Michael Sukkar MP

Interview with Peter Stefanovic – Sky News

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

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH PETER STEFANOVIC – SKY NEWS

Thursday, 17 August 2023

TOPICS: National Cabinet, Housing

E&OE

Peter Stefanovic: Okay, so a few points there. Back on on the point that you made about no identified projects. Isn’t that up to the states and the councils?

Michael Sukkar: Well, they’ve had months in the lead up to this meeting. I mean, the Prime Minister’s built this meeting up as the seminal moment to address Labor’s housing crisis. They’ve had literally months. Why don’t we have an outline of exactly where these proposed homes are going? What are the projects? Who are the partners? Who’s delivering them? What’re the time frames? I mean, if you’re fair dinkum, they’re the sorts of details you’ve got to give Australians because, you know, I hate to be a cynic, but we’ve heard it all before. We’ve heard it 100 times before. States and local governments talking about ambitious planning and zoning reforms. And guess what? It keeps getting worse. And so what we saw yesterday was just another one of those very empty, broad promises. The way you get outcomes is to make specific promises. What are the projects? Where are they? Where is where is the new land being released? What are the new suburbs that our cities are going to need? Who’s going to build them? Who is the government going to partner with? Who’s going to fund them? And importantly, who’s going to build them now? The fact that they are unable to provide any of those details, I think makes it very clear that it’s not fair dinkum at all. And just like they didn’t meet their million home promise that they made in October in six and 12 months time, we’ll look back at this and say that got nowhere near the 1.2 million home target either.

Peter Stefanovic: Okay, this has been a problem a decade in the making though. Why didn’t you do it when you were in power?

Michael Sukkar: Well, if you look at what we did, we were in government and do the comparisons. It’s very embarrassing for this government, HIA data, which was just out this week. Pete showed that in 2021, there were nearly 150,000 detached homes built. Next year, they’re predicting it will be down to 94,000. That is a massive drop in just three years that we’ve seen occur on this government’s watch. So sadly, we’ve housing supply not going forward, not even being maintained at the levels that the the Labor government inherited. But going backwards on every single measure, housing outcomes for Australians are going to get worse. First home buyers are down to their lowest level since the Gillard Government. New homes starts are down. New home approvals are down. New home sales are down nearly 40%. I mean the idea that we’re in a housing crisis now, Australians need to realise it’s going to get a whole lot worse. And what the Prime Minister announced yesterday just locks that in, just locks in that.

Peter Stefanovic: A lot of this is out of his control. Much of it lies on the states and councils responsibility, right to free up more land, to unlock more land, to rezone.

Michael Sukkar: Well, he said he was stepping up and taking responsibility for this. He’s the one that built up this meeting of National Cabinet. Let’s be frank. In nearly every situation. All he has to do is get out, get on the phone to a Labor mate in one of those states and make it happen. I mean, he has had that opportunity and he said that he would. And so yesterday was so alarming for all of us because, you know, I wasn’t expecting a great deal, but even I was pretty gobsmacked that just how much of a fizzer it was. And again, if you’re a renter, if you’ve got a mortgage, if you try to save for your first time, nothing you heard yesterday would get you very excited. In fact, depressingly, it just locks in the trajectory of things getting worse and worse.

Peter Stefanovic: Okay. That was new lighting up the flares in Fed Square. Was it last night, Michael?

Michael Sukkar: No, it wasn’t. But, you know, wouldn’t be the first time a flight has been led off. It was. It was an exciting match. And look, as Robbie Slater rightly pointed out, you know, credit to England for really playing a great match. But look, that doesn’t diminish the fantastic tournament we’ve had. And, you know, it’s still taken and captivated the nation and I think that’s something that is a great legacy for the Matildas and is for all sport in this country.

Peter Stefanovic: It is indeed, Michael Sukkar, appreciate your time. Thank you.

Ends