Anthony Albanese compares the Lodge to public housing

Anthony Albanese has described his 40-room taxpayer-funded Canberra mansion with a pool, tennis court, wine room and a chef as public housing.

The prime minister, who grew up in housing commission in Camperdown, inner-west Sydney, joked on Monday that he was happy to be back in public housing after moving into the prime minster’s residence, The Lodge.

Asked by a Greens MP if his status as a landlord was preventing him supporting a rent freeze, Mr Albanese replied: ‘I am very pleased that I am back in public housing, it has to be said. A lot better than my first public house.’

Anthony Albanese grew up in this housing commission block in Camperdown, inner west Sydney

He now lives in The Lodge – a 40-room mansion in Canberra – 

While the Lodge is taxpayer funded, it is worlds away from housing commission. It boasts six bedrooms, a wine room, two kitchens, four bathrooms, an orchard, a pond, two dining rooms, a pool and tennis court and comes with a full-time chef.

Liberal sources said Scott Morrison never would have got away with making such a comment, even if it was a light-hearted joke. 

‘Can you imagine the outcry if Morrison made that statement,’ one source said. 

The Greens are calling for a nationwide two-year rent freeze to allow incomes to catch up with surging prices.

The party also wants to see rent increases capped at two per cent every 24 months once the two-year suspension lapses.

In the 12 months to June, rents have soared 9.1 per cent across capital cities and 10.8 per cent in regional areas, CoreLogic data shows. 

More than 1million people are spending more than 50 per cent of their income on rent.

Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather is pictured left with leader Adam Bandt

Mr Albanese – who owns at least three properties – has refused to support the rent-freeze proposal, saying it is not possible to achieve ‘short of nationalising property’.  

In Question Time on Monday Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather asked Mr Albanese if he was refusing to back it because he is a landlord.

‘Will you put aside your own status at a landlord and look at the green proposal for a two year rent freeze,’ he said. 

Mr Albanese said Labor’s $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which aims to build 30,000 new social and affordable housing properties in its first five years, will help alleviate the housing crisis. 

‘A range of people are certainly under stress in terms of housing affordability, finding it difficult to get into the market and to pay the rent and pay the bills,’ he said. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during House of Representatives Question Time