Pauline Hanson slams Anthony Albanese as migration is set to soar past 300,000 amidst housing crisis

Pauline Hanson has called out Anthony Albanese over the estimated 300,000 migrants set to arrive in Australia this year as the country battles a severe housing crisis.

The One Nation senator took to social media to lambast the prime minster on immigration as she shared an image of a series of newspaper stories that illustrated Queensland’s crippling rental crisis on Monday.

‘Anthony Albanese’s broken immigration election promise means Australia faces an influx of 300,000+ foreign arrivals this year alone!’ she wrote.

‘Meanwhile, many Aussie families are struggling to find a house to rent or buy and those that do are paying a huge price!’

She claimed it was ‘more lies, more broken promises, and more pain for Aussies’.

Senator Hanson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘The Albanese government stated it would increase immigration from 160,000 to 195,000 per year (not including refugees), primarily to address skills and labour shortages in Australia.’ 

‘However, more than 300,000 are coming in. That is more than a 50% increase.

‘Most Australians do not favour high immigration levels and One Nation wants a national plebiscite to be held on the question so the major parties can be unequivocally shown this and put in place immigration policies which reflect what the electorate wants, rather than what big retailers want.’

Mr Albanese had in fact agreed before last year’s election to increase permanent migration from 160,000 to 195,000 places and to speed up visa processing for foreign workers.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers conceded back in January that Treasury had ‘underestimated’ immigration numbers.

He explained that the higher figure was likely due to severe labour shortages and the return of international students.

‘We’ve got serious skills and labour shortages that are acting as a handbrake,’ he said. 

‘It’s a reasonable assumption the number may be higher than the 235,000 printed in the Budget.’ 

Senator Hanson suggested that the miscalculation was a significant oversight by Treasury.

‘The Treasurer is right on board with the big retailers and other big companies, and is ignoring the electorate – most of us simply do not want a big Australia,’ she said.

‘The underestimate to which he refers shows that immigration is out of control under Labor and they cannot be trusted.’

More than 300,000 migrants are set to arrive in the country, adding further pressure on the housing crisis

Senator Hanson took aim at the prime minister (pictured) after Mr Albanese pledged to increase permanent migration from 160,000 to 195,000

To remedy the housing crisis, One Nation has called for a ban on foreign ownership of all residential property, both new and established, and give foreign owners 12 months to ‘get out of the market’.

Both New Zealand and Canada have already implemented similar measures to ban or heavily restrict foreign ownership. 

‘This would significantly increase the supply of housing for Australians to buy,’ Senator Hanson said.

‘Many foreigners who buy Australian residential properties come from countries which do not allow Australians to buy property there.’

The party wants immigration to be reduced to ‘sustainable levels’ to lower the demand for housing in Australia.

A 2018 housing affordability study by the Grattan Institute estimated that up to 550 new dwellings were needed in Australia for every 1,000 new immigrants. 

One Nation has also called for planning reform at both the state and territory level, reducing or eliminating stamp duty and red tape at the local government level to fix the housing crisis. 

The party says the government needs to train up a skilled home-grown workforce to fill labour shortages rather than outsourcing work. 

‘There are more than 920,000 Australians currently receiving unemployment benefits, and while many may be unemployable for a variety of reasons that cannot possibly be the case for all of them and probably isn’t the case for most of them,’ she added.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers (pictured) conceded back in January that the government ‘underestimated’ migration numbers due to labour shortages and the return of international students

The migration figures come just over a year after Mr Albanese refused to back the Morrison government’s push to take on 160,000 new migrants when he was opposition leader.

Mr Albanese called on the government to focus on filling labour shortages by training up underemployed or underemployed Australians instead of bringing in more migrants.

‘Migration has always played an important role in the economy and will continue in the recovery, but it’s important we take 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’ve got skill shortages at the same time as 2 million Australians who are unemployed or underemployed.

‘I also know it shouldn’t be a substitute for training Australian workers for Australian jobs. We should not be a country where Australian workers are cut off from job opportunities’.