Nat Barr loses her cool at Albanese government live on air - and says what most Aussies are thinking

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Nat Barr expressed the frustration many Australians are feeling about high migration and the effect on housing following a fiery interview with two politicians on her Sunrise show.

A clearly exasperated Barr ended the interview with Minister for Housing Claire O'Neil and Shadow Minister Jame Hume by shaking her head during Wednesday's edition of the Channel Seven program.

'Look, that's just really hard to understand,' Barr said of high migration levels.

'I can tell you for most Australians because you can't get a house.'

Earlier, Barr confronted Ms O'Neil, who previously helped oversee immigration as Minister for Home Affairs, about why the number of migrants had swelled to record levels despite the government promising to bring it down.

Barr noted a recent report that showed 49 per cent of Aussies think immigration is too high because of economic and housing issues.

'Claire, when our housing and economy is already under so much pressure, is it time to rethink our immigration strategy entirely?' Barr asked.

Sunrise host Nat Barr (pictured centre) has conducted a combative interview with Albanese government minister Claire 0'Neil (pictured left) and Coalition MP Jame Hme

'You guys promised to cut it, seems to be rising.'

Ms O'Neil replied: 'We're a government with a clear plan to bring migration rates down, and we will do that by hook or by crook, whether or not Peter Dutton comes with us.'

But Barr continued to press the minister. 

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'OK, I'm just a bit confused because the Australian Bureau of Statistics has got permanent long-term arrivals from January to September this year at 391,850,' Barr replied.

'That's apparently the highest figure for that period to date, so that's the highest we've ever got for that sort of figure, and your goal was 260,000 for the whole year.

'So is it coming down what are you talking about from now on?'

'It it is coming down, Nat,' Ms O'Neil insisted. 

'Like now,' Barr interrupted.

'And the numbers are showing us that. We would like those numbers to come down further,' Ms O'Neil continued.

'Which numbers are showing that?' Barr tried to ask.

'We would like those numbers to come back down and that is exactly why we've got this policy in place to cap the number of international students coming into our country,' Ms Hume said.

Barr also challenged Ms O'Neil on whether Australia should copy the incoming Trump administration by having a government waste watchdog, which billionaire Elon Musk is heading and has been backed by mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

'Australians should feel uneasy when billionaires discuss "efficiencies" in public services,' Ms O'Neil replied.

'What that really translates to for your viewers is drastic cuts to essential services like health, education, and other services that we ordinary Australians rely on. This has no relevance to Australia.'

'Why does it though?' Barr pressed.

Billionaires Gina Rinehart (pictured left) and Elon Musk (pictured right) are advocating cutting government waste

'Because Nat the government does some incredibly important things. It looks after our sick children in hospital, it educates our children, it pays for aged care for Australians,' Ms O'Neil replied.

'These are abstract things to billionaires who can pay their own way, but for ordinary people, these are meaningful and important things in their lives.'

However, Barr was still unconvinced.

'OK, a lot of people might be sitting there in their lounge rooms today thinking, well, OK, I mean whether you like Elon Musk or not, but if someone gets to be a billionaire, they may know how to make money, they may know how to cut waste,' Barr said.

'Let's give them a go.' 

Ms Hume accused Ms O'Neil of being  'enormously disrespectful' in her answer when talking about Mr Musk and Ms Rinehart, who are worth over $466 billion and $30billion respectively.

'You don't get to be the world's richest man and Australia's richest person by accident, you get there because you've got some ideas about how to be efficient, and how to be effective and how to be profitable.' Ms Hume said.

'I wish that government would spend taxpayers' money more wisely, and so should you.

'In fact, there's a 36,000 additional public servants that have come on board since this government began. 36,000.

'Now that's at a cost of billions of dollars, and I don't know about you, but I don't necessarily feel $36,000. Public servants better served than I did two years ago.'

Barr agreed.

'I just think people at home might be open, I mean we, we know you have to run the government, but maybe people are interested in drilling down on exactly where the money's going, maybe we should be open to that,' Barr said.

'I think that's a very good idea,' Ms Hume replied.