Subjects: Labor’s Big Australia Migration Policy; Federal Budget.
E&OE
DAVID KOCH:
Peter Dutton has slammed the government’s migration forecasts in the budget. They reveal one-and-a-half million people set to settle here over the next five years. The Opposition Leader says that will see interest rates stay higher for longer and escalate the housing crisis. It’s an issue that will be central to his budget reply speech tonight. Peter Dutton joins me now. Peter Dutton, the government says their figures are lower than your forecast figures when you were in government.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Kochie, good to be with you. I mean, that’s just a joke and the numbers in the budget papers tell the true story – and it’s telling that the Treasurer, in his speech on Tuesday night, never made any mention of the 1.5 million figure. We all support a well-planned migration programme. We’re a great multicultural society. We’re one of the best countries in the world. But the fact is that if you’re in the middle of a housing crisis and you’re in the middle of a rental crisis and we’re already stuck in congestion going to work and picking the kids up from school, adding another 300,000 people a year over five years, where are these people going to live?
DAVID KOCH:
So, are you saying your forecast figures while you were in government were not higher than what Labor is forecasting?
PETER DUTTON:
A hundred per cent Kochie. I mean, ask them for the figures. You can look back to any government since Federation, no government has had a higher intake than what this government’s presiding over.
DAVID KOCH:
And we should reinforce what you just said as well. With comments like these, I fear a backlash against our migrant population. What you’re saying is ‘nothing against migrants at all, it’s just we’ve got to plan better for when they get here’?
PETER DUTTON:
Absolutely. I just think, you know, what schools will kids be going to? What communities at the moment don’t have congestion? There’ll be higher density. Buildings that will have to be built to accommodate people. Now, if all of that planning is done and the roads are upgraded so that we can deal with congestion, then you can bring the migration numbers up in a planned way. But Labor’s Big Australia policy at the moment, it was not mentioned before the election. It wasn’t in the Treasurer’s speech and I think the Prime Minister’s just trying to slide it through, but people at the moment can’t get rental accommodation. You can’t buy a house at the moment, so it’s a huge problem.
DAVID KOCH:
So, Peter Dutton, what do you do? Because yesterday new home building figures came out, the very latest – ten year low. So, it sort of reinforces what you’re saying. There’s a housing crisis already without more people coming to the country, which we do need and would welcome. What would you do?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, there’s a lot that we need to do on the supply side, that is to get more housing and more rentals and accommodation options…
DAVID KOCH:
Yeah, how do you do that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, look, let’s be honest, it’s difficult because as the government proved in their budget, as we proved when we were in government, you can put a lot of money in but ultimately the decision to develop land is a decision for a local council and a decision for state planning authorities at a state level. Many of those authorities have said ‘well, for environmental reasons, we’re not going to build a new estate or they don’t have the money for infrastructure’…
DAVID KOCH:
Ok. So, you’re saying take those powers off them?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, constitutionally you can’t do that, but you need to work with councils, and you need to plan. We can’t just start putting, I mean, 1.5 million people is a higher number than the entire population of Adelaide, bringing here over a five year period in the middle of this crisis. As we point out, we have the most amazing migrant community here in Australia, but we need to do it in a planned way.
DAVID KOCH:
Yep, fair enough. You also say middle Australia has been left out of the budget. What would you have liked to have seen?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Kochie, I think, again, something else that was left out of the Treasurer’s speech on Tuesday night was that 10 million Australians will face a tax hike on the 1st of July. It comes at a time when in the budget papers – again not mentioned in the Treasurer’s speech – bills for electricity and gas are likely to go up by about $500 again this 12 month period in front of us.
You’ve got a situation that Labor’s created over the course of the last 12 months where I think we’ve got a middle class of Australians, a working poor that Labor’s created: people who are working their guts out, going to work, and just can’t keep their heads above water.
So, you can’t have an energy policy that continues to drive the price up. All it’ll do is push manufacturers and small businesses offshore. We lose the jobs, we lose the economic activity, and we end up with higher emissions into the environment in any case. So, that’s the difficulty, and we’ll be having some things to say in my speech tonight.
DAVID KOCH:
Ok. All right. It’s budget reply tonight. All the best with it. Peter Dutton, thanks for joining us.
[ends]