Following Anthony Albanese’s recent cabinet shake-up, the new housing and homelessness minister, Clare O’Neil, was quick to express empathy for troubled renters, touting Labor’s $32bn housing investment and describing the ambitious target of constructing 1.2m homes as “genuinely radical”.

But does O’Neil bring anything new to the table? Not necessarily – at least not on the policy front.

Housing has become a major focal point for the next federal election. But the government has been described as “fairly flat-footed” in communicating its efforts to voters so far. The perception is that the incumbent is not faring well in this space.

Meanwhile the Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, seems to be gaining traction. Chandler-Mather connects with younger voters and advocates a consistent agenda peppered with socially soothing buzzwords. Who knew what a “rent freeze” was a year ago? Now, it turns out a majority of the country is on board with rent freezes or rental caps.

Albanese may have recruited a better “salesperson” to push back more forcefully on Greens’ demands for renters in the lead-up to the federal election, but without a sharper housing message, O’Neil might find herself outmanoeuvred.

Beneath the political fuss, Australia remains under chronic housing stress.

In 2023, over half of those seeking homelessness services cited housing woes like rent unaffordability as the main reason they need help. In 2024, two out of five low-income private renters were teetering on the edge of homelessness, despite commonwealth rent assistance.

While the........

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