Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey has some simple advice for young people trying to enter the housing market: Get a good job that pays good money. Easy, right?
The politician, who resides in a mansion with an estimated value of $5.4 million, has been slammed as out of touch with the general population and the housing stress felt by many people in Australian capital cities.
House prices have skyrocketed in Sydney in recent years, with a surge of 12.4% in 2014 recorded by CoreLogic RP Data, according to Fairfax Media. Meanwhile, the average price of a house in Australia is now 10 to 11 times the average wage, Lateline reported.
On Tuesday, Hockey didn't seem to understand the reality of the problem for first-time home buyers.
"If you've got a good job and it pays good money and you have security in relation to that job, then you can go to the bank and you can borrow money and that's readily affordable," he told the media. "But, the response for first home buyers is to build more properties."
It was enough to set the critics off, with a hashtag #AdviceForJoe beginning to trend on Twitter.
#adviceforjoeDon't feel bad Joe-just about everyone with a Sydney mortgage has to dumpster-dive 4 food occasionally pic.twitter.com/d3rG9aSSNf— Lady Aimless (@ladyaimless1) June 9, 2015
@JoeHockey now receives both Treasury and fashion advice from Paris Hilton #adviceforjoe #auspol pic.twitter.com/SFGN36SqHJ— Nuclear Spy (@nuclear_spy) June 9, 2015
She has a point @JoeHockey #AdviceForJoe pic.twitter.com/5QqrVDVm6U— Daniel Zennon (@dzennon) June 9, 2015
You're here to make me look clever. #adviceforjoe pic.twitter.com/yqJR0XSa5S— Kate (@erstkate) June 9, 2015
Hockey told Australians that getting a good job was just the starting point, but what they ultimately needed to do is "build, build, build," as lack of supply is a major problem for the local housing market.
"The only way you are going to have a bubble that bursts in real estate is if there is excess supply and we are a long way from excess supply in the Australian market and particularly in the Sydney market," he said.
"Look, if housing were unaffordable in Sydney, no one would be buying it. People are purchasing housing in Sydney, it’s expensive. As a multiple of average weekly earnings it is expensive, it’s an expensive city to live in."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten likened the comment to Hockey's previous claim that poor people don't drive cars.
"This isn't just another Joe Hockey gaffe, this is proof he just doesn't get the pressure families are facing," Shorten said, according to the Australian Financial Review. "As far as he's concerned, if Joe Hockey is doing OK, then everyone else is too."