Bleijie tells Labor to ‘cry me a river’ over social housing sales

Queensland’s second-most senior politician has told the opposition to “cry me a river” over its criticism of the government’s resumption of social housing sales.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie made the comments while opening submissions for a second $500 million round of his government’s fund for infrastructure to accelerate housing developments.

Earlier in the day, Opposition Leader Steven Miles held a media conference with housing spokesperson Meaghan Scanlon in which he said the sales were “taking Queensland backwards”.

Paused by Labor in 2022 amid criticism of the action during escalating demand, initial detail of the resumed sales was aired in parliamentary budget estimates last August.

As a result, the opposition asked Housing Minister Sam O’Connor a parliamentary question on notice about the expected proceeds – said by Miles on Sunday to be $119.3 million.

Scanlon added: “It defies logic that the Crisafulli government would sell off public housing in the middle of a crisis”.

Speaking to reporters at his media conference on Brisbane’s south, Bleijie hit back, noting that between 2015 and 2020, Housing Department sold an average of 280 social homes each year.

“So, cry me a river from the Labor Party, they can’t lecture people on the housing affordability … crisis we have in Queensland at the moment,” Bleijie said.

“Considering the two very people that got up this morning and spoke were the reason we have a Labor affordability and housing crisis in the first place.”

Bleiijie said the LNP was building four-times as many social and affordable homes as Labor, and since coming to power had overseen 5900 contracted or constructed – many by his government.

Median house prices in Brisbane jumped 13.3 per cent last year into second-place behind Sydney at $1.17 million, with another 11 per cent jump expected this year.

The median price for a unit, in which Brisbane has placed second for more than a year, jumped 19.3 per cent to more than $770,000 in December.

At the same time, median weekly rents in Brisbane saw some of the highest jumps in the year to December – also second to Sydney, alongside Perth at $650 per week for a unit.

Meanwhile, the number of people waiting for social housing across the state rose by almost 10,000 to 56,719 between September 2024 and June last year, despite a government crackdown.

While housing demand outpacing supply – for various reasons – is acknowledged by many as a key factor in housing price growth, tax breaks such as the capital gains concession are again in focus.

The government has pledged 1 million new homes by 2044, a figure Bleijie said on Sunday was “ahead of schedule”, while deriding social and affordability quotas as “red tape”.

O’Connor’s September response to the opposition question on notice said his department reviewed social homes it owned for those no longer cost-effective to own or at “the end of their useful life”.

Department-owned land “unsuitable to support social housing outcomes” was also considered for sale as part of this process “so it can be made available for broader housing supply”.

He said the last state budget featured $119.3 million as “cash inflow from the sale of non-financial assets”, in line with Labor’s budgets from 2022 and 2023, and forecast to continue going forward.

This was not linked to any expectation or target, with any proceeds reinvested to the department’s social and social and community housing capital program, O’Connor wrote.

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