Housing Minister Clare O'Neil has rebuked Coalition rival Michael Sukkar during a live housing debate on 7.30 accusing him of lying and calling some of his previous comments "absolute garbage".
The pair came to the show in a week where the housing policies of both major parties were panned by economists and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was accused of lying over negative gearing.
7.30 host Sarah Ferguson had to interject several times to stop the pair talking over the top of each other, reminding them early on that they were not "at the pub".
It reached a crescendo when O'Neil was discussing the need for social housing, especially for older women, due to increasing homelessness issues.
"All this comes back to an acute undersupply of social and affordable homes," Ms O'Neil said of the issue.
"We are building 55,000 social and affordable homes over five years."
And when Mr Sukkar interrupted, Ferguson interjected with "Michael, what would your mother say, hearing you interrupt her"?
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The Coalition politician responded by saying he too had been repeatedly interrupted by Ms O'Neil.
Ms O'Neil then continued on and accused Mr Sukkar of making false statements the day prior at the Press Club.
"I really want to correct the record on this because Michael said in the Press Club, this week that under the former government, they built 13,000 social and affordable homes," Ms O'Neil said.
"[That is] absolute garbage."
She then claimed the Coalition only built 350 affordable homes in their last nine years in power.
Mr Sukkar said that claim was "utterly incorrect" and suggested the Coalition had "supported 13,000 homes".
Ferguson suggested Ms O'Neil's claim needed to be fact checked, as the Housing Minister accused Mr Sukkar of "bending the truth".
When asked how many affordable homes the Coalition would build if elected Mr Sukkar did not give a specific number.
Was there a negative gearing 'lie'?
Earlier in the day, the Coalition ramped up debate over an alleged "lie" from Mr Albanese on negative gearing.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor earlier said that Labor needed to be up-front about the modelling and whether it plans to adjust taxes.
"The prime minister last night denied his government had modelled negative gearing changes. The Treasurer confirmed in September it had," Mr Taylor said.
"The prime minister lied to the Australian public on camera about his hidden plans to raise taxes on housing.
"If Labor has nothing to hide, it should release this modelling and allow Treasury to provide a full briefing to the opposition on the detail, timing, and nature of these requests."
It was an issue that was put to Ms O'Neil on 7.30 as Mr Sukkar said he believed a Labor government would change the tax concessions.
He also repeated Mr Taylor's earlier claim about the prime minister lying.
"Labor's itching to abolish negative gearing,"
Mr Sukkar said.
"I think the minute the Labor government thinks they've got an opportunity to do it, or if they're in government with the Greens, they will very happily do it."
Asked if she was involved in the decision for Treasury to provide advice about potential changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, Ms O'Neil deflected on the controversial issue.
"I think the real outrage here would be that a government didn't look at every option, given how bad things are for housing in our country today," she said before speaking out about comments former prime minister Malcom Turnbull made on social media on Thursday.
"And indeed, we know Malcolm Turnbull revealed today that the former Liberal government looked at the option too," she said.
Mr Sukkar then made an accusation about the former Coalition prime minister.
"Malcolm Turnbull is lying," he said.
"But we're talking about what happened in this campaign. We had the prime minister stare down the barrel of the cameras and tell Australians that the government had not asked for this work to be done."
Relive our live coverage below.
Live Moment
Look back at how the housing debate between Clare O'Neil and Michael Sukkar on 7.30 unfolded.
That's all for tonight's live coverage
Kate Ainsworth
Thanks for your company throughout the evening, especially as we head into a long weekend!
You can look back on all of tonight's developments below — and if you missed the action, you can catch up anytime using ABC iview.
Remember too, you can watch7.30,Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm onABC iviewandABC TV.
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