‘Cooked’: Anthony Albanese grilled on big housing plan

Anthony Albanese has brushed off predictions that his ambitious target of creating 1.2 million houses for Australians over five years is “cooked”.

Anthony Albanese has brushed off predictions that his ambitious target of creating 1.2 million houses for Australians over five years is “cooked”, as the government braces for new inflation figures that will play a big role in deciding if the RBA cuts interest rates in February.

The Prime Minister has defended the housing target today as he continues his pre-election blitz around Australia, including a $50 million boost to housing and community infrastructure projects in Cairns and Far North Queensland.

But it’s the government’s target of creating 1.2 million houses over five years that is running behind schedule.

The Coalition claims that Australia’s immigration rate is too high and is fuelling the housing crisis.

Labor’s target requires 20,000 homes to be built per month, 60,000 homes per quarter, or 240,000 homes a year.

But the federal government is set to fall short by 64,000 properties in the first 12 months.

The record for housing construction in a 12-month period in Australia was 223,600, set in 2017 when some experts argue that Australia built thousands of shoebox apartments, riddled with flammable cladding, structural defects, and leaks.

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“How damaging do you think this is for you meeting your housing target? You’ve said in the past it’s ambitious,’’ Mr Albanese was asked this morning on ABC breakfast host Stephanie Marsh about Australia’s latest housing approval figures.

“Do you think now it might be cooked?,” she said.

“No, to be clear, that was a month-to-month issue and what happens in the cycle of a calendar year is these changes,’’ Mr Albanese replied.

“On the year-to-year data, there was an increase of more than 3 per cent. That’s a positive outcome.

“That shows that what’s happening is there are more approvals occurring. And we have an ambitious plan, yes, for 1.2 million homes for Australians.

“But that’s why we’ve put in place our Housing Australia Future Fund and Housing Accelerator to deliver increased social housing. We’ve got our Build to Rent legislation that finally got through the Senate in December, that’s about increased private rental dwellings. And our Help to Buy Scheme is about helping Australians into home ownership.”

Will the RBA cut rates in February?

The Albanese Government also remains hopeful of an interest-rate cut before the next election with just two opportunities for that to happen, when the Reserve Bank meets on February 18 and March 31.

“Inflation had a 6 in front of it and was rising when we came to office. It now has a 2 in front of it and is falling,’’ Mr Albanese said today.

“It is heading in the right direction. At the same time, we’ve provided support for families under cost of living pressures, whether it be Free TAFE, Cheaper Medicines, Cheaper Child Care, the tax cut for every single Australian taxpayer.”

Speaking on ABC radio ahead of today’s consumer price index figures, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the “monthly numbers bounce around a little bit”.

“They’re not often as reliable as the quarterly figures we get on inflation but what these numbers will show today will be an indication of the very substantial progress we’ve made in the fight against inflation,’’ he said.

“Remember when we came to office inflation had a 6 in front of it and was rising, it now has a two in front of it. We have made some pretty substantial progress on inflation.

“But we know there’s more work to do because people are still under the pump.”

The Treasurer said he would not pre-empt the Reserve Bank’s next move other than to note that the quarterly figures are now within the Reserve Bank’s target range.

Michele Bullock, Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia. Picture: NewsWire/ Monique Harmer

Grocery price hikes “at the heart” of inflation drama

Opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor said that core inflation went up in the last data and grocery prices were “right at the heart of that.”.

“Over 12 per cent increase in the cost of groceries since Labor came to power,’’ Mr Taylor said.

“There are things the government can do. We’ve argued for over two years now to put a grocery code in place. What we’ve seen from Labor is too little too late. But more importantly, beating inflation is the key and governments can beat inflation. We saw it in the 70s and the 80s. We know what they have to do.

“What they don’t do, yet shouldn’t do, is record levels of government spending and that’s exactly what we’ve seen under this government. We know that’s driving prices up and the one thing I can assure you about the data coming out today, prices will keep going up.”

Economists have predicted a slight rise in headline inflation, but believe the more important trimmed mean inflation rate – which strips out more volatile costs like electricity and petrol – will fall, and the number will come in well under the central bank’s forecast.

As a result, economists have raised optimism for a rate cut as early as February.

Originally published as ‘Cooked’: Anthony Albanese grilled on big housing plan