MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE - Migration
Transcript
Date 11 May 2023
Ms WARE (Hughes) (16:50): I rise to speak on this matter of public importance, and I commend the member for Wannon for bringing this matter to the House's attention. It's particularly concerning to read that we're going to have an additional 1.5 million migrants, but this is in conjunction with, in the other place, the Greens rejecting the Albanese Labor government's housing plan on this very day. We'll have 1.5 million additional immigrants, and where are they going to live? I listened to the member for Bennelong's comments that we are blaming migrants for this problem. We are not; we are trying to ensure that the 1.5 million migrants that you are bringing into our country will have somewhere to live, but the government has announced this increase on a day when it has been confirmed that the Labor Party's housing policy is in tatters.
Sensible increases in migration are supported. Migration provides tremendous economic benefits, tremendous social benefits, and Australia is the most successful multicultural nation in the world. But there has been no discussion about the impacts of an additional 1.5 million people on congestion, on infrastructure, on housing, on government services, on the environment or on our regions. With the number that has been presented, which is roughly 1.235 million people after four years, that's the population of a city the size of Adelaide. The number climbs to 1.495 million after five years. That is the average population of a city the size of Wollongong arriving every year. The Albanese Labor government would have to build 10 Tasmanian football stadiums a year to seat the additional arrivals. My home state of New South Wales is forecast to hit a population of more than 8.7 million people, an additional 1,669 people per week in my home state of New South Wales. Where will all of these people live?
The government's housing policy was heralded in with such fanfare and triumphalism last year. Last October Minister Collins stated $10 billion for housing: one million new homes. I turn briefly to what key stakeholders have said about Minister Collins's housing policy. AMP chief economist, Dr Shane Oliver, has noted the resurgence in underlying demand on the back of very high immigration, and that the 400,000 arrivals this year equates to demand for an extra 200,000 dwellings. The Grattan Institute noted that increasing the annual migrant intake by 40,000 a year will increase rents by up to five per cent over a decade, so when this Labor government talk to us about being serious about affordable rentals, they cannot develop a policy that has significant intellectual rigour. Not even the sycophantic Greens—not even your best friends in the other place—can bring themselves to support this policy. It's not the business of the federal government to build houses. It's never been the business of the federal government to compete. This policy has revealed you do not understand the basics of what drives the housing industry. You don't understand the building and construction industry, and you do not understand how to develop sensible policy that will address the chronic shortage of housing in this country. I mention the honourable member for Griffith, with whom I have barely ever agreed. Even he said today that he could not support it. It's not even a good enough policy for the Greens party to be able to support!
While speaking about other ministers, the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services said on Sky, on 29 March, that more people does not mean more pressure on housing and infrastructure. That's unbelievable—from the assistant minister! The Assistant Treasurer said that.