Michael Sukkar MP

Interview with Kieran Gilbert – Sky News Australia

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

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH KIERAN GILBERT, SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA

Tuesday, 16 May 2023

TOPICS: Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), negative gearing, Calvary Public Hospital takeover

E&OE

Kieran Gilbert: Let’s bring in the Shadow Minister for Housing, Michael Sukkar, joins us live now. Michael Sukkar, thanks for your time. Given the crisis that there is in housing right now and availability, why doesn’t the Coalition rethink and back that Housing Future Fund?

Michael Sukkar: Well, we know, Kieran, that the Government’s policy to borrow $10 billion to then put into the future Fund is just a Ponzi scheme. We know it won’t add to any additional housing into the market and you don’t need to take my word for it. That’s the HIA who have said that this very paltry commitment to build something like 6,000 homes over five years, starting from the middle of next year. Now, it’s not often that I agree with the Greens on these issues, but there’s an urgency about this and the Government’s Ponzi scheme with their housing fund doesn’t start until the 1st of July 2024. Coming towards the end of their first term in Parliament and we know for a fact that this idea of borrowing $10 billion, of which we would have to pay $400 million of interest to put it into a fund and hope that that fund generates enough returns to actually then deliver some money into the sector won’t see houses being built this side o the election. So we’ll have a circumstance where if we just wave through what Labor is proposing, nothing would be done in their first term of Parliament. This is, I think, quite shameful from the Labor Party because they know this. This is not news to them. They know that their spruiking a policy will not see one home delivered this side of the election and we won’t be supporting it for that reason. When we’re in government. When I was the Housing Minister we had the first home ownership at records we hadn’t seen 15 years. We saw more dwelling starts at records that we hadn’t seen for over a decade now. We see dwelling starts at some of the lowest levels in most of our adult life. We see in the budget investment into housing shrinking and simultaneously we see in the budget, Kieran, the Labor Party saying we want to increase migration to 1.5 million people over five years during the time where we don’t expect more than 800,000 homes to be built. So, we’ve got a crisis now. Labor has got no answer to it. And in fact are looking to put fuel on the fire by ramping up migration massively and the question that I always ask in these situations, Kieran, is where will those people live? If you’re going to bring in 1.5 million people that, you know, broadly speaking, is the number of people that we have in Adelaide and you’re not building the houses, does anyone seriously think the problem is not going to get worse under the Labor Party? I think we all know the answer to that.

Kieran Gilbert: Some Labor backbenchers are suggesting there should be a debate at the ALP conference later in the year about reining in negative gearing concessions and so on. Is there not an argument? I know your former colleague Joe Hockey said in his valedictory speech that there should be a look at negative gearing. Why not have a look at the edges here to cap it, say at 4 or 5 houses before those capital gains tax exemptions and negative gearing can be reined in

Michael Sukkar: Because it makes the problem worse. Kieran, we’ve been through these debates. We know it will make the problem worse. If you want less of something, you tax it more. If you want less housing, put more taxes on it. That’s the Labor approach and the last thing we can afford now is less housing. We need more investment into housing. We need more houses built. I think we all know and anyone that follows politics, Kieran knows the Labor Party is itching. They are desperate to dust off their old policies that they took to the 2016 and 2019 elections to put more taxes on housing. Whether it be through abolishing negative gearing or removing concessions for capital gains tax and quite simply, the backbenchers in the Labor Party I think are just being truthful and being honest. Anthony Albanese and his Treasurer, Jim Chalmers went to two elections explaining to the Australian people why they thought putting additional housing taxes was a great thing. They then had a change of heart after the 2019 election, but does anyone seriously think they don’t in the marrow of their bones, believe that it should happen? And if they thought they could get away with it, they would.

Kieran Gilbert: The Prime Minister’s been pretty clear today, wouldn’t you agree? The Prime Minister was quite clear in saying there’d be no move. Asked whether there’d be any consideration this term, he said Absolutely not. No.

Michael Sukkar: Well, I don’t think that the Prime Minister believes they can get away with it, but, you know, I bet your bottom dollar, Keiran if they thought they could get away with it, they would. And again, whilst I don’t agree with those Labor backbenchers as I think they are telling the truth of what the prevailing view in the Labor Party is, they want more taxes on housing. Now we know that if you tax housing more, you have less investment, you have less houses built, you have less rental stock built, you get less stock built for first home buyers. I mean, in this budget, you don’t hear from the Labor Party, anything about first home buyers, you don’t hear anything about home ownership and they have completely abandoned the field. They are hanging their hat on this policy that won’t deliver a house this side of the election, so won’t have delivered a home in their first three years in government. Um, it’s all a charade, Kieran and you know, sadly, Australians are paying the price for this policy vacuum because there’s lots they can do. I’d add Kieran, just one final thing. Um, the politics moves on and we forget quite quickly, but who remembers when the Treasurer proclaimed in his budget speech in October that they would deliver a million new homes. We already know now that they won’t meet that million target. It’ll be substantially lower than that, which means it’ll be substantially lower than what the Coalition delivered in the five years prior. So I mean, they’re breaking promises. They’re not meeting their commitments. And they’ve got no plan and no idea, Kieran.

Kieran Gilbert: Let me ask you about this other story. It’s out of the ACT. I’m not sure you’ve caught up with it, but the ACT government basically going to forcibly acquire the Calvary Public Hospital off the Catholic Church. The head of the church response to this has described it as religious bigotry. They had a contract set to run for another 70 plus years, ACT government going to forcibly acquire now that hospital in Canberra’s north. What’s your read on that?

Michael Sukkar: Well I think it’s a disgrace, Kieran. My reports from friends that I have in the ACT is that it was a very and is a very well run hospital and there’s, you know, I think very little doubt amongst most people in Canberra that it’s being targeted because it’s being run and operated by the Catholic Church, which is a form of bigotry. I think the worry and the concern here is that you’ve got a Labor government in the ACT who works very closely with Anthony Albanese, who has now said there’s no assets of any religious order or any religious body that’s safe right now. It’s the Catholic Church with Calvary Hospital, tomorrow it could be any denomination, any Christian denomination or any other religion. Islam, Buddhism. You know, you can’t just acquire assets for no reason that are held by religious organisations with no explanation in this way. So, I think we all know that the Labor Government is increasingly not tolerant of people of faith. I would say Anthony Albanese needs to step in and put his foot down and stop this today. Otherwise no religious organisation can feel as though the assets can’t be taken off them.

Kieran Gilbert: Michael Sukkar, I appreciate your time. Talk to you soon.

Michael Sukkar: Good on you Kieran.