Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth and Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie have clashed over migration policy, as barbs are traded between the pair on the facts of the political debate.
Speaking on a panel for Nine’s Today program, McKenzie said the great Australian dream of owning a home is “becoming a nightmare” while Rishworth accused McKenzie of being “misleading”.
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Taking a question on Queensland Labor Premier Steven Miles saying he backs Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s calls for deep cuts to Australia’s migration intake, McKenzie said Labor’s policies have caused house prices and rent to go up.
“Labor’s policies have seen not only that increase in migrants … but also made sure interest rates have stayed higher for longer than they need to be because they haven’t got inflation under control,” McKenzie said through Rishworth’s interruptions.
“The great Australian dream … is becoming a nightmare,” McKenzie says.
Rishworth intervenes: “These migration settings were the migration settings under your government. Nothing changed previously.”
McKenzie asks Rishworth whether the government will support cutting international student numbers.
“We’ve seen a 35 per cent decrease in international students, we have been fixing the mess that you left … that is the difference between us and you,” Rishworth said.
“Bridget, [you] can’t just have rhetoric and not actually back it up with a plan or facts. We have seen a reduction and the projection is in the next financial year that we will see half the peak of migration … don’t go misleading people that somehow there was a change in the powers that you had in government.”
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