Michael Sukkar MP

Interview with Kenny Heatley – First Edition, Sky News

THE HON MICHAEL SUKKAR MP – SHADOW MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, NDIS, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH KENNY HEATLEY – FIRST EDITION, SKY NEWS

Thursday 18 January, 2024

TOPICS: Labor’s failed 1.2 million homes target, Chris Minns concedes NSW won’t meet housing targets

E&OE

Kenny Heatley: And for more on this, I’m joined live by Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar. Michael, thanks so much for joining us. This doesn’t bode well when you are trying to build 1.2 million homes over the next five years?

Michael Sukkar: Well, you’re right. And the latest ABS data has shown that the commitment of 1.2 million homes from the Albanese government is dead. That commitment is gone. We saw in the latest data that new homes are down by 22% year on year. They’re at the lowest levels in over a decade, so not only is home building not growing, it’s actually going backwards at an alarming rate and quite frankly, it’s likely to get even worse because we see building approvals the step before actually building a home down even further. So if Australians thought 2023 was a housing crisis, 2024 is going to be much worse. So we have no plan from the Albanese Government on how to address it. All we have is aspirational targets that they’re now calling them of 1.2 million homes, which we know and the HIA has confirmed, is a broken promise.

Kenny Heatley: And we said in this story before the increased regulation around silica and engineered stone may be attributing to cash flow issues and insolvency issues in the construction sector. But what are you seeing as the main problems around why we’re seeing cash flow issues for construction businesses right now?

Michael Sukkar: Well, there’s a range of obviously there was significant material cost increases and shortages coming out of the pandemic. There’s been labor shortages in the past as well. But what the housing industry is saying is show 2023 was bad, but 2024 is going to be worse for the reasons I’ve just described, including approvals being down, but also that the industry is now going to be smacked with Labor’s industrial relations changes, which is just going to make it even more difficult for construction businesses to operate in a very difficult environment. And ultimately that will mean that then consumers pay more and fewer people will be able to actually get into a home. And as I said, since the Labor government has been in power federally, we’ve seen first time buyers down at record low levels we’re now seeing approvals down, new builds down, rents up. Labor’s housing crisis sadly is going to get a lot worse and we hear and see nothing from this Government on how to address it. They seem completely out of touch with the challenges faced by Australians who are renting or saving to try and buy their own home.

Kenny Heatley: Well, we got the front page of the Daily Telegraph here, Target Trashed. Just 18 days into 2024, Premier Chris Minns concedes that the state will fail to meet its target of 75,000 new homes. And the Daily Telegraph saying here that. So instead he just wants to beat Victoria. So it seems like at a state level as well, we’re flying the white flag.

Michael Sukkar: You are. And sadly, what we’ve seen from Labor governments, whether it’s Anthony Albanese, whether it’s Chris Minns, it’s very easy to issue a media release with a target, a target at some point in the future. What we never see from Labor is the follow through and the delivery. I mean that was a promise made by Chris Minns not long ago. You shouldn’t make promises glibly, you shouldn’t make promises that you know you can’t keep. And I would suggest that it was pretty clear that the Labor government knew that they couldn’t meet that commitment. But that’s just Labor for you equally, Anthony Albanese announces a target of 1.2 million homes that requires building activity to increase – instead of increasing it’s gone back 22% at the lowest levels for over a decade. Meanwhile, he’s running a record migration program this year or sorry, in 2023, more than 500,000 new migrants were invited to this country by Labor. So while they’re ramping up migration, they’re building fewer homes and at the same time they’re lying to Australians about it by committing to these targets that they have no intention of keeping.

Kenny Heatley: Michael Sukkar, we’re out of time. We have to leave it there, but appreciate your time. Thank you.

Michael Sukkar: Thanks, Kenny.

Ends