Anthony Albanese’s decision to buy a $4.3 million waterfront mansion in the middle of a housing crisis has achieved a rare political feat: both conservative and left-wing political commentators are united against him.
It was revealed on Tuesday that the Prime Minister is the new owner of a five-bedroom home in Copacabana, just south of Avoca on the NSW central coast.
Mr Albanese will share the $4.3 million clifftop home with his fiancée Jodie Haydon, whose ‘Coastie’ family has lived in the area for generations.
The Prime Minister was quizzed on whether he thought his expensive new purchase “looked good” during the country’s cost of living crisis, which is largely due to staggering property prices, high interest rates and skyrocketing rents.
But Mr Albanese insisted he had no plans to move into the property any time soon, telling reporters he would remain in his current job for a very long period.
Predictably, his decision to buy the sprawling mansion proved an open target for the country’s conservative media, with Sky News presenter Andrew Bolt accusing Mr Albanese of ‘hurting his party’.
“He was selfish to buy this house at this time when millions of Australians are struggling to afford a roof over their heads,” Bolt thundered in a speech. Herald Sun column.
But perhaps less expected, Mr Albanese’s growing property empire has also attracted his usual cheerleaders and sympathetic sections of the media, with many likening it to Scott Morrison’s ‘Hawaii moment’.
Anthony Albanese’s decision to buy a $4.3 million waterfront mansion in the middle of a housing crisis has achieved a rare political feat: uniting both conservative and left-wing political commentators against him
Even ABC star Annabel Crabb has criticized the Prime Minister, labeling his decision the “most baffling strategic initiative” since Mr Morrison’s ill-fated Hawaiian holiday during the December 2019 bushfires.
ABC star Annabel Crabb wrote one blistering decline on Wednesday, claiming it was the “most mind-boggling strategic initiative” since Mr Morrison’s ill-fated Hawaiian holiday during the December 2019 bushfires.
“The cold truth, nevertheless, is that this purchase has made the Prime Minister’s professional life – and that of his colleagues – much, much more difficult,” Crabb wrote.
The Kitchen Cabinet host’s piece came on the heels of one also critical column of the Guardian Australia, whose former political editor Katherine Murphy took a job as a spinner for Mr Albanese in January.
“It’s hard to think of a more politically tone-deaf decision than Anthony Albanese’s purchase of a $4.3 million mansion six months before the cost-of-living election,” said Murphy’s former colleague, Senior reporter Sarah Marsh.
The Prime Minister is the proud new owner of the five-person home in Copacabana, on the NSW central coast
The house is located right on top of the cliff on a plot of land of 790 m² and is just a short walk from the beautiful beach
Ms Marsh also debunked the Prime Minister’s defense of the property purchase on Tuesday when he reiterated that he “knows what it’s like to struggle” having been raised by a single mother in a council housing flat.
“Having served in Parliament for almost thirty years and now with an income of $550,000, the ‘warrior from Marrickville’ trope rings hollow when you have to defend the wood-lined cathedral ceilings of your third property in Copacabana (obviously),” wrote Mrs. Marsh.
She added: ‘The judgment is terrible, the optics really terrible.’
Left-wing writer Rachael Withers pointed out that people did not criticize Mr Albanese because he was rich.
‘They criticize him for showing poor judgment (many think it’s a bad look, including Labor MPs, whether you agree) and for not doing enough for those who are struggling *right now*, for whom his path to prosperity is impossible,” she wrote on X.
Ex-ABC journalist Quentin Dempster called Albanese a ‘drongo’
Feminist social commentator Jane Caro was the only voice in support of Mr Albanese. She later deleted the message
Others, like teacher and social commentator Ben Eltham, opted for sarcasm.
“I don’t know why anyone gets angry,” he wrote on X.
“It’s just a $4.3 million beach house bought in the middle of a housing crisis.”
Ex-ABC journalist Quentin Dempster branded Mr Albanese a ‘drongo’.
‘Politics is about the perception of the people. For example, the ‘pub test’,” he wrote on X.
“Like ScoMo’s secret Hawaii vacation, Albo’s beach house purchase has provided free kicks in a cost/housing crisis that will resonate until the next federal election.”
However, a small minority came to work for the prime minister.
“The childish attack on the Prime Minister for buying a house with his partner is astonishing,” wrote political biographer Professor Jenny Hocking.
“Is there really nothing more important to write about?”
Walkley Prize-winning feminist social commentator Jane Caro wrote: “Albo bought a house. Good luck to him.’
