The Cook Labor Government’s announcement of yet another special unit of bureaucrats to make decisions for it is an admission it has no idea how to fix the mess created under its watch.
Shadow Housing Minister Steve Martin said the ‘Housing Supply Unit’ appeared to be another way for the government to kick the can down the road and avoid any accountability for the lack of action in housing during the last six years.
“First we had the GST Freedom Fighters, then the WA Embassy in Canberra and now a crack team of Treasury bureaucrats to fix housing – it is almost comical,” Mr Martin said.
“We’ve had a housing crisis for a long time. The situation facing so many Western Australian families is urgent. What have they been doing this whole time and who is running housing in this state?
“This is a slap in the face for Housing Minister John Carey. He’s had years to fix the supply crisis in this State and apparently isn’t up to the task.
“The Treasurer has obviously lost faith in his ability and is now outsourcing his job, stepping in with her own team to try and solve it.”
Mr Martin also questioned how the WA Government would spend any additional housing funds coming from the Commonwealth.
“We have a housing minister that hasn’t been able to spend the billions of State money he’s already committed. There are simply no workers to deliver these projects.
“The Government is good at making extravagant promises but has no idea how to deliver them.”
“It’s clear this is yet another plan for a plan from a government that is out of ideas and wants to kick the can down the road while West Australians struggle to find suitable housing.
“If this is such a critical issue and this is the government’s big idea to solve it, I also question why the unit is waiting three months to have their first meeting in January?”
“The housing issue in West Australia is at crisis point now and they want to wait until after Christmas to start work?
Mr Martin said homeowners, the Opposition, and industry have been pointing to many of the supply chain issues clogging the system for months, including examples such as the lengthy delays in obtaining Western Power connections.
“I’m not sure we need a ‘crack team’ of bureaucrats to point to the obvious.
“It raises real concerns about what has this government been doing if it hasn’t already been consulting and listening to industry trying to solve the roadblocks in the system?”
