One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has harshly criticized the Albanian government over the housing crisis and record immigration numbers.
Senator Hanson said this week it is clear Australia “cannot keep up with the construction” needed to solve the housing crisis.
“Australians are being forced into homelessness as population growth continues to drive up the cost of housing and rents,” he said.
“Our Australian way of life is being destroyed.”
According to official figures, long-term arrivals abroad are outpacing the construction of new homes by almost four to one.
‘In January, 125,000 people arrived in the country, so the Labor Party has done the damage; We can’t face it,” Senator Hanson told Sky News.
“The Albanian government keeps saying it will reduce immigration, but new immigration records are being broken every month.”
He stated that the government would not cut immigration in half as they claimed and that “they are only going to decrease immigration as we get closer to the election to make it look like they are doing something about it.”
The Albanian government has pledged to build 1 million new homes over five years under a plan announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, but data shows this is on track to fail.
The Housing Industry Association has warned Dr Chalmers that 185,000 homes will be built a year in 2024 and 2025, well below the target of 200,000 a year, as construction costs and high interest rates push nick.
Labor also promised to halve immigration numbers from July, which is contributing to housing shortages and sky-high rents.
However, official data showed that net migration reached a record 105,000 people in February, an increase of almost 20 percent from the previous record, and there were even more in the previous month.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neill said the government was still on track to meet the migration target.
However, opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan questioned why the number of migrants “continues to rise and rise”.
“Workers are unable, or unwilling, to drive migration to sustainable levels, and this is impacting Australians struggling to find a home or pay rent,” he said.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said Labor had lied to Australians about how much it can reduce immigration and build new housing.
The Albanian government has committed to building 1 million new homes over the next five years and to halve immigration from July.
Senator Hanson also said the government’s $10 billion Australian Housing Future Fund, a program aimed at helping drive housing expansion, would be ineffective.
The fund does not invest $10 billion directly into housing construction, as it may appear to some voters, but instead borrows that money to invest in the stock market, with the proceeds used to co-finance housing projects with institutional investors.
This allows it to be formally left out of the annual budget, although the Greens have described it as a “share market gamble”.
“There are people who don’t follow politics who hear this $10 billion announcement and think, ‘Oh, that’s good for the Labor Party,'” Senator Hanson said.
‘They claim that the investments will actually build the homes needed, but they have admitted that they cannot do so.
‘People want real answers about how to deal with this.
‘This real estate crisis is going to last for years and years. They have lied to the Australian people.
‘They have done a lot of damage in this country and I hope people realize that.
“You have to demand answers from your politicians, from the leaders of the political parties, about what they are going to do about it.”
Tenants queue to view a unit in Bondi. It was recently revealed that average house rental prices in Sydney have reached over $1,000 per week.