$10 Billion Housing Australia Future Fund

This cartoon, titled '$10 Billion Housing Australia Future Fund', by Gorkie was published in Crikey on the 19th of May 2023. It is in landscape orientation, measuring 38 by 22 centimetres.  

This cartoon features five smaller sketches which show a progression, right to left, top to bottom, like the panels of a comic – or a set of visual instructions.   

In the top left, there is a single sheet of paper, off white on the white background, captioned: '10 billion dollars'.   

Just to the right, that single sheet is part-way through being folded in four even sections. Above the paper hovers a curly loop with a left-pointing arrow at the end, giving the impression that these images offer directions for a craft activity. The caption reads: 'Over five years'.  

Another step along, in the upper right corner, a pair of red scissors snip the folded paper. Dotted lines mark where further cuts will be made. The caption reads: 'For 60,000 people'.  

In the lower left, a fourth sketch shows the red scissors discarded, blades open, beside dozens of tiny snippets of paper. The caption reads: 'With rising costs'.   

The final image shows two figures. On the left stands a woman with short dark hair, sober, grey clothing and a black jacket, recognisable as a sketch of Senator Penny Wong. To the right, on a pedestal like a miniscule stage, stands a man in a tan suit, white shirt, and red tie. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese can be easily identified by his round face, round glasses, and neat sweep of grey-brown hair. He is standing at the black microphone, smiling into the grill, which is level with his chin.  

Wong lifts her arms to scatter the scraps of paper over Albanese's head, like confetti. His arms are also raised in celebration as the fragments fall around him.   

For this final image, there is no caption.  

Gorkie's signature appears in capitals in the lower right corner.  

-- 

The label text for this cartoon reads: The government's Housing Australia Future Fund, first promised in the Budget reply by Anthony Albanese in May 2021, allocated $10 billion over five years to build 30,000 affordable homes. Gorkie illustrates how quickly a seemingly enormous sum can become a relatively modest investment when contrasted with current demand for housing and rolled out over a five-year period.