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Renters are handing over nearly one-third of their income to service a new lease as prices continue to skyrocket.

The portion of income going towards rent has reached its highest level since 2014, according to new analysis by ANZ and property data firm CoreLogic.

The report found the median income household would need to part with 30.8 per cent of their income to service a new lease.

The picture is much bleaker for lower-income households, with those in the 25th percentile income level dishing out 51.6 per cent of their income.

This puts this cohort firmly in housing stress as commonly defined by the "30/40" rule, which is where the lowest 40 per cent of income earners are spending more than 30 per cent on housing.

The report noted that there has always been a big difference in housing affordability for median and low-income renters but this gap was getting wider, suggesting poorer households have been hit much harder by rising rents.

CoreLogic Australia head of research Eliza Owen said there had been some "extraordinary shifts" driving up demand for rentals, including that there were now fewer people per home and overseas migration had returned with a bang.

On the other side of the ledger, investor conditions had not been ideal and stemmed the flow of new rental supply.

"As rents have risen sharply, the increase in the cash rate, and pressures in the construction sector have slowed the rate of dwelling completions," she explained.

However, Ms Owen said an uptick in investor borrowing suggested more rentals are coming but would take some time to materialise.

At 1.1 per cent nationally, rental vacancy rates are well below the three per cent decade average.

New listings also remain well below average.

ANZ senior economist Felicity Emmett said the period of economic uncertainty was also weighing on sales in the private market and leaving more people in the rental market.

"Paired with a decline in social housing, rental demand pressures are being felt in all income brackets," Ms Emmett said.

The federal government has been under pressure to ease pain points in the rental market but the centrepiece of its plan, a $10 billion housing future fund, has struggled to make it through parliament.

The Greens have been blocking the fund, which would generate returns to spend on building 30,000 social and affordable homes over five years, in the hopes of squeezing more ambition out of the government.

Liberal MP Jason Falinski said planning regulation and community opposition were holding up the supply of new private dwellings.

In Sydney, he said the city council had prevented more apartments from being built in inner city areas.

"The biggest cause of housing affordability in Australia is not tax, is not immigrants, is not foreign investors," he told Sky News on Monday.

"It's (City of Sydney Lord Mayor) Clover Moore who refuses to allow more dwellings and more apartments to be built in areas where people want to live."

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman, said the federal government wanted to solve some of the land supply and planning control issues raised by the Liberal MP through the National Housing Affordability Supply Council.

"I advocate for good quality medium density," he told Sky News.

"I want more social housing for my electorate, that's why I'm voting for the Housing Australia Future Fund."

© AAP 2023

Australians are being underestimated by "doomsayers" promoting scare campaigns about the Indigenous voice to parliament, Anthony Albanese says.

The prime minister will on Monday deliver the Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration in Adelaide, where he is expected to take aim at opponents of the voice and reiterate his confidence that the referendum will succeed.

"Yes, there are scare campaigns. What those campaigns have in common is that they underestimate Australians so radically," Mr Albanese will say.

"Claims have been made that the voice to parliament could even have an effect on parking tickets.

"Australians won't succumb to their appeals to fear and their ever more ludicrous invitations to jump at our own shadows.

"That's because Australians have a healthy scepticism of doomsayers, a scepticism kept in good health by memories of all the predictions offered by the Chicken Littles of the past."

Concerns about dwindling support for the voice were highlighted in a recent poll showing the vote for the 'yes' campaign had dropped into the low 50s.

Prominent 'yes' campaigner Noel Pearson has warned a rejection of the voice would put an end to reconciliation in Australia.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last week said the proposal would take the country backwards, labelling it Orwellian and a reckless roll of the dice.

Indigenous leader and prominent advocate for a 'no' vote, Warren Mundine, backed Mr Dutton's comments last week saying he was "spot on".

"This is starting to get into a really disgraceful campaign and the campaign hasn't even started yet," he told the ABC on Monday.

"This referendum is dividing Australia and you see it in the polling, and you see it out in the community."

Liberal Senator James Paterson said the voice was a "constitutional risk" and would treat people differently because of racial characteristics.

"That is offensive to liberal principles when we are all human beings and we're all Australian and we should be all treated equally before the law," he told the ABC.

Senator Paterson said it was unfair to single out Mr Dutton for criticism.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe said the voice did not have enough power to be effective.

"In 1967, more than 90% of people voted yes in the referendum to include First Nations mob in the constitution, but what difference did it actually make to Blak lives," she wrote on Twitter.

"In 2023, some people are talking about the voice like it will be a solution to everything, when really, it has no more power than any other advisory body."

Nationals Leader David Littleproud said his party had a culture of allowing divergent views, and respected Liberal MPs who supported the voice.

"I don't think that we are an impediment to the Liberal Party in metropolitan Australia," he told Sky News.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan said it was important discussions about the voice remained civil and did not "descend into a racial debate".

The referendum is expected to be held between October and November this year.

© AAP 2023

The shooting murder of Paul Strangio in Sydney's west has baffled police for 13 years and now $500,000 is being offered to help solve the case.

Police were called to a Glenmore Park home late on February 6, 2010, where they found Mr Strangio dying from gunshot wounds.

Strike Force Goodier was established to investigate who killed the 42-year-old father.

Homicide Squad Commander, Detective Acting Superintendent Virginia Gorman is hoping the reward will prompt anyone with information to come forward.

"Our detectives haven't - and won't - give up on finding those responsible for Mr Strangio's untimely death," Det Supt Gorman said on Monday.

"The public are reminded that there is no piece of information too small for investigators, your tip could be the missing piece of the puzzle in this investigation."

Mr Strangio's brother, Julian Strangio, said he hoped the reward would help bring those responsible to account.

"Paul was a loving father and much-loved member of our family, who didn't deserve what happened to him," he said.

"After 13 years, we're hoping this incentive will encourage people to come forward with the information detectives need to ultimately find justice for Paul."

© AAP 2023