Greens leader Adam Bandt loses it at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as war of words erupts: 'Disgusting'

Greens Leader Adam Bandt has taken aim at Anthony Albanese after he vowed to cut immigration by half in an attempt to ease the housing crisis.

More than 510,000 migrants moved to Australia in the last financial year, and Labor aims to halve this number by June 2025.

The housing crisis was discussed in Question Time on Wednesday, during which Mr Albanese was grilled on why so many migrants were allowed in.

The PM said several measures had been put in place to cut immigration, including placing limits on international students.

'In Question Time, the PM is boasting that Labor will cut migration more than the Coalition,' Mr Bandt wrote on social media.

'What a disgusting, migrant-bashing race to the bottom from Labor and the Liberals.'

Many Aussies on social media disagreed with the Greens leader, questioning how housing could become more affordable if the population only increased.

'It's not migrant bashing, it is a sensible move to assist those of us who are struggling to find accommodation and gives Australians a fair opportunity to have a health system able to cope without putting undue pressure and stress on nurses and allied health care professionals,' one said. 

'And at the same time you rightfully complain about the housing crisis. This is a way to help the problem, another added.

'And you want Aussies on the street?' a third said.

'You have on multiple occasions called for a rent freeze, and the reason why the rents keep going up is that there is more and more demand for rental properties due to the amount of people coming into the country,' a fourth added. 

'Something that may be solved in time by lessening the amount of people coming in, which will result in lower rents and we eventually catch up in housing to the population growth.

'And yet you are 100 per cent oblivious to this, instead choosing to virtue signal to the sycophants that follow you.' 

'Out of curiosity, how else do you suppose we quickly address the massive housing supply crisis most Australians face?' another wrote.

A day earlier, Mr Bandt had written on social media that the 'housing crisis can't wait' and the government needed to crack down on property investors. 

He said the Greens had put forward a motion to 'end the massive tax handouts for wealthy property investors', which was rejected by the Labor and Liberal parties.

The capital gains tax discount means if a person buys a home and sells it after a year, they only need to pay tax on half of the profit they made. 

'Labor are happy to leave renters in the dirt while making it easier for investors to buy their fourth home,' he wrote.

'When you're led by a property investor Prime Minister and 75 per cent of your MPs are landlords, you can see why. Something has to change and it's not going to be Labor. 

'If Labor were serious about tackling the housing crisis they'd stop tinkering around the edges. They'd scrap the tax handouts to wealthy property investors. 

'They'd make it easier to buy your first home. But they won't.'

During Question Time, Mr Albanese said Labor had inherited a 'mess' from the Coalition when it came to immigration.

'What we have done is we have restored immigration compliance that was cut by the leader of the opposition by nearly 50 per cent,' he said.

'We've increased the temporary skilled migration threshold up to $70,000, we've ended the pandemic event visa, we cracked down on rorts in international education, we've implemented a $160million reform package, we've imposed no further stay conditions on visitor visas.

'We are ending migration system settings that drove temporary visa holders to stay long-term and we've introduced limits on international student numbers. 

'We are taking action. As opposed to the mess that we inherited from those opposite.'