INTERVIEW WITH SALLY SARA ON ABC RADIO NATIONAL

‍
Subjects: Labor’s false HAFF claims, social housing, the Coalition’s $5bn last mile infrastructure fund, Labor’s smear campaign

E&OE………

Sally Sara

Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg is the Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and joins me in the studio. Senator Bragg, welcome back to Breakfast.

Senator Bragg

Good morning, Sally. How are you?

Sally Sara

Very well. You say that you've caught the government fudging the numbers on HAFF. What do you mean?

Senator Bragg

Well, the government claimed that they'd built 300 houses, but in fact, we found out in Senate estimates yesterday, courtesy of Katy Gallagher, that those 300 houses have been purchased, not built. So, the Housing Australia Future Fund remains on a duck, zero.

Sally Sara

The Federal Government is putting forward the argument that this is a small number of homes that are acquired, and then they're put into the pool for Housing Australia Future Fund, and that to get housing out quickly, this is what needs to happen. How do you respond to that?

Senator Bragg

We are living in a massive supply problem, and housing construction has collapsed under this government from an average of 190,000 under the last government down to 170,000 houses across the country. We need to be getting about a quarter of a million houses a year. The government can supply some of those. Their flagship policy was supposed to build some, and it seems that they've built none. If they are buying houses that already exist, that isn't adding to supply.

Sally Sara

Is it shifting the existing supply to people who are more vulnerable?

Senator Bragg

But the point is we need to build more houses for everyone. The government have brought one million people into the country in the last two years while they presided over a collapse in housing construction. So, we need to see more houses built overall. Our point is really to say that after 18 months, surely this fund could have built one house.

Sally Sara

This process, it passed Parliament in November 2023, and the funding round closed in March 2024. Those projects were approved. The applications were approved in September 2024. Would you expect a house to be built between September and now?

Senator Bragg

Well, they've had 18 months. The tender process, I think, has also been very bad. I'm not sure contracts for those 13,000 houses have even been signed, let alone a shovel or any bricks and mortar turning up anytime soon. Look, we were going to ask these questions last night to Housing Australia, but Labor obfuscated in the Senate Estimates room, and we weren't able to get to Housing Australia, which I think was by design.

Sally Sara

Would the Coalition honour the contracts that are already in place under this fund if you're elected, Andrew Bragg?

Senator Bragg

We're not going to continue with that fund. We think that it's more important that we get the overall private economy building. Builders and developers are needed to solve the nation's housing crisis. There's no way that the government itself can build a quarter of a million houses a year, to solve the housing crisis. The focus has got to be on unlocking last mile infrastructure to build houses that most Australians can live in.

Sally Sara

Why doesn't the Coalition have a standalone plan for social and affordable housing?

Senator Bragg

We've always supported that. In fact, it was the last government that created the NHFIC programme, which was the predecessor body of Housing Australia, and that was the organisation which started the Home Guarantee Scheme, for example, which helps individuals. So, we will have a programme for that. But 96% of Australians don't live in public or social housing. We have to be focused on the main game here, which is where most of the policy thrust will be.

Sally Sara

The Liberal Party supported around 9,000 social and affordable houses in almost a decade in office. Is that pace fast enough to solve this problem, do you think?

Senator Bragg

As I said, 96% of Australians live in houses which are not owned by the government in some form. We recognise the absolute necessity of getting housing construction up, Sally, because we were building 190,000 on average, including 210,000 houses in 2017. Now, we're down to 170,000. We've got a million more people to house. We've got to desperately get the numbers up towards 250,000-260,000. That's where we've got to get to.

Sally Sara

I'm talking with Coalition Senator Andrew Bragg on the issue of housing. Your $5 billion housing infrastructure plan is primarily focused on green developments, getting things moving. How does that address a housing crisis within cities, already inside cities?

Senator Bragg

If you look at places like Camden, Liverpool, Campbelltown, in Southwest Sydney or Northwest Sydney, there's a lot of opportunity there for building dense buildings that can help resolve the supply challenge. We need to build a lot more apartments, and that fund can certainly help in doing that.

Sally Sara

How important is it for more focus to be placed on the housing crisis at the moment, given the figures we know and given the stress we know that people are under?

Senator Bragg

We need to find a way to unlock supply, otherwise we're going to make the problem worse. But we also need to find creative ways to help first home buyers, which is why we have the Super for Housing plan, which allows people to use their own money to get into the property market. That is the best guarantee for most people to have a safe retirement. Ultimately, the key test of your success in retirement is your housing status. It's not your superannuation balance.

Sally Sara

On another issue, can I ask you about the questions raised about Peter Dutton buying bank shares at the height of the GFC when our own banking system was at risk of collapse? Do you hold concerns about Peter Dutton's credibility in terms of this issue at all?

Senator Bragg

Not at all. I think many Australians have owned properties and shares. It's quite a normal thing for people to do. Peter has complied with the rules completely. The fact that we're talking about is a result of Peter complying with the disclosure rules.

Sally Sara

Andrew Bragg, thank you for joining me this morning.

Senator Bragg

Thanks a lot.

Sally Sara

Andrew Bragg is Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and a member of the Senate.

[Ends]

Media Contact: David Nouri | 0401 392 624

‍