Clare O’Neil:

You mentioned social and affordable housing. Thank God that is getting air time today because this is one of missing pieces of the debate. We have a chronic national shortage of social and affordable housing around the country. We have a growing homelessness problem around the country, which is directly related to this. We have people in severe housing distress. Well, our Government is stepping up and doing something about it.

We’re building 55,000 social and affordable housing homes. 28,000 of those homes are in construction or development right now.

Now, Michael may denigrate targets. In fact, the Liberals did almost nothing about social and affordable housing when they were in government. Well, you scoff but let me give you numbers. You’re criticising our government for what you say is not building enough homes. Do you know how many homes the Coalition built, social and affordable housing, over their almost a decade. More than you. 373. That is what they added to social and affordable housing stock. 373.

Sukkar:

Wrong. Wrong.

O’Neil:

As a minister, as a minister, as a politician, that doesn’t make me happy. Because it makes a political point. It makes me angry. There are people around our country who need the Government’s house to have stable housing and the Liberals built 373 of those homes over a decade. Now, we’ve got 28,000 homes in development right now.

That is a serious number of homes on the pathway to 55,000 around the country. And I just say to Michael – we’ve got to change the way that the Government engages with housing in this country. We’re not going to get anywhere in this debate if we put together a bunch of silly policies, written on the back of a napkin, that are going to build fewer homes for the country that will be more expensive for people that can’t get into them.

I can absolutely guarantee you, if the Coalition are elected, this concoction is going to make the housing crisis worse. We need to change the Government’s approach and that is what our Government is doing.

We are going to fact check that number for you .