As the election campaign approached its last week, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended his electoral pitch to let first-time buyers to utilize a portion of their retirement funds to purchase a property. 

        Morrison, who is lagging in surveys ahead of Saturday's national election, has made housing a central theme of his campaign, despite concerns that this will drive up prices and force more people out of the market. "It's your money," Morrison said Channel Seven on Monday. "You've earned it and put it in your superannuation."

        Morrison said he does not expect home prices to rise as a result of his program, which he outlined during the Liberal Party's campaign kickoff on Sunday. He claims that having more money on deposit will cut mortgage payments, giving "an extra degree of reassurance to our first-time home purchasers."

        First-time house purchasers can borrow up to A$50,000 (US$34,725) from their retirement funds under Morrison's scheme. Last year, low-cost loans fueled a property boom, boosting household wealth but also putting a strain on affordability.

        Last year, prices rose by 22.4 percent, the most since June 1989, with the notional worth of Australia's 10.8 million houses increasing by A$2 trillion to A$9.9 trillion. In some polls, Australians rank rising living costs as the most important concern, putting pressure on Morrison's Liberal-National coalition, which has a one-seat majority in the lower chamber of parliament.

        Centre-left The program was dubbed "the last desperate gesture of a dying administration" by Labor, which is leading in surveys. "It simply raises pricing. This is like to putting kerosene on a fire "Jason Clare, the Shadow Minister for Housing, said ABC television.