Transcript - Interview - Sky News Newsday with Kieran Gilbert

KIERAN GILBERT: Let’s go live to Nowra now. I’m joined by the Regional Development Minister, Kristy McBain. Minister, thanks for your time. What’s your, your read on the polling you’ve seen today? The Newspoll still has the Government ahead, but a lukewarm response to the Budget.

KRISTY MCBAIN: Good afternoon, Kieran. It’s great to join you from Nowra, a beautiful spot on the South Coast of New South Wales. The polling will be what the polling is. Most people, though, are happy that they’ll be receiving a tax cut in this Budget. 13.7 million Australians receiving more money in their hip pocket every week because of the Albanese Labor Government’s tax cuts. I’ve also had some really positive reports from people around our freezing of indexation, particularly on our medicines for concession cardholders and pensioners. That freeze for five years will make a significant difference to a lot of people, particularly in places like Nowra on the South Coast.

GILBERT: Is it one of those situations where do you feel it takes months for you to make the case, to sell the merits of the Budget? Is that how you feel when you deal with your electorate of Eden-Monaro?

MCBAIN: Come 1 July, when people actually see the difference that some of the initiatives in the Budget makes, they’ll understand what it means for them. The 24,000 additional Home Care Packages across the country - they’ll take a little while to come online, but people will then see the difference it makes to their everyday lives. I’ve got people in my community that are on waiting lists for Home Care Packages and have been long crying out for an increase in Home Care Packages. Once they come online, people will see the difference it will make to their everyday lives. Today, I’ve been in Wollongong and Nowra. I’ve just announced $2.4 million in additional funding to the Far North Collector Road here in Nowra. Without that additional investment, that road project would not be complete and would not be open to get commuters from a growing part of this community into Nowra itself. Investments that we’re making in the Budget, when people see those dollars hit the ground and come online, will make a difference in their everyday lives. They’ll see the difference that this Budget has made.

GILBERT: The debate around immigration is obviously a complex one, whether you’re talking about getting GPs into regional areas or nurses, skilled workers and so on. But at the same time, our housing shortages have really prompted the opposition to make this a big political issue. Is it a potent one, do you think, for many Australians in regional areas that Peter Dutton is making this case right now and those who are struggling to get into the home market or their kids are, is this something that will resonate with them? The argument made by Mr Dutton?

MCBAIN: People will know that the former Coalition Government didn’t invest enough in housing. They didn’t think it was their job to play a part in the housing market. They’ve seen the significant investments that we are making, including $6 billion in this last Budget, bringing our housing investments to about $32 billion in two years. We know that every level of government should be a player in getting more housing supply across the country. The former government, which Peter Dutton was a part of, had the opportunity to make a difference in housing supply and chose not to, and that was their deliberate choice. They also had an opportunity to fix the migration system. They knew people were coming in here with dodgy student visas and didn’t do anything about it. They knew that they had people involved in a migration scheme which had, quite frankly, criminal records. It’s taken a Labor Government to actually look into the migration system, review it and say we’re going to fix it. It’s taken a Labor Government to see significant investment in housing. When I travel in my own electorate or anywhere else, we’ve got regional businesses that are crying out for support, particularly from those people that we want to see coming in from overseas. Anyone who works in agriculture will tell you we need migration to come in and take up some of the jobs we’ve got.

GILBERT: And apparently that’s the message that the Federal Government’s receiving from the states. The states want more visas, but at the same time are trying to grapple with getting the housing online. Can it all be achieved quickly enough, particularly when you’re talking about the approval processes, most people in the industry will say that’s the problem at the local government level.

MCBAIN: That’s right. It’s one of the things that we’ve done. We’ve brought Planning Ministers from across the country together to talk about how we can streamline the planning system. We’ve been working really closely with local councils around the country to make sure that we can streamline some of our housing development approvals. We want to see more supply brought into the market and we’ve got to work together across all three levels of government, with developers, with community housing providers right across the spectrum, to make sure that we can increase supply. The former government shirked their responsibilities in the housing sector, and now we see the problem that has arisen. We’re not going to walk away from the table. There’s been significant investment in housing, and we’ll continue to work with other jurisdictions to get approvals up and ready and get supply moving.

GILBERT: Regional Development Minister Kristy McBain joining us live from Nowra today.