New housing in Austral in Sydney's south-west is an example of the type of development the Coalition believes it can accelerate.The Coalition's claim that it can "unlock" 500,000 new homes by investing $5 billion in sewage, water, power and access roads is based on a cost estimate from a construction industry group.
On Sunday, housing spokesperson Michael Sukkar dismissed Labor's suggestion the Coalition needed to produce modelling for its 500,000 homes claim. It is not an estimate of how much housing supply would be "shovel-ready" if the infrastructure was funded. Naim Kurt, the mayor of Hume on Melbourne's north-west fringe, said his council had not been contacted by the Coalition about local housing projects.
He said Hume council was often able to secure "in kind" agreements with developers to do small-scale works while they were in the area.