On the east coast and in the west, Labor and the coalition are hyping up true believers as they sharpen their focus on housing and tax cuts.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese launched Labor’s official campaign in Perth, where he promised to build 100,000 homes reserved for first-time buyers only.
“This is the biggest home-building program since post-war housing,” he told party faithful and Labor luminaries on Sunday.
Australians would also be able to buy their first dwelling with a five per cent deposit, with the government guaranteeing the other 15 per cent and the help-to-buy scheme will be expanded to cover more people and properties.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton used his launch in western Sydney – where the Liberals need to pick up a slate of seats – to offer first home-buyers tax deductible mortgage interest payments on the first $650,000.
Both sides also offered more moderate tax relief measures as Labor promised a $1000 instant asset write-off, saving people up to $320, while the Liberals offered a one-off $1200 tax cut sweetener.
Famous faces on both sides were at the respective launches, with Mr Albanese embracing former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard and Mr Dutton greeting former Liberal prime ministers Scott Morrison, John Howard and Tony Abbott after his speech.
Mr Albanese cast the election as a choice between a steady hand to weather economic headwinds and a reckless Liberal government that needed to borrow its policies from the United States.
“Labor’s vision for this great country, our plan to build Australia’s future is not borrowing ideologies or copying policies from anywhere else or anyone else,” Mr Albanese said.
“It’s about building on what has always been our nation’s greatest strength, the Australian people.”
Mr Dutton centred his pitch around restoring the Australian dream of home ownership as he branded the 2025 election “a sliding doors moment for our country”.
“When Australians have heard me say that I want to be the prime minister for home ownership, for home affordability, for home accessibility, I mean it,” he said.
“Australians, let’s make sure that we can get this great country that we love back on track.”
A first-home buyer with a taxable income of $120,000 and a $650,000 mortgage at 6.1 per cent interest would be about $12,000 better off a year, the coalition said.
Under its $10 billion tax plan, eligible taxpayers earning up to $144,000 a year would be in line for a rebate when they lodge their return for the upcoming financial year.
Australians had a clear choice on housing, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.
“Under Labor, more homes and smaller deposits, under the coalition and Peter Dutton, fewer homes and higher house prices,” he said.
Coalition campaign spokesman James Paterson said his party would help lower demand for housing and boost supply of new dwellings.
“We have some very strong policies out there to reduce demand, including immigration, because that is a driver of demand, and banning foreign investors for two years from buying Australian homes,” Senator Paterson said.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said cracking down on investor tax handouts and capping rents were the real solutions to the nation’s housing affordability woes.
“Labor tinkers while prices soar, the Liberals will send prices even higher,” he said.
Mr Dutton claimed his plan would do more to ease cost-of-living pain than Labor’s tax cuts of up to $268 in 2026/27 and up to $536 each financial year after but Labor hit back saying people were better with long-term relief.
The major parties decided to make things official earlier than usual in a bid to stay in public view ahead of a slew of public holidays for Easter and Anzac Day.
The election will be held on May 3.
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