Candidates for the seat of Riverina have debated the cause for heightened rental stress in Nationals-led electorates. Photo: Supplied.
New data from ABC’s Four Corners has found that regional electorates in NSW represented by a National Party MP have some of the state’s most financially stressed renters.
According to the data, 87 per cent of Riverina renters, 90 per cent of Calare [Orange and Bathurst] renters, and 85 per cent of New England [Tamworth and surrounds] renters (all of which are held by the National Party) are considered financially stressed due to rising rental costs, which put them on par with some of Sydney’s most central electorates.
The ABC defines someone as facing financial stress when they are leasing a property and have to spend more than 30 per cent of their income on rent.
This includes a large segment of the Wagga population, where average rents have soared 41 per cent over the past six years, up from $367 a week in February 2019 to $520 a week in January 2025, according to data from realestate.com.au.
National Party Riverina MP Michael McCormack blames the Federal Government for the rental crisis, while his Labor counterpart Mark Jeffreson said the local member needs to “hold up a mirror and look into it” to find the cause.
“The data compiled by ABC’s Four Corners confirms what I have been hearing from the many people I’ve been listening to as I continue to traverse the electorate – people are struggling under a cost-of-living crisis which the government has failed to adequately address,” Mr McCormack said.
“Over the past two years, Australia has had the biggest fall in household disposable income in the developed world.
“This, coupled with local pressures, such as the high demand for housing in Cootamundra because the town’s abattoir has been redeveloped creating many jobs for the town and the limited supply of land in several regional centres, has certainly been a factor – not to mention the construction industry has been in free fall under the watch of this government.
“The Employee Living Cost Index across Australia is up 19.4 per cent during this government’s time in charge.”
Mr McCormack said Labor had let down hardworking regional Australian families and the Coalition had a plan to create the right economic conditions to reduce these cost-of-living stresses imposed on families so they could get back on track.
“We will boost housing supply, rebalance migration, incentivise first-home buyers and take pressure off interest rates and rents.
“The Coalition will achieve this by unlocking up to half a million new homes by investing $5 billion to fund enabling infrastructure such as water, power and sewerage at housing development locations.
“We will also put a freeze on any further changes to the National Construction Code for 10 years, which will allow the construction industry to get back on track increasing the housing supply for all Australians.”
Labor candidate for the Riverina seat, Mark Jeffreson said the heightened rental pressure was an indication of the electorate’s leadership.
“The government has sought lots of rental relief over the last three years, lots of programs to do it, both at a federal and the state level and at a federal level, Michael McCormack, The Nationals and the Liberals stood up in the parliament and either voted it down, tried to defer it, or try to get it onto committee,” he said.
“If there’s a problem with rentals, which there is, then Michael should hold up a mirror and look into it because that is where the problem is coming from.
“We’ve only been able to get things through parliament in the latter part of the year because McCormack and Littleproud and the Greens are realising an election is around the corner and they can’t stand there saying, ‘Yeah, we stopped this relief from happening’.
“Our primary goal if elected is to keep inflation down. We’ve got it down from six per cent when McCormack’s team were in; it’s just over two per cent now. Our goal is to keep the pressure down on interest rates, which will help with the cost of living, including rental prices.”
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