Interview with Sarah Macdonald on ABC Radio Sydney

Sarah Macdonald

Andrew Bragg joins me now. He's a Liberal Senator for New South Wales, has been since 2019, and he's currently the Shadow Assistant Spokesperson for Home Ownership. He has served as the acting Federal Director of the Liberal Party, so he knows what's involved. Good morning.

Senator Bragg

Sarah, good morning.

Sarah Macdonald

This is all a bit of a mess, isn't it?

Senator Bragg

Well, Sarah, we're all very pleased that Chris Stone is coming back as the State Director. He's an experienced official. But the most important thing is that we are able to get rid of these bad governments in Macquarie Street and in Canberra because Australians are struggling with high inflation and completely failed housing policies, which I am focusing on in particular. We want to make sure that we can restore the Australian dream, and that can't be done from opposition.

Sarah Macdonald

How can a party who can't run itself run a state or a country?

Senator Bragg

Well, these issues come up from time to time, and they're being worked through. But I think we have given the State of New South Wales great service. We just opened the new Metro, which was built because of the Liberal Party. We've produced a number of Prime Ministers in recent years. So I'm very confident that we will continue to give great service to the people of New South Wales. And we owe it to the people to get rid of this bad government, particularly the one in Canberra, because the Australians are battling with persistent cost of living pressures, ridiculously high inflation, and the Australian dream is slipping away from younger Australians.

Sarah Macdonald

The Victorian Liberals are also in a bit of a mess. Why should two senior former Victorians from the right faction dominate this committee? There are concerns amongst the moderates, such as yourself, that this is an attempt to get rid of the moderates.

Senator Bragg

Well, look, these issues will be worked through between the federal and state executive. My job is to be a parliamentarian, and I'm holding the government to account. I think younger Australians are looking for real housing solutions. Today, for example, the Senate is putting down a report on Build to Rent issues that the Labor Government has promoted. But we don't think that renting forever is the Australian dream. Those are the issues that I'm focusing on as a member of the federal parliament.

Sarah Macdonald

Yeah, I want to talk to you about that in just a moment but if you want to get back in, you've got to have MPs, and you've got to admit that this is a mess. We had people being put up for the federal election right at the last minute because of the factional issues going on. But the local government council elections in two weeks, and some councils won't have any Liberal candidates. We've got two, sorry three by-elections now to come because of Rory Amon stepping down with charges he's facing that he says he will defend, and a federal election looming.

Senator Bragg

Well, look, there's a culture of transparency in relation to these matters. People may find them to be particularly interesting. I mean, unlike the Teal Party or the Labor Party, these things are dealt with in a relatively transparent way. But I think most Australians are worried about cost of living, inflation, housing, how they get their small business going. I don't think that they're spending all their time thinking about the innards of a liberal party.

Sarah Macdonald

No, they're not. But for those who want to vote Liberal, they are thinking about a party that's in a bit of a mess and had to go into administration.

Senator Bragg

I think we've given the people of New South Wales excellent service. We've just had 12 years of government where we've transformed the city. We opened the Metro just only a couple of weeks ago, which was done by the Liberals, and we've produced a number of Prime Ministers from the state. So, that's the record.

Sarah Macdonald

The opposition spokesperson, Mark Speakman, will speak soon. I think he'd like to have a woman on the panel, given you've got two older Victorians. Would you like that, too? Dave in Curl Curl is surprised that Kerry Chikarovski, for instance, wasn't invited?

Senator Bragg

Look, I won't speak for Mark. He's able to speak for himself as the opposition leader. But as I say, I think the issues that are most important to the Australian people right now really don't relate to the innards of the Liberal Party.

Sarah Macdonald

Well, let's see what goes on, and we will bring the latest from Mark Speakman. But he's in quite a position now, given that the three-person committee is missing a member, the only New South Wales person who was selected for it, but I think they neglected to tell him by all accounts. Do you have faith in a new federal executive taking over for the state?

Senator Bragg

As I said, Sarah, these issues will be worked out between the federal and state party officials. My job is to be a parliamentarian, and I am working very hard to hold the government to account on their housing policy. As I said today, we're handing down a report in relation to Build to Rent issues, which I think are probably of more interest to people than the inner workings of the Liberal Party.

Sarah Macdonald

Do you want more women in the party, though, and to get seats?

Senator Bragg

Of course.

Sarah Macdonald

In by-elections and selections?

Senator Bragg

Of course, but I'm a parliamentarian. I don't run the organisational wing.

Sarah Macdonald

All right. But though, as a moderate, are you worried about the moderates being sidelined? This was a risk that many did warn about, especially with Teals taking some of those moderate seats that you have in Sydney.

Senator Bragg

Look, I understand that people like to use these labels, I mean, the Liberal Party, as I say, I think, has given the State of New South Wales very good service. We only just lost the last election. I think we've done a good job of holding the Minns Government to account. I think the Albanese Government has been worse than we could have imagined in terms of their failings on housing and inflation. I think we're in a competitive position. I'm confident that we'll win seats at the upcoming election, Sarah, and I think we're well placed to do that.

Sarah Macdonald

You're hearing Andrew Bragg on ABC Radio Sydney. He's the Senator from New South Wales, and he's also the Shadow Assistant Spokesperson for Home Ownership. Now, you mentioned about the Build to Rent and the report coming out today. I'm getting a lot of frustrated texsts that you don't want to talk about the inner party issues. But Caroline says a lot of Liberal Party decisions did lead us to where we are with the housing debacle today, for instance, John Howard's policies.

Senator Bragg

Well, the Australian dream is slipping out of reach most strongly under the recent Labor government, which has been in Canberra since May 2022. And that is because they have failed to encourage supply. They've done nothing to help first home buyers. And so that's why so many under 40s feel like they'll never own a house. So our job is to put forward policies at the election to ensure that people feel that we can restore the Australian dream for younger people, because we've always been a country where home ownership has been available to the average worker.

Sarah Macdonald

But every time you give money to first home buyers, house prices go up accordingly.

Senator Bragg

Well, clearly, you've got to have a supply policy. You need to find a way to build the houses. Now, under us, just eight years ago, we were building 220,000 houses. This year, under Labor, there'll only be 160,000 houses. If you drop supply massively, like we've seen under this government, then you're going to make the market much more adverse for younger people. That's the supply side. On the demand side, we make no apology for tilting the scales in favour of first-home buyers. That's why we've put the superannuation policy at the center of our policy offering so far, and that is to allow people to use their own money to purchase their first home.

Sarah Macdonald

Can you guarantee that won't just put up the price of housing by that amount because it adds more money to the pool. People have got that - that's what has happened in times before when these handouts have been done.

Senator Bragg

Well, it's an $11 trillion market, Sarah. Allowing people to use their own super would make an immaterial or nil impact on an $11 trillion market. But we don't want to be a country where the bank of Mum and Dad dictates your housing outcomes. And apart from the bank of Mum and Dad, for a lot of people, their super is going to be their biggest pool of capital. So denying them access to their own money to get into the first home market is a particularly mean, nasty, and cruel policy from the Labor Party. And that's why we think people should be able to use their own money to get into the housing market, because the key determinant for your success in retirement is not your superannuation balance, it's your housing status.

Sarah Macdonald

Why are you against Build to Rent?

Senator Bragg

We don't think that foreign corporations like BlackRock, Vanguard, and co need a tax hand out to build houses in Australia; which Australians will never own.

Sarah Macdonald

Given that, you just want to have policies about super and home ownership. What about for renters, though?

Senator Bragg

We want to build more houses. As I said, we want to unleash supply. We want to promote development so that people can actually get into the housing market, whether they are buyers or renters. And you've got to support the private economy. The government have played around with this Housing Australia Future Fund, which has done very little. The Greens want to have a government property developer. We want the private economy to build the houses. Chris Minns talks a big game on housing, but he's letting Sydney Water destroy his housing agenda. So we will be focusing on solutions which promote supply and tilt the scales in favour of first home buyers.

Sarah Macdonald

All right. Well, I thank you for your time this morning. But we do have quite a few people saying, why didn't you make this a priority when you were in government?

Senator Bragg

Well, I came into Parliament in 2019, and I've been given this position earlier this year, and so it's something that we're working very hard on.

Sarah Macdonald

All right. I thank you for your time.

Senator Bragg

Thanks, Sarah

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