Australians are in chronic housing stress. Can Clare O’Neil fix it?

Albanese may have recruited a better communicator, but without a sharper message the new housing minister might find herself outmanoeuvred.

Following Anthony Albanese’s recent cabinet shake-up, the new housing and homelessness minister, Clare O’Neil, was quick to express empathy for troubled renters, touting Labor’s $32bn housing investment and describing the ambitious target of constructing 1.2m homes as “genuinely radical”.

But does O’Neil bring anything new to the table? Not necessarily – at least not on the policy front...