Opposition leader Peter Dutton has confirmed he will help his children with a housing deposit "at some stage", while acknowledging many Australians won't have that luxury.
On Monday, Dutton took his son Harry out on the campaign trail and appeared to dodge questions from reporters about whether he would provide his children with financial support to help them buy a house.
The younger Dutton said he was "saving like mad" to put down a deposit, but his father — who has maintained a multimillion-dollar property portfolio — dodged questions when asked if he would give his kids a leg-up.
On Tuesday, while touring a newly built house in the north-west Melbourne seat of Hawke with his son, Dutton drew a common link between himself and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese — who also has a son in his 20s.
"Our household's no different to many households where we want our kids to work hard to save and we'll help them with the deposit at some stage," Dutton said.
"But in many families ... they haven't got that luxury.
"Older Australian parents and grandparents are staying in the workforce longer to try and provide their kids with some money. And I think our household's no different to many households where we want our kids to work hard to save and we'll help them with the deposit at some stage.
"The prime minister and I might be able to help our kids, but it's not about us."
The Coalition's newly announced housing policy could be its biggest vote winner yet after Dutton recently had to walk back other plans to cut public service jobs and end their work-from-home arrangements.
The plan would allow first-time buyers of newly built homes to deduct interest payments on up to $650,000 of their mortgage from their income taxes.
