Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is revving up the Coalition’s campaign, literally with a truck tour across Victoria, fuelling up at servo stops, cuddling puppies, and pitching a bold $10 billion plan to address Australia’s housing crisis.
The Liberal leader’s campaign trail brought him to a petrol station in the marginal seat of Gorton in Melbourne’s northwest, where he arrived in a truck wrapped with the face of local Liberal candidate, highlighting a grassroots approach to draw attention to the Coalition’s promise to cut the fuel excise.
But the pit stops are more than photo ops — they’re becoming unlikely stages for real-time policy engagement. At one such stop, Dutton fielded questions from a concerned stepfather about issues surrounding the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Elsewhere, he posed with dogs, chatted with voters, and hammered home his pitch for home ownership reform.
The Coalition has placed housing at the heart of its 2025 federal election agenda, declaring Labor’s record on home building “a failure” and promising a multi-pronged solution to unlock construction, restore apprenticeships, and ease the burden on first-home buyers.
“Under Labor, the dream of home ownership is slipping away,” Dutton said.
“Approvals are down, rents are soaring, and young Australians are being priced out.”
According to the Coalition, housing completions under the Albanese government have dropped by nearly 20 per cent on a per capita basis — even worse than during the COVID shutdown years.
In response, the Coalition is promising to:
- Offer a tax deduction on the interest paid on the first $650,000 of a mortgage for first-home buyers purchasing a new home.
- Inject $5 billion into a Housing Infrastructure Program to fast-track up to 500,000 homes by funding essential services like water, sewerage, and power.
- Ban foreign buyers and temporary residents from purchasing existing homes for two years.
- Allow early access to superannuation — up to $50,000 — for first-home deposits.
- Reduce net migration levels, aiming to free up 40,000 homes in the first year alone.
- Unlock shovel-ready developments, streamline red tape, and freeze changes to the National Construction Code for a decade.
Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar said the policies are designed to restore housing affordability and return Australia to a path of ownership opportunities.
“We won’t accept a future where an entire generation is shut out of the housing market,” Sukkar said.
“Labor has promised hundreds of thousands of homes and delivered far less.
We have a clear plan to build and a clear plan to train the workers needed to get it done.”
A cornerstone of the Coalition’s pitch is rebuilding Australia’s construction workforce. According to Dutton, Australia has lost over 90,000 apprentices and trainees under Labor’s leadership.
The Coalition says it will reverse this trend through:
- $10,000 payments to apprentices under its Key Apprenticeship Program.
- $12,000 grants for small and medium businesses to hire new apprentices, with a focus on the building trades.
- A target of 400,000 apprentices and trainees in training, focused on key trades like carpentry, plumbing, bricklaying, and electrical work.
- Prioritising skilled construction workers in the migration intake to fill immediate gaps.
Deputy Opposition Leader and Shadow Skills Minister Sussan Ley took direct aim at Labor’s Free TAFE program, saying that despite funding 600,000 places, it has failed to grow the construction workforce.
“Free TAFE might sound good, but it hasn’t delivered where it counts,” Ley said.
“Construction apprenticeships have dropped 30 per cent — fewer apprentices means fewer homes.”
Dutton’s truck tour and hands-on style aim to project the Coalition’s message that it is offering practical, real-world solutions to Australia’s cost-of-living and housing crises. While Albanese’s campaign has focused on climate, cost-of-living relief and economic stability, Dutton is zeroing in on the touchpoints that resonate with outer-suburban and regional voters: petrol prices, apprenticeships, and the promise of home ownership.
At every stop, the Coalition’s message is clear: Labor’s promises have fallen flat, and only the Coalition has a plan that can deliver on the ground, not just in press releases.
With the May 3 federal election looming, both sides are betting big on housing, affordability, and who can best secure the economic future of the next generation.
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