Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I think I'll sort this out by taking it, as someone who has responsibility for housing and migration. If they want to do something about housing, they can support the Help to Buy scheme. If they want to do something about housing, they can support our Housing Australia Future Fund. If they want to do something about housing issues, they can support our housing accord to deliver an extra 1.2 million homes. And, if they want to talk about migration, the Leader of the Opposition had this to say, in 2022 after the election, during this term:

We do need an increase in the migration numbers … it's clear that the number needs to be higher.

He went on to say:

… we need migration. The government announcement to increase the permanent migration intake has been delayed because of union pressure.

He boasted and went on to say:

… I brought in record numbers of people from India, China and many other countries.

It wasn't just him; the deputy leader had a crack too: 'We know that business urgently needs a workforce and much of that workforce needs to come from overseas. We could have had a campaign to attract those workers who, by the way, have got other options. They don't come to Australia; no-one understands this better than regional MPs.'

Then we had the shadow minister for immigration.

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