💯. #tradies If Australians want more homes built, more migrant workers are needed https://t.co/RdiFbmlNfF
— Lucy Turnbull AO (@LucyTurnbull_AO) March 25, 2024
Lucy Turnbull, the businesswoman wife of former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, has been called out for saying that Australia should bring in more migrant workers to solve the housing crisis.
The 65-year-old one-time Lord Mayor of Sydney weighed in on the housing debate on X on Monday, reposting an article from SBS advocating for “quick migration solutions” to help the Labor government meet its target of 1.2 million new homes by 2029.
“100%. If Australians want more homes built, more migrant workers are needed,” Mrs Turnbull wrote.
But critics were quick to point out holes in her argument, and some responded with memes making fun of mass immigration advocates.
“You are either very poor with mathematics, or you have a conflict of interest. I’m not sure which one it is,” wrote property expert Louis Christopher.
Others referred to Australia’s record-high immigration levels and accused her of “Ponzi scheme” reasoning, and some said “mass deportations” were needed instead.
“So a million is not enough for your liking? How about encouraging existing Australians to take up apprenticeships, help builders to afford apprentices. The level of immigration is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme,” one wrote.
“We have so many migrants that we are going to need even more migrants to build houses for all these migrants. This is beyond parody,” said another.
“Except Albo’s migrants don’t know how to build homes. How about we reduce the migrant intake and then… abracadabra… need to build fewer new homes. I know, it’s crazy, but it might just work,” added a third.
“An influx of migration construction workers would create shortages in other sectors like infrastructure, schools and hospitals? You’re proposing a never ending cycle,” another said.
“The immigrants are the cause of the problem. Send them all back and houses become available for the native population,” one of the hundreds of other comments read.
The privately educated Mrs Turnbull, 65, is the daughter of an attorney general who lives in a mansion in one of the city’s wealthiest suburbs, and shares a $200 million fortune with her husband Malcolm, facts referred to by some of her critics.
“How many investment properties does yourself and Malcolm own?” asked one X user.
“Agree, we should rebuild Point Piper and put in lots of public housing there. I’m sure they’d fit in very well in your community. Maybe you can even help them build some of the houses. What say you Lucy?” asked another.
“Lucy Turnbull has never felt one second of housing stress because she has hundreds of millions of dollars,” argued someone else.
“How many houses do you own Lucy?
“Leaning out the window of the house you own yelling ‘YOU SHOULD ALL LOVE MASSIVE IMMIGRATION IT’S GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY!’.”
The article reposted by Mrs Turnbull quoted BuildSkills Australia saying Australia needed 90,000 more construction workers in the next three months in other to meet the government’s ambition housing target.
Master Builders Australia boss Denita Wawn said the industry needed more women and that immigration was the solution to the supposed skills shortage in the short-term.
But as commenters above and economists have pointed out, immigration does not solve skills shortages, and Australia is unable to build homes fast enough to house all the new migrants who have already arrived, let along the millions expected to arrive within the next decade.
Advocacy group Migration Watch Australia wrote on X: “Sydney needs over 30,000 extra homes each year just to meet immigration-fuelled housing demand.
“That’s two hundred 39-floor towers every single year just making the city uglier and more dysfunctional.
“We cannot build our way out of the housing crisis.”
