Interview with Holly Stearnes on Sky News

‍Subjects: Net zero, Housing Australia audit

E&OE………

Holly Stearnes

Joining me live now for more on this is Shadow Housing and Shadow Productivity Minister, Andrew Bragg.

Senator Bragg

Holly.

Holly Stearnes

Lovely to see you this afternoon. Are you concerned about the division on this issue?

Senator Bragg

Not at all. It's always good to have a different range of views. And one of the great things about the Liberal Party is that we have a healthy culture of expressing ourselves and having a debate about policy, and talking about policy is always welcome.

Holly Stearnes

I mean, you had this climate meeting today, Bridget McKenzie, though, saying it was just a Liberal Party policy meeting. Your response to that? I mean, Sussan Ley wasn't there either. It doesn't seem like there's much solidarity on the issue or even a sense to want to come together to talk about it.

Senator Bragg

Well, it's a meeting of backbenches, and the Shadow Minister, Dan Tehan, is able to hear all those different perspectives. That's healthy in a political party. And we've always been a party which has welcomed different opinions. And we're going through a process of nailing down our final position on these matters. And that was part of the process today.

Holly Stearnes

I mean, we saw the data earlier this week. Energy prices are a major driver of inflation. This has been a big point of argument, even from the likes of Barnaby Joyce, saying that he doesn't believe in net zero because our energy prices are soaring, and that's a major driver of inflation that we're seeing at the moment. But where do you find this balance? Where will the Party come to an agreement when it comes to keeping the energy prices down for Australians, but also coming to some agreement on net zero, if any?

Senator Bragg

Well, it's quite clear that the Labor Party's implementation of its energy policy is a major problem. Its 82% renewables target. It's refusal to look at a technology agnostic approach. It's playing Frankenstein with the energy grid, and that has meant that people are paying higher prices and regional communities have had their rights trampled on, whether that be the creation of new energy facilities or whether that be in relation to transmission. So unfortunately, Labor has destroyed a lot of community support for anti-pollution policies, and we're going to have to pick up the pieces here.

Holly Stearnes

Anthony Albanese was speaking just this hour saying that he's very confident that the rest of the world, where he is over at the APEC summit. Of course, he's confident the rest of the world is getting on with it, cutting emissions and thriving, essentially, is what he was saying. Your response to that?

Senator Bragg

Well, I don't think anyone believes that Labor's net zero 2050 plan is going to work. I don't think anyone would say that the government actually has a credible pathway to get there. I mean, they won't even do nuclear as part of their pathway, which is going to be part of the transition for most other countries. And so we will have to pick up the pieces on this because the government has trampled on high levels of community support for anti-pollution policies. And we want to have a position where we are able to reduce prices and reduce emissions. I mean, that's ultimately what you want, because you want to have strong domestic roles and jobs in Australia. You want to have lower pollution levels. And the issue here is not actually the international treaty. The issue is the domestic policies of the government, which have been disastrous.

Holly Stearnes

Well, can the two work hand in hand to achieve those goals? That's the big question here. Let's get to the main topic I wanted to speak with you about today. The government's $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund is set to be audited. Now, this is significant. Builders have welcomed the investigation, but say it must not slow the delivery of any new homes, as Australia faces a supply shortfall of more than 200,000 dwellings. As I said, this is significant. The government, though, downplaying the significance of this audit. Your response?

Senator Bragg

In the last week, the Chair of Housing Australia has resigned. The Audit Office is now conducting a performance review. And that's because this is a $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which has been going for two years, which has built virtually no houses. In fact, it might be on a duck. We just I don't know. And so this has been one of the greatest disasters. Where it is proposing to actually build houses in the future, it's paying sometimes twice or three times the market rate. So this is a massive boondoggle, a massive waste of taxpayer funds. And Labor is wasting $10 billion on this programme as part of a $60 billion commitment to housing, which has been an absolute nightmare.

Holly Stearnes

I mean, the probe will also include examining the role Treasury played in designing the scheme? What do you think it's likely to uncover?

Senator Bragg

Well, I think there are real questions for Mr. Chalmers here because he had a lot of meetings with the big super funds before the tender was conducted. In the end, the Round One of the Housing Fund tender, a lot of the money went to the super funds. They got $2.8 billion out of this programme. They're the biggest beneficiaries. Now, they helped design the programme in secret. Mr. Chalmers has used FOI and Orders of the Senate, production rules, to block access, which is not uncharacteristic for this government - which is the most secretive government since the Keating government. So we can't get to the bottom of exactly what happened here. But we do know that there was a lot of interaction between Mr. Chalmers and the super funds, who've been the biggest beneficiaries. So we expect the Audit Office will look at these things as well.

Holly Stearnes

I mean, obviously, we heard from builders there, many welcoming this investigation. Of course, and the investigation will take its place as it should. But the real issue here is that builders don't want it to slow house production any further than it already is. That is the problem here, the housing shortfall. How do we improve these housing targets? What would you like to see done differently? What would you do differently?

Senator Bragg

Well, I'm open to the idea of housing targets, but the government's housing targets have been a disaster. I mean, they haven't been able to achieve any of the targets in any State or Territory that they set for themselves. So far, they're on a duck across the board. So we would be open to retaining the targets. But I think what's important here is you want to actually ensure the States are going to do the heavy lifting. So you need to actually punish them if they're not achieve or have no intention of achieving the targets. And what Canberra is doing is basically setting a target and then putting nothing behind the target to achieve it.

Holly Stearnes

Okay, Andrew Bragg we’ll leave things there for today. I appreciate your time.

[Ends]