The housing crisis threatens to unleash Australia’s darker angels. Peter Dutton is intent on exploiting it

‘Peter Dutton has flagged his strategy, and running in parallel with his increasingly shrill anti-voice rhetoric, he is actively inviting Australians to turn in on themselves,’ writes Peter Lewis. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Of all the problems the Albanese government faces as it enters its second year, housing looms as the most wicked: both devilishly complex and capable of unleashing the nation’s darker angels.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, seemingly flagged in his budget-in-reply that he intends to exploit the systems failure that is our housing market to drive an immigration panic, just as Australia reopens its labour market in earnest after the pandemic pause.