Chris Kenny:
Michael Sukkar joins us live from Canberra. Good to talk to you, Michael.
All along, since this has been announced, I’ve been saying, ‘your big problem to get people spending money – even with this cash-grant – is to get local government approvals quickly enough for people to get some money flowing inside six months’. The reports in The Australian today are suggesting that there’s tens of billions of dollars held-up around the country with local government approvals.
Minister Sukkar:
Yeah, Chris you’ve been on the mark and we’ve said every level of government needs to do their bit. Obviously with the HomeBuilder program that we’ve announced, that’s going to support hundreds of thousands of jobs in the residential construction industry through $25,000 grants for new homes and substantial rebuilds of homes. State governments in many cases, have put in place their own grants, they’ve backed in the Federal Governments HomeBuilder program, whether that’s Tasmania or Western Australia with their own additional grants. And you’re right, Chris, local government has to step-up to the plate and make sure that they are meeting their statutory time frames, that they’re not acting as a blocker to this really important part of the economy and as The Australian reported today, $19 billion worth of projects are being held-up. No doubt, some of those are for good reason, but I think over a long period of time that people, throughout the country have recognised that at a local government level, planning and approval processes are very slow, certainly by international standards. In the COVID-19 world that we are in now, as I said, every level of government needs to put their shoulder to the wheel, and in the case of local government, it means they’ve got to work their tails off to get these approvals happening more quickly.
Chris Kenny:
People in the industry suggest there will be a lot of extensions where people have done the planning and maybe even got the approval and are just waiting to get their finances in order so this might shake a lot of that loose, hopefully that’s the case. But what about medium to longer term, isn’t this a great reform agenda for the Federal Government? I know that you’ve got to reach down through state government and into local government, but where you’ve got people around the country wanting to spend money, the idea that you’ve got this local government level just frustrating and slowing down the spending, must really slow down the wheels of this economy?
Minister Sukkar:
Yeah it does, and it doesn’t just apply to those established suburbs that you referred to, Chris. Overwhelmingly, under the HomeBuilder program, this will obviously apply to your typical house-and-land package in a greenfields estate. The approval processes there can be a problem too. So, you are absolutely right, it’s an issue that is going to be one that we need to address into the future. Minister Alan Tudge as population minister through the Population Centre, is tackling some of this but it will be a multi-disciplinary, multi-ministerial task, and I know that many of my state colleagues – both Liberal and Labor – around the country, are keen to do this as well, and its one that’s been on the agenda for many governments but it is obviously still a problem.
Chris Kenny:
Now, I just want to show you a clip from the Senate today. Your colleague from Queensland, Gerard Rennick, talking about childcare, and to get your thoughts on this. Have a look…
PLAYS RECORDING FROM THE SENATE:
Senator Rennick – …because at the end of the day, if you can keep a child at home, you’re going to halve the congestion, halve the pollution, you’re going to increase quality of life for young children and parents. And let me tell you something – Dorothy didn’t tap her shoes together and say that there’s no place like Childcare. She said that there’s no place like home.
Chris Kenny:
Well there you go. Gerard Rennick there today, Michael Sukkar. I’m all for choice but he sounds like he is harking back to a bygone era?
Minister Sukkar:
Look, Gerard is a deep thinker and he does think about these things a lot. I suspect, just hearing that for the first time, Chris that he’s probably not far from your point about choice, and really what the Government’s point is, and that is that we want to give parents the opportunity to make that choice. Obviously we celebrate as a Government, things like female participation in the workforce but at the same time, we want to celebrate parents – whether they’re mothers or fathers or a combination of both – who are staying home and, to some degree, doing the most important thing that any parent can do or any parent, any carer or any grandparent, and that is raising the next generation. So I think that we are probably in furious agreement with Gerard that choice is the name of the game here, that families have got to have the opportunity to make those decisions and that we should be celebrating not just those parents who do a great job going out to work and providing for their families, but also the parents who stay at home and provide those caring responsibilities. As I said, the most important job that any parent has is raising their child, because they’re the citizens of the future who will continue to ensure that Australia is the country that it is.
Chris Kenny:
Now I’m about to talk to Brad Johnson about the AFL getting up-and-running again tonight. You’re a Victoria MP, who do you follow and how much are you looking forward to it, Michael?
Minister Sukkar:
Well I’m a Geelong supporter and I must say that I am chomping at the bit. Watching old re-runs of the 1989 Grand Final when we lost to Hawthorn – I think that I’ve probably done enough of that over the COVID-19 period. So, I’m very keen to see it happen, obviously responsibly and within the framework outlined by National Cabinet, but I think that many Australians are very keen to get back to sport and us Geelong supporters are very much looking forward to a Premiership in 2020, I can assure you.
Chris Kenny:
Great stuff. Thanks for joining us, Michael.
Minister Sukkar:
Thanks, Chris.