Peter Dutton says Labor needs to come clean on where migrants will live

Inflation, housing prices and the rental crisis could all get worse with a historic surge in post-Covid migration numbers, the Opposition Leader warns. TELL US WHAT YOU THINK.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused Labor of misleading voters over its plans to increase migration levels to record highs, without explaining where they will be housed or whether the increased competition for goods and services could risk fuelling inflation.

“The net overseas migration that the government’s proposing is going to mean an extra 650,000 people in Australia over the next two years,” Mr Dutton said.

“They’ve also announced a 35,000-person increase to the permanent migration cap.

“And of course they’ve previously announced they are converting 19,000 illegal boat arrivals into permanent citizens.”

Mr Dutton was responding to a speech by Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil which attacked the previous government for failing to build enough homes to accommodate a post-Covid surge of migrants.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

“Our housing problem in Australia is the fault of 10 years of gross inaction by (the previous) federal government … these problems are not caused by migrants” she said Thursday.

However Mr Dutton hit back at the government, saying: “Minister O’Neil more or less said ‘there’s nothing to see here’ when it comes to population, but Australians want to understand the impact of Labor’s ‘Big Australia’ approach on congestion, on housing affordability, on rents, on infrastructure, and most of all, on inflation.

“The Reserve Bank’s been worried about inflation. Does this increase inflation,” he asked.

“What happens with infrastructure?”

“And in the midst of our current housing and rental crisis, where on earth does the housing come from with Labor’s new-found ‘Big Australia’ approach?

“The government didn’t announce their ‘Big Australia’ approach prior to the last election so the Australian people are rightly asking questions and the Opposition expects answers,” he said.

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