Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

For those in the opposition who are concerned about the cost of housing, all you have to do is ring the six state Labor premiers and say, ‘Hey guys, how about releasing a bit more land?’ That is the secret to ensuring that the supply of land matches the increase in the demand for housing. The fact is that urban Australia occupies 0.3 per cent of the land mass of this country. Why is it then that, in a country like ours, we have shortages of land supply? It is because, primarily, the state Labor governments are artificially restricting the supply of land to the market, and they have the appalling contradictory position of being involved financially in this. In my own state of South Australia, they have a land corporation which profits from withholding land and forcing up the price so that they can profit from it. It is the most extraordinary contradiction in terms that I have ever seen. If the Labor Party is concerned about ensuring that housing is more affordable, pick up the phone, ring the state Labor premiers, demand more land release.