Michael Sukkar MP

Interview with Peta Credlin – Sky News Australia

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

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH PETA CREDLIN, SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA

Friday, 19 May 2023

TOPICS: Vic Budget, Timber export ban lifted

E&OE

Peta Credlin: Joining me now to discuss this is Liberal MP shadow minister for Social Services and Housing, Michael Sukkar . A bloke who can read a balance sheet as good as I can. Hey, Michael. The Premier’s being very disingenuous here by the Government’s own figures. The total component of his debt, the debt is about $110 Billion in the short term. Only $35 billion of it is attributed to COVID. So just 31%, So what’s his excuse for the other 69% of his soaring debt?

Michael Sukkar: Well, Peta, look, Victorians know that we were headed for a debt disaster long before COVID came along. As you quite rightly say, nearly 70% of that debt is represented by pre COVID and nothing related to COVID debt. Let’s not forget Peta, they’ve got more than $30 billion of blowouts in infrastructure and also, let’s not forget, Peta, the rest of Australia had COVID. COVID was not just Victoria. Yes, Victorians suffered the worst of it because of the mismanagement of Daniel Andrews and his government. And who can forget the hotel quarantine debacle, which is why Victoria suffered the most. But what we’re facing, sadly what happens whenever you have long term Labor governments, that is huge amounts of debt, unsustainable spending, and no matter no way that Daniel Andrews spins this will get him out of being wholly responsible for the debt disaster that Victoria faces.

Peta Credlin: I might add, for my listeners at home in that $35 billion, he says, it’s all COVID. He’s got a big housing bill. He’s got $110 million for power vouchers. He’s got money for community sport. So he’s trying to push a lot of things in the cover of COVID. A lot of this obviously is borrowed money. What’s it going to do to the state’s already low AA credit rating. It’s one of the lowest in the nation. I think it is actually the lowest in the nation. We’re hearing talk of a downgrade after Tuesday. Michael do you think that’s likely?

Michael Sukkar: Well, look I think it’s very possible, Peta, and for your viewers, the reality is, if we do get downgraded in our credit rating, then we pay higher interest on our debt and we’re already paying more than $10 million a day in interest here in Victoria – that debt burden will be even higher. The reality is Victorians are receiving some of the worst service in the country, whether that be through our health system or through our ambulance system and other areas. We’re paying the highest taxes in the country as we know. Daniel Andrews has either increased or introduced more than 40 new taxes. And this was the bloke who went to the 2014 election saying he promised that he wasn’t going to introduce any higher taxes. Next week in the budget – it’ll be even more taxes. We’ve seen the announcement today in relation to WorkCover levies on small businesses. I suspect payroll tax, who knows? Land tax. They’ve even increased taxes on first home buyers. You know, the sorts of blocks that first home buyers buy – from the 1st of July will have an extra $65,000 of tax imposed by the State Government. So they don’t like home ownership. They’re putting more taxes on onto land tax, onto first home buyers, payroll tax and what have we got to show for it, Peta? We’ve got the highest debt in the country. And as you say, higher than NSW, Queensland and Tasmania combined. You know, Andrews is a disaster and no amount of squirming and lying, let’s be quite frank, will get him off the hook.

Peta Credlin: Let’s go to your portfolio. I want to get your thoughts on this timber trade ban being lifted by China yesterday . Now, I think at first glance, I think we’re all saying this is a great reprieve for our timber export. But the more you look into it and you look at the issues with our housing sector here in Australia, who can’t get a ready supply of housing timber, there’s a concern out there that we don’t have the timber in Australia to export, but also more broadly, you know, all of these Green Left governments banning timber and plantations and timber harvesting has hit home building pretty hard. Do we have the timber to ship to China and what can we do to rebuild an industry in Australia? Because of course we need timber for housing. If we don’t grow it here and harvest it here under sustainable rules, we’re just importing it for countries that might not be doing the right right thing.

Michael Sukkar: Well, Peta, the reality is, and when I was housing minister it became abundantly clear that we’re a net importer of timber for residential construction and when those global supply chains were hit with COVID, our building industry had huge issues in getting the timber they needed. So we need every stick of timber we can possibly produce here in Australia. So whilst we would welcome any removal of a trade ban on timber, I think in practical reality we need every bit of timber we can. And let’s not forget Peta, obviously the trade bans on barley, on meat products, on wine, they are still in place, but our housing industry relies on sustainable renewable timber and it became very clear during the housing boom which commenced under the former Coalition government, particularly when we had first home buyers reach their highest levels for nearly 15 years. Sadly, that’s dropped off dramatically under the Labor Government. We saw that we needed every bit of timber we could find and the state governments have locked up that renewable resource and it baffled me from an environmental perspective because well managed timber plantations are exactly that. They’re renewable and you can do so in a sustainable way, in a way that builds our industry. But we know the Labor Party have the Greens nipping at their heels and from time to time they take these decisions to decimate an industry like the timber industry in order to placate the Greens in some of their very inner city seats. So we’ll need every bit of timber we can, although the one thing I’d say, Peta, is under the Federal Labor Government, the housing industry is tanking quite badly. That with new home starts at very low levels, that we’re not seeing the same sorts of pressure with timber as we had when we were building more and now we see the Labor Government wants to bring in 1.5 million people, Peta, while they’re not building homes. So where will those people live?

Peta Credlin: Not wrong. Michael Sukkar, Not wrong. I’ll leave it there, but you’re absolutely right to, to put the two together. Thank you.

Michael Sukkar: Thanks Peta.

Peta Credlin: Sorry, I’ve got to leave it there. Michael Sukkar, thank you for your time.