Pauline Hanson has called out Anthony Albanese over the estimated 300,000 migrants arriving in Australia this year as the country faces a severe housing crisis.
The One Nation senator took to social media to insult the prime minister over immigration, as she shared an image on Monday from a series of newspaper stories illustrating Queensland’s crippling rental crisis.
‘Anthony Albanese’s broken immigration election pledge means Australia is facing an influx of over 300,000 foreign arrivals this year alone!’ she wrote.
‘Meanwhile many Aussie families are struggling to find a home to rent or buy and those who do are paying a huge price!’
She claimed it was “more lies, more broken promises and more pain for Aussies.”
Pauline Hanson (pictured) has berated Anthony Albanese for breaking an election promise regarding the number of migrants that will arrive to Australia
Senator Hanson told Daily Mail Australia: “The Albanian government stated it would increase immigration from 160,000 to 195,000 a year (excluding refugees), mainly to address Australia’s skills and labor shortages.”
“However, more than 300,000 are coming in. That is more than 50% more.
Most Australians do not support high levels of immigration and One Nation wants a national plebiscite to be held on the issue so that the major parties can show this unequivocally and introduce immigration policies that reflect what voters want, rather than what they want. major retailers want. .’
Mr Albanese had indeed agreed before last year’s elections to increase permanent migration from 160,000 to 195,000 places and to speed up visa processing for foreign workers.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers admitted in January that the Treasury Department had “underestimated” immigration numbers.
He explained that the higher figure was likely due to a severe labor shortage and the return of international students.
“We have serious skills and labor shortages that act as a handbrake,” he said.
“It’s a reasonable assumption that the number could be higher than the 235,000 budgeted.”
Senator Hanson suggested that the miscalculation was a major oversight by the Treasury.
“The treasurer is on board with the big retailers and other big companies and is ignoring the electorate – most of us just don’t want a great Australia,” she said.
“The underestimation he refers to shows that immigration under Labor is out of control and they cannot be trusted.”
More than 300,000 migrants will enter the country, adding further pressure to the housing crisis
Senator Hanson took aim at the prime minister (pictured) after Albaniase pledged to increase permanent migration from 160,000 to 195,000
To solve the housing crisis, One Nation has called for a ban on foreign ownership of all housing, both new and established, and is giving 12 months to “go off the market.”
Both New Zealand and Canada have already taken similar steps to ban or heavily restrict foreign ownership.
“This would significantly increase the supply of housing for Australians to buy,” said Senator Hanson.
“Many foreigners who buy Australian properties come from countries where Australians cannot buy property.”
The party wants immigration to be reduced to ‘sustainable levels’ to reduce housing demand in Australia.
A 2018 housing affordability study by the Grattan Institute estimated that up to 550 new homes were needed in Australia for every 1,000 new immigrants.
One Nation has also called for reform planning at both the state and territory levels, reducing or eliminating stamp duty and bureaucratic red tape at the local government level to solve the housing crisis.
The party says the government should train skilled homegrown workers to fill labor shortages instead of outsourcing work.
“There are currently over 920,000 Australians receiving unemployment benefits, and while many may be unemployed for various reasons, it cannot possibly be the case for all of them and probably not for most,” she added.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers (pictured) admitted in January that the government has ‘underestimated’ migration numbers due to labor shortages and the return of international students
The migration figures come just over a year after Albanese refused to support the Morison government when he was opposition leader to take in 160,000 new migrants.
Albanese called on the government to focus on filling labor shortages by training underemployed or underemployed Australians rather than attracting more migrants.
“Migration has always played an important role in the economy and will continue in the recovery, but it is important that we seize this opportunity to get the mix right,” he told News Corp. at the time.
“After eight years of attacks on training, the Liberals and Nationals are silent on why we are short of skills when 2 million Australians are unemployed or underemployed.
“I also know it should not be a substitute for training Australian workers for Australian jobs,” he said, adding “we shouldn’t be a country where Australian workers have no job opportunities.”