21 May 2026
DAMIEN FISHER, HOST AT LOVING LIFE 103.1FM: Well, a new poll testing the public's response to housing measures in the Federal Budget has suggested residents across the Clarence Valley remain unconvinced by the changes. I'm pleased to say that the Chief Policy and Research Officer at AMPLIFY is Rory Gallagher. He's on the phone this morning. G'day Rory, how are you?
RORY GALLAGHER, CHIEF POLICY AND RESEARCH OFFICER: Good morning, Damien. Thanks for having me.
FISHER: More than three quarters of voters surveyed, that's about 78% believe the Government needs to do more on housing, and 11% saying the Budget went far enough. That's quite an interesting result, isn't it?
GALLAGHER: Yeah, really interesting. This Budget poll was conducted the night after the Budget, so the dust is still settling, but that was a pretty clear message. 78% of Australians don't think that the Budget goes far enough. We are in a national crisis, and the community feels unconvinced that the measures taken will go far enough to build the houses we need in order to really make a dent.
FISHER: Less than a third of young people believe the Budget will be good for them, and just a quarter of renters, and despite being the two groups the changes are supposed to help.
GALLAGHER: That’s one of the more interesting findings. I think this is very much framed as a Budget to tackle intergenerational inequality, and young people remain unconvinced. To be fair, they're open. There's about a third that are open and there’s a third that are undecided. So, there is work for the Government to do, but they are open. Renters, similarly, we know they're doing it particularly tough. Rents have gone up three times compared to wages over the last five years, and we're seeing rapidly increasing rent in Grafton and other regional areas, low vacancy rates, and you can see renters are worried, they don't feel the Government is going anywhere near far enough.
FISHER: What are some of the other key findings that you got from the actual research?
GALLAGHER: I think the main message was that there is openness to tax reform, but there's clearly a lot more to do to explain what they are, what they're proposed to do, and what the impact will be. I think the other sort of main finding for us was there are three real priorities for the community. They want to see more young people get on the ladder, they want to see rental prices stabilised, and they want to see more homes being built. And that for us is the most critical part. The Government has a target of 1.2 million homes by 2029. Our modelling and others shows there are about 300,000 short, and the public are acutely aware of that. They are really focused on, can we build more homes more quickly in the places that they want to live. This Budget and this poll suggests they're taking the steps, but they're not the big strikes that we need in order to really make up that lost ground.
FISHER: Yeah, Rory, just tell us a little bit about AMPLIFY because you're an independent community led advocacy group.
GALLAGHER: Yeah, we're pretty unique and I think interesting organisation. So, a couple of years old, we're a not for profit, and our sort of assessment is that policy reform is not happening at the pace that it needs to, and the community don't feel heard. So, we spent a lot of time and effort speaking to the community in different ways - surveys, polls, focus groups - bringing the community together to really look at the evidence, hear from each other, and work out how do we solve the most complex problems that Australia has at the minute. Our big focus is on housing, and we spent the last couple of years listening to Australians, and on the back of that, we put forward a policy platform that has 10 major reforms that will help build a million homes over the next 10 years, and we will keep engaging with the community to understand what does this Budget mean for them, and where does the Government need to go further.
FISHER: And I love your vision. It says the vision is for Australia to become a nation where fairness and prosperity continues to grow, and no one gets left behind.
GALLAGHER: I guess our mission is to try and bring the community together to turbocharge that type of change. Our sense is that the media and social media often portrays the community as more divided than they actually are, and when you bring people together, you show them the evidence, and you get them to debate the trade-offs, they're often very good at making compromises, and they're often much more up for bold reform. We saw that we brought 100 Australians together in February last year, and they debated 13 reforms, and the message was really clear. They want to go bolder and further than the Government does at the minute, even when that may act against their own self interest.
FISHER: Rory, great catching up with you this morning. Keep up the great work. If people would like to get more details, amplifyaus.org is your website address. Appreciate, appreciate your time.
GALLAGHER: Thanks so much.