Bob Katter

KENNEDY MP, Bob Katter, has used Question Time in the House of Representatives to put affordable living, or the lack there of, on the national agenda.

Mr Katter asked his question to Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, and called for a deregulation of building codes and land subdivisions to bring down the cost of housing.

“Malcolm Turnbull and a Professor from Oxford did a paper for the NSW Government and they found that the process of sub-dividing land was so restrictive that it choked off the supply of land onto the market and drove prices through the roof,” he said.

“In terms of building codes, when compulsory scaffolding came in, it added $30,000 to the cost of the house. It was never needed and never used. Just another overreaction by our restrictive society.”

The Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) MP also called for a capping on the mark-up of the cost of food from the farmgate to families.

“The current mark-up from the farmgate to the supermarket is 300 percent and it’s unconscionable,” he said.

“It should be capped at 100 percent. These measures would stop 30 percent of our families collapsing into poverty.

“In 30 years, per-capita, net-national income has risen only 130%. Yet, housing and motor vehicle prices have risen over 600%, and food over 230%.

Mr Katter said he would be raising the issue of the extremely high cost of living in Australia, relentlessly in the lead up to the next federal election.

“Affordable living is now beyond many Australians.”

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