Liberal senator Dave Sharma calls for immigration to be slashed until housing ... trends now
A new Liberal Party senator has called for Australia's immigration level to be slashed until housing supply can keep pace with rapid population growth.
A record 518,000 migrants moved to Australia during the last financial year and updated figures due out on Thursday are expected to show even bigger influx for 2022-23.
Dave Sharma, the former MP for the Sydney seat of Wentworth who has revived his political career as a Liberal senator for New South Wales, says immigration needed to be cut until Australia could supply sufficient housing.
'The shortage of housing is being exacerbated by high immigration, which is fuelling demand for already limited supply,' he said in his maiden speech to the Senate on Wednesday afternoon.
'Until we are able to accelerate the pace of our home building, we need to reduce our immigration intake or else we will simply place further pressure on our housing market.'
Dave Sharma, the former MP for the Sydney seat of Wentworth who has revived his political career as a Liberal senator for New South Wales, says immigration needed to be cut until Australia could supply sufficient housing
Australia's population growth pace of 2.4 per cent is the highest since the early 1950s.
Sydney's median house price of $1.396million would require someone to earn more than $200,000 a year to even qualify for a home loan, CoreLogic data showed.
An average-income worker on $98,218 can only afford a house worth up to $639,000, which wouldn't buy the median-priced capital city house valued at $949,410.
Senator Sharma said unaffordable housing risked causing major social problems.
'Today's younger Australians have done all that we have asked of them,' he said.
'They finished school, got a qualification, found a job, are paying taxes yet they
