Received

Two years after her son Nicholas was fatally stabbed on a Gold Coast footpath, Michelle Braid was told she had terminal cancer.

"But the terminal condition of grief that I have ... after Nick's death is far more shattering for me," she told the Brisbane Supreme Court.

Mrs Braid broke down in court throughout her devastating victim impact statement as the woman who killed her 35-year-old son - Freedom Mona Maunsell Anderson - looked on.

Anderson, 23, was sentenced on Thursday for the April 2020 "senseless killing".

After consuming alcohol and drugs, Anderson stabbed Mr Braid in the chest over a "petty grievance" outside a Surfers Paradise apartment building.

"She felt like he was lying to her about his name," crown prosecutor Stephen Muir told the jury.

Mrs Braid had spoken to her son barely an hour before he was stabbed.

"He was upbeat, positive, loving as always. If I had known I would have kept him on the phone forever," she sobbed.

After his death, Mrs Braid sent messages to her son's phone number.

One evening there was a reply.

"My heart leapt with irrational hope," she said.

However, it was just the phone number's new owner responding.

"It's hard not to lose hope when you lose a child," Mrs Braid said.

"In my despair I have been searching for Nick everywhere. I thought I saw him on the street.

"I look longingly in the night sky but there is no answer, there's no solace, there's no comfort."

Mrs Braid said her son had organised new accommodation and was set to start working with his dad before his "shiny essence" was cruelly snatched from them.

His father Anthony spoke of the frantic journey to Gold Coast hospital after being told to get there quickly in April 2020.

After later leaving the hospital with his "destroyed, sobbing wife", he steeled himself before telling Mr Braid's two siblings of their brother's death.

However, he realised he didn't have to when he arrived home and heard their cries of grief.

The siblings had rung the hospital and received the devastating news after their parents did not answer their calls.

"Our life now is a life lived in sadness," the father said, reading his victim impact statement.

However, his family still feels Mr Braid's presence.

"We will never move from where we live because we always want to have that feeling of connection with him, to think that he is still with us every day," his father said.

CCTV footage captured the moment Anderson stabbed Mr Braid "with some force" after she and an acquaintance met him outside the apartment building.

He stumbled and lowered himself to the pavement as she fled.

Mr Braid suffered a 13cm deep wound, puncturing his main artery, and died soon after.

Anderson pleaded guilty to manslaughter but it was rejected by the prosecution.

After a jury deliberated for about an hour, Anderson was found guilty of murder on Wednesday.

The New Zealand citizen was sentenced to life imprisonment and faces deportation.

© AAP 2023

The reality of Australia's rental crisis has been laid bare in a new survey, which reveals less than one per cent of rentals are affordable for people earning a full-time minimum wage.

It is the worst result ever recorded by Anglicare Australia's rental affordability snapshot, which surveyed nearly 46,000 listings across Australia.

For most people on low incomes, rent needs to be no more than 30 per cent of the household budget to avoid financial stress.

With this benchmark, 0.8 per cent of rentals were affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage, and less than 0.5 per cent for people on the age or disability pension.

The survey found no rentals were affordable for people on Youth Allowance, and a single parent on welfare payments would have to compete for the 0.1 per cent of affordable listings.

Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said the private rental market was failing Australians on low incomes.

"Each year we think the market couldn't get any worse, and each year we're shocked to see that it can," she said.

"If full-time wage earners are doing it tough, then people on Centrelink payments don't stand a chance."

Housing will be on the agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with state and territory leaders for national cabinet on Friday.

Mr Albanese said solving housing challenges required co-operation between state and federal governments, and the discussion would inform measures in the upcoming budget, due to be handed down in the second week of May.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the government acknowledged the huge pressure on renters, but she wouldn't be drawn on whether there would be relief provided in the budget.

A separate report by the REA Group and PropTrack found the national rental market was extremely tight in the first quarter of 2023.

In March, rental listings were sitting at historic lows in the combined capital cities.

The report found surging demand led to the number of inquiries on real estate listings jumping by more than eight per cent.

Lack of stock meant properties were leased quickly and landlords had scope to increase rents.

Nationally, the median advertised rent was $500 per week, an increase of more than 11 per cent over the previous 12 months.

But the report also found rental pressures were easing in regional Australia.

Regional housing supply had increased and demand was moderating from the record highs seen during the pandemic.

Report author Cameron Kusher said the biggest strain on the market was the lack of new rental supply.

"(Without) a return of investors to the market or a big increase in first-home buyer numbers, it seems unlikely that the strong demand and insufficient rental supply will be rectified any time soon," he said.

© AAP 2023

Australia's rental crisis has reached new heights with tenants on a full-time minimum wage only able to afford less than one per cent of the listings on offer.

It's the worst result recorded by Anglicare Australia's annual rental affordability snapshot, which this year examined nearly 46,000 listings across the country.

The findings were "beyond shocking", Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said.

"Every year we think it can't get worse and every year it does.

"Where we've really seen a drop this year is for someone on a minimum wage, so the rental crisis is actually climbing the income ladder."

For most people on low incomes, rent needs to be no more than 30 per cent of household income to avoid financial stress.

In line with this benchmark, just 0.8 per cent of rentals were affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage and less than 0.5 per cent are affordable for people on the age or disability pensions.

The survey found no rentals were affordable for people on Youth Allowance and a single parent on welfare payments have to compete for a bare 0.1 per cent of affordable listings on the market.

National housing campaign Everybody's Home said the Anglicare survey painted the bleakest picture of rental affordability yet.

With the cost of rent, petrol, food and electricity going up many Australians are at breaking point, spokesperson Kate Colvin said.

"Every day the government delays delivering the investment needed to significantly grow low cost rental housing, the longer the rental crisis will continue," she said.

Housing will be on the agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets state and territory leaders for national cabinet on Friday.

Mr Albanese said solving the issues of housing affordability and supply required co-operation between state and federal governments.

The talks are expected to inform new measures in the upcoming federal budget, which will be handed down on May 9.

Greens senator Nick McKim said Mr Albanese and his state counterparty needed to act swiftly.

The Greens are pushing for a two-year rent freeze to help people with the rising cost of living.

"It's not good enough for the prime minister to have plans that will address a pitifully small part of the problem in a year's time," Senator McKim said in Hobart.

"People are living in crisis now and they need help now."

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said Labor acknowledged the huge pressure on renters, but she wouldn't be drawn on whether the budget would provide relief.

A separate report by the REA Group and PropTrack found the national rental market was extremely tight in the first quarter of 2023.

In March, rental listings were sitting at historic lows in the combined capital cities.

Surging demand led to the number of inquiries about real estate listings jumping by more than eight per cent, the report found.

The lack of stock meant properties were leased quickly and landlords had the opportunity to increase rents.

Nationally, the median advertised rent was $500 per week - an increase of more than 11 per cent over the previous 12 months.

However, the report also found rental pressures were easing in regional Australia.

Regional housing supply had increased and demand was moderating from the record highs seen during the pandemic.

Report author Cameron Kusher said the biggest strain on the market was the lack of new rental supply.

"(Without) a return of investors to the market or a big increase in first-home buyer numbers, it seems unlikely that the strong demand and insufficient rental supply will be rectified any time soon," he said.

© AAP 2023