who says he understands people this statement shows he is off with the pixies. 

‘Repayments are way more than rent so way out of reach plus rates plus maintenance etc.’

One exasperated jobseeker posted: ‘Cost of living relief! My rent has gone up by $100. My utilities have risen and my food costs are up by 20 per cent and my JobSeeker has risen by $14. 

‘Like others I am close to homelessness and Scott Morrison says buy a house!’

Not everyone was infuriated by the PM’s comments though. One Canberra-based ScoMo fan tweeted: ‘I agree with Scott Morrison.

‘If you can afford to rent, then you can afford to buy. Obviously there are hurdles, primarily the deposit, but buying should be the goal for most people.’

 Mr Morrison already upset struggling Australians on Monday by using his own experience buying his first home in 1995 to claim getting into the property market was ‘always’ tough, despite huge increases in prices since then.

The PM said he struggled to save up a deposit for his and wife Jenny’s first home.

‘The hardest thing to do when you’re buying your first home – and I remember this when Jenny and I were buying our first home and it was hard back then, I believe it’s harder now – was the deposit you needed to pull together, and that was a 20 per cent deposit,’ he said when asked where families could by a $750,000 home in Sydney. 

But runaway house prices and stalled wages mean any struggles Mr Morrison had pale in comparison to those faced by the younger generation today. 

Mr Morrison bought his first home – a two-bedroom duplex in the ritzy eastern Sydney suburb of Bronte – in 1995 for $330,000 – a far cry from what a starter house in the sought-after suburb would cost today.

The two-bedroom duplex set them back $330,000, which when adjusted for inflation is about $635,000 – a far cry from what a starter home in the sought-after suburb would cost today

He then went on to secure a high-paying job working in tourism, first in New Zealand and later as the managing director for Tourism Australia. 

By the time they sold their first home in June 2009 the price had ballooned to $985,000 – or about $1.32 million when adjusted to today’s dollars.

The home sold again in 2014, this time for $1.4 million, and given the rise in Sydney property prices in the past few years alone, it would be worth well over $2 million today.

This means to buy the same two-bedroom duplex Mr Morrison’s family snapped up, young Australians would have to shell out three or even four times as much money. 

They could have a fighting chance in less-desirable suburbs if wages hadn’t also stagnated over the intervening 27 years. 

Instead, young Australians hoping to get into real estate have also battled with weak pay increases, with wages growth stuck below the long-term average of three per cent since mid-2013 as house prices have surged by double-digit margins in most of those years. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny in November 1995 bought their first home under their own names, this California bungalow on Lugar Brae Avenue, a stone’s throw from his parents’ house on Evans Street where he grew up

Langdon also grilled Mr Morrison on this issue, particularly as the Budget predicted wage growth would outstrip inflation in coming years. 

‘Your track record on that forecast has been pretty shaky over the past decade. Why are you confident you’ve got it right this time?’ she asked.

The PM called such assumptions ‘swings and roundabouts’ but claimed Budget revenue always come out higher than expected, and that the Reserve Bank predicted wages would start rising again. 

‘But the only way you get stronger wages is through a stronger economy. The government doesn’t legislate to increase wages,’ he said.

‘If the Labor Party think there’s a better way to raise wages, I look forward to hearing it on Thursday night. He’s got to set out an alternative budget on Thursday night.’