Australia PM faces backlash over new A$4.3m beach pad

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - SYDNEY — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under fire after buying a multi-million-dollar cliff-top home amid a national housing crisis.

Albanese made the purchase months out from an election in which the cost of living and housing are key issues.

The move has sparked backlash from across the political divide — with his opponents calling it "tone deaf" and some within his own party anonymously telling local media it left them "gobsmacked".

Albanese defended his decision, saying he "knows what it is like to struggle" but bought the luxury property to be close to his fiancee Jodie Haydon's family on the New South Wales Central Coast.

Property records show the four-bedroom, three-bathroom, and three-carport property in Copacabana — which has panoramic views — was sold for A$4.3m ($2.9m, £2.2m) last month, but the purchase is yet to settle.

At a press conference about housing on the day news of his new home broke, Albanese said he was aware that he was "better off" than many Australians due to his income but that he could still empathise with their struggle.

"My mum lived in the one public housing [home] that she was born in for all of her 65 years," he told reporters.

“I know what it is like, which is why I want to help all Australians into a home.”

Albanese's Labor party has created a A$10b investment fund for social and affordable housing. It has struggled to get other housing initiatives through parliament though, due in part to a lack of support from the Australian Greens party and some independents, who want the government to produce more ambitious policy proposals.

Research suggests Australian cities rank among the worst in the world for housing affordability, with Sydney trailing only Hong Kong, according to the 2024 Demographia International Housing Affordability survey.

About two-thirds of Australian households own a home, but, according to parliamentary disclosures, about 95% of sitting federal politicians own at least one residential property. About a third own three or more.

While some of his colleagues have backed Albanese, several have broken rank to criticize his decision anonymously as being out of step with the public.

“I can’t think of a greater act of self-sabotage in my life,” one Labor MP told the Sydney Morning Herald — who redacted their name "so they could speak freely".

"If you’re a Labor MP up against a Green at the next election, good luck," they added.

Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said Albanese’s purchase highlights the need for reform to lucrative tax incentives for property investors and greater renter protections.

"Labor and the Liberals have created a housing system where a property investor can buy a A$4.3m beachfront home, while millions can't even find an affordable rental, let alone buy a house of their own," Chandler-Mather wrote on X.

Liberal Senator Jane Hume said "everybody has a right to a personal life" but questioned "the timing" of the purchase: "This is tone deaf during a housing crisis," she told Channel 7's Sunrise programme.

However Opposition Leader and fellow Liberal Peter Dutton declined to criticise Albanese but noted that many Australians were struggling with their own mortgages. — BBC