Topics: Palestine protests, housing scheme, net zero

E&OE.......................

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CHRIS KENNY: Let's go to Canberra now and catch up with Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury, Dave Sharma. Dave, good to talk to you. I've got to ask you first up about those protests we saw on the weekend. You're a former Australian Ambassador to Israel. You understand clearly what a call for an intifada is. Should this be tolerated in this country?

DAVE SHARMA: No, I don't think it should be, Chris. I mean, people calling openly for intifadas, people waving the flags of listed terrorist organisations like Hamas, you know, they should be prosecuted. That is not within the boundaries or the acceptable use of free speech and free expression. And, you know, the protesters who were engaged in that behaviour over the weekend, they should be dealt with with the full force of the law. And I'm glad to see at least the Queensland Premier has come out and said as much today on that topic.

CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, there, there are reports of a Hamas flag and the police in Queensland following that up. But, I mean, China chanting Intifada and displaying photos obviously, lauding the Supreme Leader of Iran, not to mention Yahya Sinwar. Why don't we see police actively prosecuting, stamping out this sort of  behaviour? And perhaps more to the point, why do we have a Prime Minister who calls this sort of behaviour peaceful rather than calling it out?

DAVE SHARMA: Look, I agree. I mean, I think it does need to be called out. You know, these are terrorist organisations and terrorist leaders who are being glorified by members of the Australian public for the taking of innocent life in a barbaric fashion. In the case of Hamas, or being behind, you know, decades of instability and terrorist group funding. In the case of Iran's supreme leader, you know, I don't think we should be supporting that. Yes, some of the protests were peaceful, but there's no doubt that there are elements of the protesters there that have a very radical agenda. And we have laws in place to, you know, outlaw the flying of terrorist flags, to outlaw, you know, calling for death and destruction to another people. We should be using those laws. And the fact that we're not, I think, only means that, you know, we are likely to see this sort of behaviour continue.

CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, it's a terrible problem. Let me bring it back to the economy and some of your direct responsibilities. The Prime Minister tried to sell a package on housing supply, a range of measures, including one that the coalition proposed before the election and Labor mocked, but now they're adopting it. Is there anything in this package that you think will actually speed up the supply of housing and therefore make it less expensive.

DAVE SHARMA: Well look, there's two things I'd say firstly. Yeah, look, Labor seems to have adopted the coalition policy to freeze changes to the building construction code or the National Construction Code. So at least the price of new buildings doesn't continue to rise because of additional costs and burdens and whatnot. They've also expanded incidentally, a scheme the coalition introduced a home guarantee scheme which basically allows the government to make a contribution in the form of a contingent liability to someone's deposit. But what Labor's done is basically remove the cap on that. It was limited to50,000 people under the coalition and remove any means testing or income testing. So that's going to be a huge injection of demand into the market. It's not a supply side measure, it's a demand measure. And all that's going to do is make housing more expensive. So I would say sum total out of this. No, houses aren't getting any cheaper as a result of Labor's three day so-called productivity roundtable.

CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, and I would point out any economist would agree with you there will be an impact, an upwards impact on prices that's unavoidable with those sorts of measures. Let me bring it back to the climate and net zero debate as well. Barnaby Joyce of course is pushing for a net zero bill through Parliament. Your party, the Liberal Party, hasn't really made up its mind on net zero yet. Here's what Barnaby Joyce said on sky earlier today.

BARNABY JOYCE: We're happy to have it every week, every sitting week. Absolutely. I think it's really important. This is incredibly important. Thething is, they don't seem to understand the absolute fury and anger and that is palpable in regional areas. How people like they literally, literally, not figuratively crying, just saying, you are destroying my life. And where the street is on this is different to where Parliament House is on this. And what it reminds me very much of is the voice debate, you know, where virtue abounded n this building. But once you got out the door I went, that's crazy.

CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, well, Dave Sharma, this is going to go on for awhile. We heard the Prime Minister earlier. He says this is just a test. You're either for net zero or against it. If you're against it, you're against the planet. Shouldn't we just be pushing for proper cost benefit analysis of energy policies?

DAVE SHARMA: I think so. I mean I think the prime minister wants to turn this into a test of belief. You know, are you a believer or are you an apostate, if you like? I don't believe we should be buying into that argument. I think we should be, you know, making this a question of what is going to deliver the lowest cost, most reliable form of energy. And we need to be agnostic about the technology that's going to do that. And I think it's clear that, you know, Labor's record here is abysmal. I mean, emissions are not coming down with them, but wholesale electricity prices are orders of magnitude higher than they have been. Wholesale gas prices,  triple what they were a decade ago on the East Coast. And Australia's energy advantage, which was once an international advantage for us, is now a disadvantage for us, as I think Gary Banks, the productivity chairman, made that point in Parliament House here last week.

CHRIS KENNY: And guess what? Nothing we're doing is having any impact on the global climate. So, this is all a folly. Regardless, it's extraordinary to watch. Thanks for joining us, Dave Sharma. Appreciate it. Liberal senator for New South Wales. Dave Sharma there, joining us live from Canberra.

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