Anika Wells accused of ‘patronising’ voters by using Ooshies toys to explain the housing crisis locking Australians out of the property market

The Opposition has slammed a ‘tone deaf’ video by Communications Minister Anika Wells comparing the housing crisis to children’s toys.

Wells shared a video on Sunday drawing parallels between the limited supply of houses and the popularity of Woolworths’ Ooshies – using the toys to explain supply and demand, Labor’s tax changes, and the first home buyer scheme.

Opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson described the video as ’embarrassing, puerile nonsense’ and criticised Wells for ‘patronising’ Australians locked out of the housing market.

‘(Ms Wells) is tone deaf to the acute harm that Labor’s housing policies are causing Australians – fewer homes, higher rents and declining confidence,’ Senator Henderson told The Australian on Monday.

The video, titled Hot Property as part of Wells’ ‘policy as popular culture’ series, saw Wells explain why the limited supply of houses was driving higher prices.

She compared homes to Ooshies, highlighting how a secondary market of the toys saw rare characters sell for higher prices.

‘Both the Ooshie market and the Australian housing market are dictated by supply and demand,’ Ms Wells says in the video.

‘The problem right now is that supply of Ooshies and the supply of housing is not keeping pace with demand.

‘To fix the Ooshie crisis, Woolies has the ability to deliver Ooshie equilibrium, whereby Ooshie supply meets the relentless demand of Aussie youths. 

‘That’s pretty easy, Woolworths, the ball is in your court.’

Wells then explained Labor’s 5 per cent deposit scheme using the price of Ooshies as an example.

Woolworths gives customers one Ooshie for every $30 they spend. Wells said rather than buying the $30 toy outright, Aussies only needed to save $1.50 – a 5 per cent deposit.

‘We’re giving first-home buyers a leg-up with a 5 per cent deposit scheme. Instead of saving $30 to get one Ooshie, first-home buyers will only have to save $1.50.’ 

Wells also tried to use the toys to praise Labor’s changes to negative gearing and the discount on capital gains tax.

In May’s Federal Budget, Labor scrapped negative gearing except for new builds.

The tax benefit allowed investors to claim the expenses of a property, like interest.

From July 2027, the scheme will only be available to investors in new dwellings.

The move was an attempt to shift the housing market towards first-home buyers, but was widely condemned as Labor explicitly promised at the 2025 federal election it would not touch either tax.

Wells on Sunday said Australia’s housing supply had been struggling to keep pace for the last 15 years, ‘or in other words, there’s been a shortage of Ooshies’.

‘Compounding that problem, Australia’s tax system has benefited collectors buying new or second-hand Ooshies over first-time Ooshie buyers,’ she said.

‘To fix that problem and increase supply, at the last budget Labor told housing investors, or Ooshie collectors, you can keep using the tax system to buy Ooshies, but only new ones.

‘In turn, that means more new Ooshies to rent and more existing Ooshies for first-time buyers.’

Opposition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg said Wells ‘accidentally made the case that Labor has lost control of housing’.

He highlighted figures from Labor which showed it would fall short of its new housing target by 220,000 dwellings.

Bragg also swiped at the five per cent deposit scheme, saying it meant all income brackets could enter the already strained housing market sooner.

‘This scheme has pump-primed prices at the entry level of the housing market. It is open to anyone regardless of income, therefore effectively crowding out those who need it most,’ he said.

‘Labor’s housing model is more taxes, regulation and corruption.

‘Now it seems even their communications strategy has gone astray. Using Ooshies to explain how they have failed Australians. It’s very patronising.’