Nat Barr expressed the frustration many Australians feel about high migration and the effect on housing after a fiery interview with two politicians on her Sunrise show.
A clearly irritated Barr ended the interview with Housing Minister Claire O’Neil and Shadow Minister Jame Hume by shaking her head during Wednesday’s edition of the Channel Seven programme.
“Look, that’s just really hard to understand,” Barr said of the high levels of migration.
“I can tell you for most Australians because you can’t get a house.”
Earlier, Mr Barr confronted Ms O’Neil, who previously helped oversee immigration as home secretary, about why the number of migrants had risen to record levels despite the government’s pledge to reduce it.
Barr noted a recent report showing that 49 percent of Aussies believe immigration is too high due to economic and housing issues.
“Claire, with our housing and economy already under so much pressure, is it time to completely rethink our immigration strategy?” Barr asked.
Sunrise host Nat Barr (pictured centre) has conducted a combative interview with Albanian minister Claire 0’Neil (pictured left) and coalition MP Jame Hme
“You promised to abolish it, it seems to be increasing.”
Ms O’Neil replied: ‘We are a government with a clear plan to bring down migration rates, and we will do that whether Peter Dutton comes with us or not.’
But Barr continued to pressure the secretary.
“Okay, I’m just a bit confused because the Australian Bureau of Statistics has permanent long-term arrivals of 391,850 from January to September this year,” Barr responded.
“That’s apparently the highest figure for that period so far, so that’s the highest we’ve ever had for that kind of figure, and your target was 260,000 for the whole year.
“So it’s coming, what are you talking about from now on?”
“It’s coming, Nat,” Mrs. O’Neil insisted.
“Like now,” Barr interrupted.
‘And the numbers show that. We would like to see these numbers go down even further,” Ms O’Neil continued.
‘What figures show that?’ Barr tried to ask.
“We would like to see these numbers drop again and that is exactly why we have introduced this policy to limit the number of international students coming into our country,” Ms Hume said.
Barr also challenged Ms O’Neil on whether Australia should copy the incoming Trump administration by having a government waste watchdog, which billionaire Elon Musk heads and is backed by mining magnate Gina Rinehart.
“Australians should feel a chill down their spine when billionaires discuss ‘efficiency’ in public services,” Ms O’Neil responded.
“What that really means for your viewers is drastic cuts to essential services like healthcare, education and other services that we ordinary Australians rely on. This has no relevance to Australia.”
‘Why exactly?’ Barr pressed.
Billionaires Gina Rinehart (pictured left) and Elon Musk (pictured right) advocate reducing government waste
‘Because Nat the government is doing some incredibly important things. It looks after our sick children in hospital, it educates our children, it pays for aged care for Australians,” Ms O’Neil replied.
“These are abstract things for billionaires who can pay for themselves, but for ordinary people these are meaningful and important things in their lives.”
However, Barr was still not convinced.
“Okay, a lot of people today might be sitting there in their living room and thinking, well, okay, I mean, whether you like Elon Musk or not, but if someone becomes a billionaire, maybe they know how to make money. may know how to reduce waste,” Barr said.
“Let’s try them.”
Ms Hume accused Ms O’Neil of being “wildly disrespectful” in her response when she spoke about Mr Musk and Ms Rinehart, who are worth more than $466 billion and $30 billion respectively.
“You don’t accidentally become the richest man in the world and the richest person in Australia. You get there because you have ideas about how to be efficient, how to be effective and how to be profitable.” said Mrs. Hume.
“I wish the government would spend taxpayers’ money more wisely, and you should too.
‘In fact, 36,000 additional civil servants have been added since the start of this government. 36,000.
“That costs billions of dollars, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t necessarily feel like $36,000. Civil servants are better served than I was two years ago.’
Barr agreed.
“I just think maybe people at home are open, I mean we know you have to run the government, but maybe people are interested in knowing exactly where the money is going, maybe we should be open to that,” Barr said. .
“I think that’s a very good idea,” Mrs. Hume replied.