Jim Chalmers puts lipstick on housing pig

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Australia’s Treasurer of propaganda was back at it again, boasting on Twitter (X) that Labor has delivered a big rise in housing supply since being elected in mid-2022:

Jim Chalmers Tweet

The actual data on net dwelling additions (i.e., dwelling completions minus demolitions) from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) paints a far less rosy picture.

It shows that only 168,600 homes were added to the nation’s housing stock in the year to September 2025:

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.