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In short:
Clare O'Neil has vowed to make her new job as Housing Minister about "delivery" amid warnings over the speed at which the government's housing rollout can ease the supply crisis.
Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather has urged the government to reopen the debate over negative gearing.
What's next?
Anthony Albanese defended the government's housing plans and sidestepped questions on reopening the debate.
Ousted Home Affairs minister Clare O'Neil has vowed to make her job as Housing Minister about "delivery, delivery, delivery" amid ongoing building industry warnings over the speed at which the government's $32 billion housing rollout can ease the supply crisis.
"A lot of Australians probably don't realise this, but the Albanese government actually invested more money in housing in just our last budget than the entire nine years that the Coalition were in power," Ms O'Neil told ABC's Afternoon Briefing on Monday.
Ms O'Neil, as well as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a separate interview with ABC's Afternoon Briefing, refused to be drawn on whether Labor would reopen the possibility of removing negative gearing or capital gains on investment properties.
The Labor government's federal reshuffle has renewed debate over housing, with Ms O'Neil charged with taking up the fight against the Greens, who have captured the support of many younger voters who feel aggrieved at the surging cost of housing.
Ms O'Neil said she was not "in politics to play games" and declared Australia should not be a country where people felt "dread" at the idea they would ever be able to own their own home, as their parents did.
"I'm 43, but for people my age and very much anyone younger than me, this is often the defining issue in their life," she said.
Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather urged the government to reopen talks with the crossbench party over negative gearing, rent freezes and capital gains.
"A new salesperson selling the same failed policies … is not going to help anyone. The offer we continue to make is, drop their decision to refuse to negotiate.
"If Clare O'Neil decides to adopt the same position that Labor adopted last week of tinkering around the edges, making the crisis worse, refusing to do anything substantial, then in six months' time, we might be talking about another housing minister again.
"This isn't about messaging. It's about the millions of renters and first home buyers and mortgage holders and people waiting for public housing, who might be waiting for eternity because this government seems to be pathologically unambitious."
Ms O'Neil denied she had been put into the housing portfolio to take on the Greens.
"That's not what this is about. What the prime minister is trying to do is put me in a position where I can try to make a difference to the lives of Australians.
"I'll be thinking of the parents who have got kids in local schools who are worried desperately about being moved out of their property and having to move and uproot their entire family because they don't have housing stability."
Mr Albanese defended the government's housing plans and sidestepped questions about reopening the debate over negative gearing.
"The Greens don't have any solutions," Mr Albanese said.
"They don't support any developments in their own areas, they've voted against increased public housing through the Housing Australia Future Fund that they delayed.
"They've voted against private rentals through Build to Rent, and they've voted against home ownership through the Shared Equity Scheme."
Plan to reform troubled CFMEU
Separately, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt revealed his very first briefing from the public service after being sworn in on Monday was on the government's plan to reform the troubled CFMEU.
"Criminals and bikies have no place on Australian worksites," Mr Murray said in a statement to the ABC.
"The number one job of any union is to look after its members and the government has been crystal clear that we will take whatever action is required to stamp out illegal activity."
"The fact that this happened on the Liberal Party's watch right under the nose of their ABCC [the since abolished Australian Building and Construction Commission watchdog] is a shameful indictment on Peter Dutton and the Coalition," he said.
It is understood the government is still working through the Fair Work Commission on appointing an administrator to the union, a process that is taking time because the move covers several jurisdictions at once. The government is eager to ensure it presents the courts with a solid argument for intervention.
Speaking to the ABC's 730 program, Mr Watt reiterated the government would not take any donations from suspended divisions of the CFMEU, but rejected the opposition's calls for Labor to return donations it had already received.
"I think that would be an insane thing to do, because that would be simply handing back that money to the very people who've been running this organisation into the ground," he said.
"So again, Mr Dutton likes to throw cheap shots about what should be done.
"But every time he makes a suggestion, it's off track."
Mr Albanese said the government was working through the issue "in a systematic way" to ensure, "given the potential legal challenges which are there, that they're watertight".
"If need be, we've said we're prepared to legislate.
"We want the strongest action possible. That is administrators."
ABC