Peter Dutton has leapt to the defence of the Prime Minister after he was slammed for saying the best way to support renters was to help them buy a house.
The Defence Minister was asked about Scott Morrison’s controversial remarks on the Today Show on Friday, claiming the comments being “peddled by Labor” were nonsense.
“What he said was, there‘s rental assistance available by from the commonwealth to help people and money pours out the doors each year to help people who need help with rent,” Mr Dutton told Nine.
“And then he went on to so say, by the way, we’re putting a record amount of money into helping people get into their homes to buy a home.”
“So when you look at that in context, it's a perfectly rational thing to say.”
The Prime Minister sought to correct the record himself twice on Thursday after he received widespread backlash for comments he made during a Wednesday morning appearance on Nine’s morning show.
Mr Morrison was spruiking his cost-of-living budget when he was asked why it did not include any support for people struggling to keep up with rising rental prices.
“(The) best way to support people who are renting a house is to help them buy a house. And over the last three years, we’ve got over 300,000 Australians directly in their own home and particularly single mums,” he said on Wednesday.
Host Ally Langdon interjected, saying: “I’m not talking about home ownership here. I’m talking about rent relief.”
Mr Morrison responded: “I know, but that’s my point. People who are buying houses are renters.”
“Ensuring that more renters can buy their own home and get the security of homeownership – this is one of the key focuses of this budget and was one of the key pledges I’ve delivered on since the last election.”
On Tasmanian radio on Thursday, Mr Morrison claimed he “didn’t say that actually” and during question time hit out at Labor for leaping on the comments to attack him.
“I said specifically xjmtzywthat the budget provides for rental assistance through the commonwealth rental assistance program … at some $5bn a year,” he told parliament.
Mr Dutton told Nine the criticism of the Prime Minister’s character was a “bit overdone”.
“I actually think there’s a bit of a tipping point in the community … This sort of pile on of Scott Morrison at every turn is a bit overdone,” he said.
“It’s a bit manufactured. It’s certainly self serving and you’ll hear a lot more of it from the Labor Party but it’s not actually factually true.”
