Interview with Peter Stefanovic, Sky News First

PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: Well let's get back to Canberra now, because it is Budget Week. Broken promises are set to form the centrepiece. The Labor Government has got away with it before, and while the Opposition is in disarray, does the Government feel as though it can just do it again?

Joining us live now is the Environment Minister, Murray Watt. Minister, it's good to have you with us today. So how will you explain to the Australian public who voted for you that you lied to them over CGT and negative gearing?

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Hi Pete, good to be with you. Well, obviously, you are making a few assumptions there. The budget will be out tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night.

We'll obviously be able to explain any decisions that are contained in there. We have spent the last four years investing very heavily in housing supply, particularly in social and affordable housing, because as a country, we hadn't been building the houses that we needed over the previous 10 years. But we recognise that there are still problems in the housing market.

I mean, I don't think that anyone watching this show would believe that it's easier now for young people to get into the housing market than it was 10 years ago, and we need to take action about that. But if we make a decision and take a different view on policies, obviously it's up to us to explain that. But I don't think we should get ahead of ourselves when it comes to the budget coming out tomorrow.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Well, I mean, it does seem as though it's coming on. And I put all these questions to the Treasurer last week. And in the absence of denial, it just seems as though it's happening.

So if it does, I mean, how will anyone believe anything you say moving forward? MURRAY WATT: Well again, Pete, I wouldn't want to pre-empt any decisions that are contained in the budget tomorrow night. But as the Treasurer has made clear, if we take a different view on a policy matter, then we have an obligation to explain that.

What we'll be pointing to, regardless of what's contained in the budget tomorrow, is that the country does need much more investment in housing, and we will continue to do that. Even today, I'm announcing that we're supplying $500 million in the budget to speed up the environmental approvals for housing and other important projects. But there are issues around demand and there are issues around the ability of young people to get into the housing market.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Yeah, and I do want to ask you that in a moment, but, I mean, housing was an issue at the last election, so shouldn't major changes around crucial taxes, such as CGT and negative gearing, shouldn't that be taken to an election where people can vote on it? MURRAY WATT: Well our focus at the last election was in providing Australians with the cost of living support that they needed, and that included investments in housing.

And we were very focused in the last election on committing to increased housing supply with additional funding, and that was in contrast to a Liberal Party that wanted to reduce public funding in housing. And as I say, if we take a different view on any policy matter, then it's up to us to explain that. But I do think that there's widespread recognition amongst Australian people that the housing market is not working as it's currently set up, and particularly for younger people who are unable completely to get into the market.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Why touch the stock market then? MURRAY WATT: Well, again, Pete, you're making assumptions there about what may or may not be contained in the budget- PETER STEFANOVIC: It seems as though that's happening, though. Again, the absence of denial… MURRAY WATT: I mean, every day for the last month, there's been newspaper stories, stories on your network and other networks about what we might be doing, and the next day it's something different You know, we haven't got long to wait until the budget's brought down, and we will be obviously out there explaining whatever decisions we make.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Finally, I'll ask you this before we move on. I mean, isn't this all just a distraction from your failure to actually hit the housing targets? MURRAY WATT: No, I mean, the housing target wasn't due to be met yet, Pete, and we know that it is an ambitious target where we've got a lot of work to do to get there over the next few years.

There's no doubt the country needs more houses. And as I say, we came to power four years ago after a previous 10 years where there had been no investment in social and affordable housing at the federal level. That wasn't going to be changed overnight.

We have committed substantial funds. It's now in the order of $47 billion that we're putting towards building more homes, including the announcement made over the weekend of another $2 billion towards the sewerage, the energy supply, the essential infrastructure that's needed to build those homes. So I don't think anyone can say rightly that we haven't invested in housing, but there are a range of issues in the housing market that we need to deal with.

And we'll see what the budget contains tomorrow. PETER STEFANOVIC: Look, no one's saying the investments haven't been made. It's just the targets that haven't been reached.

So you are pledging faster approvals, like you mentioned earlier. So how is that going to speed up build? At what point do you expect it to take off?

MURRAY WATT : Yeah well, certainly one of the issues that's been holding back the housing development that we need as a country is the environmental laws that we had in place for the previous 25 years that were strangling investment, that were wrapping up decisions about the approval of housing in unnecessary red tape. And that's what we were able to cut through late last year by passing really historic reforms to our environmental laws.

What we're doing in the budget is now putting money - $500 million and even more than that - towards implementing those reforms so that, for instance, we can use AI more effectively to get through those housing assessments and approvals more quickly, that we can enter into agreements with the states and territories that allow them to do some of the assessment work that normally has to be done by the Federal Government, as well as their own processes - so removing that duplication.

A range of other pathways that we're putting in place that will allow decisions to be made much more quickly about assessing and approving housing developments, of course, while making sure that we also have strong environmental protections. PETER STEFANOVIC: So what does this mean for energy projects? And for the Taroom Trough in the great state of Queensland, can there be a fast-track exemption applied now because of all of this?

MURRAY WATT : Well more generally about energy projects, absolutely. These changes that we're making and are now implementing will also benefit energy projects, minerals projects, as well as housing projects. We're not, sort of, discriminating between the different kind of projects that will get faster approvals.

We expect all of them to. When it comes to the Taroom Trough, what we've been saying both privately and publicly to the Queensland Government is that there are pathways available right now that allow them to fast track that project if they choose to. We have an existing agreement with the Queensland Government which allows them to assess a project without it then needing a duplicated assessment at the federal level which could speed up that project or any other project by years.

The problem, Pete, is that the Queensland Government doesn't know what it wants to do with the Taroom Trough. They know they want to do a press conference. They know when they want to dress up in high vis, but they don't know what they want to do.

They don't know how many gas wells it involves. They don't know what impact it would have on the groundwater and agriculture there. They don't know where the pipelines need to go.

That's why that project is not able to be assessed now. Nothing to do with federal processes because right now they could do so, if they chose to. PETER STEFANOVIC: Just a final one, Murray, before we go.

Just your reflections of the rise of One Nation, the splintering of the Coalition vote. I suppose there's a warning here for you as well that maybe if there's broken promises, it just leads more and more people to One Nation. MURRAY WATT: Yeah I think there's a couple of messages in the election result over the weekend, Pete.

The first, of course, is a catastrophic result for the Federal Coalition and for Angus Taylor as the leader. He was supposed to be the guy who brought them back. In fact, their vote has fallen compared to when Sussan Ley was the leader.

What's clear now, beyond any doubt, is that the Liberal and National parties cannot form government in their own right without One Nation being part of that coalition. So now it's up to Angus Taylor to tell Australians what kind of compromises and what policy deals is he prepared to do with One Nation as the price of gaining their support? Now, when it comes to Labor, we don't take anything for granted.

We know we've got to earn every single vote. But I've seen a lot of talk from Barnaby Joyce about what he's going to do in Western Sydney. What I can tell him and One Nation is that if he tries to campaign and win in Western Sydney, we will be there to remind Western Sydney residents that One Nation has voted against every single bit of cost of living relief we've provided.

They voted against every form of housing investment we've done. It's really important that people who are thinking about voting for One Nation knows what they do when they actually come to Canberra, which is to vote with the Liberal Party to cut healthcare funding, to get rid of penalty rates, to oppose housing investment, to oppose cost of living relief. And I don't think that's what the battlers of Western Sydney are looking for.

You know, One Nation make a lot of promises about what they're going to do. What they actually do in Canberra is vote with the Liberal Party to stop that kind of cost of living relief that battlers right across the country need. PETER STEFANOVIC: Okay.

Yeah, I asked Maria Kovacic about that a short time ago. She says no plans yet to include One Nation in the Coalition. But, yeah, we'll see where that all ends up.

MURRAY WATT: Well Tim Wilson said the opposite yesterday, Pete, so we'll see what happens. PETER STEFANOVIC: Yeah, we'll see what happens. Murray Watt, good to see you.

Thanks for your time. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.