Interview with Tom Connell on Sky News

‍Subjects: Housing Australia Future Fund not building houses, Coalition $5bn Last Mile Infrastructure Fund

E&OE………

Tom Connell

Huge debate over housing in this term, at best its seen to have gone sideways under Labor, which did pledge to fix the problem. It has been a slow building crisis in Australia. One of the solutions from Labor, a future fund to build new homes. The coalition says that's now in tatters. Joining me now is Shadow Assistant Minister for Home Ownership, Andrew Bragg. So some interesting evidence last week on the houses so far. Take us through that - essentially, not many because there's had to be a bit of a re-badging, I guess, of existing stock?

Senator Bragg

Well, Tom, it was very curious because I asked Senator Wong about this in the Senate just two weeks ago, how many houses had the Housing Australia Future Fund built? And her answer was that it hasn't built any, that it was on a duck. And so then subsequently, before the Estimates process, apparently it had magically built 300 houses in just two weeks. But in fact, Katy Gallagher then lets it out that those houses, those 300 houses, had been bought or acquired, in her language, rather than built. So it was rather a very strange turn of events.

Tom Connell

Okay, so that's on what's happened so far. Obviously, it's a nascent fund. The other stats are, for example, 5,465 under construction. Presumably, if you get into power, you allow them to go ahead?

Senator Bragg

Well, the tender process hasn't even finished. They've got 13,000 houses they propose to build, but the contracts haven't been signed. And in fact, the evidence we heard at Estimates, was that contracts had been signed for less than 2,000 houses so far. And in fact, some of those contracts are with Big Super funds. So it's a very messy process. And the fact is that the Labor Party's housing fund is on a duck. It hasn't built a single house.

Tom Connell

Alright. But I'm saying what will happen because if you win power, I know you said you'll scrap this programme, but what work will you seek to undo? As I said, the figures out there are supposedly more than 5,000 under construction. Presumably, if that's the case, you wouldn't just stop construction and walk away from them, you'd allow them to be completed?

Senator Bragg

I think the starting point would be trying to get to the truth of what's happened here. I mean the numbers here are very unreliable. They say 5,000, but at Estimates, apparently, it's less than 2,000. And then, of course, we have the hilarious spectre of the government claiming 300 houses which weren't built by the Housing Fund. They were acquired from the market, thereby making the housing supply problem actually worse because the government is now competing with people in the market. So as for the future, the bureaucratic approach has been a huge failure. They've had 18 months to do something. And in 18 months, they haven't built a single house. So we don't believe that having a separate housing bureaucracy, or a housing Tsar or a housing boondoggle is the way to go. We think it's much better to back builders, trades people...

Tom Connell

Let me put it in a simple way, the final one on this matter. Any houses that are actually under construction - they've begun. All those planning processes have been waded through and there's foundations in the ground. Would they be finished under the Coalition? You'd allow them to be finished?

Senator Bragg

Well, let's see. We'd have to see how many houses they actually have got finished, how many contracts have signed?

Tom Connell

You don't need to see how many. You can answer the logic on whether you're literally what, you're so against this policy, even if a house has begun construction, you'll just tell people to pack up and walk away?

Senator Bragg

Obviously, if you are given the honour of being in government and you need to tidy up this mess, then you will be practical and pragmatic in how you respond to the mess you inherit. But as it stands, we don't support a massive bureaucracy which takes years and years to do anything, we think for the housing crisis needs action now, which is why we have a significant supply policy which will support builders and developers and trades people in building houses, not the government.

Tom Connell

And if you win, that will be the path you're entitled to go down. It's just trying to ascertain how against this policy you are...

Senator Bragg

Well, who knows?

Tom Connell

But even if houses have started, they might be walked away from. It's what you're hinting at.

Senator Bragg

But who knows, Tom? No one knows what the starting position is. They brief one thing to the newspapers and then another thing comes out at Senate Estimates, I mean no one knows really what's going on...

Tom Connell

Yeah, but I'm asking about if a house has been begun, if the construction started. That's the context of the question.

Senator Bragg

As you know, it's pretty simple, if the Commonwealth has signed a contract, you do your best to honour it. But who knows? I think the tender process has been a shambles.

Tom Connell

You can always break contracts if you want. Anyway, let me ask as well about your plan. There's been much more of a focus on properties, and even if that means people living from way outside of the cities rather than density. Is that just going to make the urban sprawl worse and worse?

Senator Bragg

No, because in a lot of the areas where the councils are wanting more density, and in the South West of Sydney, that's places like Camden and Liverpool, Campbelltown, there will be infrastructure that will support the development of large scale housing precincts. And so that will allow people to travel widely and quickly. And that's why the Last Mile Infrastructure Fund is so important.

Tom Connell

And you believe, I mean, Campbelltown seems to be a great example of the urban sprawl - 50km from Sydney. But what's the idea that in the future, people won't from there, from these areas, travel to Sydney much anymore?

Senator Bragg

Well, some people will travel close to their house for work. Other people will be able to catch a train into the CBD, for example, if they wish to do that. And the idea of the Fund is that we'll look to support new housing supply wherever it may exist; particularly in those parts of the larger cities, where there is a potential for significant uplift, because the housing problem here is so serious. We really need to get north of a quarter of a million houses a year to really solve the problem. So you'll be looking for areas where they can support large scale new developments.

Tom Connell

Andrew Bragg, appreciate your time today. Thank you.

Senator Bragg

Thanks, Tom.

[Ends]