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Communications minister, Anika Wells, says there were “awful scenes” across the country at the anti-immigration marches on Sunday.

Joining the Today show, she says there’s no place for hatred, and believes most Australians would be “horrified” at the protests that took place.

There were known racists who were trying spread division and hatred. And I think it is particularly appalling the people that were aggressive and violent towards our police officers. Australia police are having a very hard week at the moment. They’re just trying to keep our community safe. I think that was particularly egregious.

Asked whether the concerns for some protesters around the cost of living and affordability of housing are legitimate, Wells says she wouldn’t “give any credence to the grievances of these people as legitimate”.

But she says she understands how serious an issue housing affordability is.

It’s absolutely a problem. Housing affordability is absolutely something that comes up across the board. Let’s not conflate that with this very separate, serious issue.

Labor says more than 5,000 houses have been built since May 2022

The government says more than 5000 social and affordable homes have now been completed since May 2022, with another 25,000 in the construction and planning stages, through the Housing Australia future fund (Haff) and other programs.

Most of these homes have been built start to finish, with a small portion acquired from existing developments, according to Labor, with more than $3.4bn already spent.

In February 2022 just 340 homes had been completed, with 55,000 social and affordable homes promised by before the end of this decade.

The latest figures include 190 new homes for crisis accommodation and 685 homes in remote areas.

The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, says the programs are “changing the lives of Australians doing it tough”:

Labor’s housing agenda is delivering... the Coalition only built 373 [social and affordable homes] when they were in office.

Good morning

Krishani Dhanji here with you for the second sitting week of the fortnight.

It follows anti-immigration protests across Australia over the weekend, and we’ll see some reaction to that from Parliament House this morning.

The communications minister, Anika Wells, is doing the media rounds, to discuss the release of the age assurance trial – which you can read the details on here.

The government has also released new numbers of how many social and affordable homes have been completed under their housing programs: the tally has just tipped over 5,000.

And Barnaby Joyce’s net zero bill will be debated again today, Labor is using the opportunity to pile pressure on the Coalition as it still figures out its energy policy.

I’ve got my coffee, I hope you’ve got yours too – let’s get stuck in!