Alan Kohler

Right.

But you're saying, the council's saying, that they're going to fall, what, 340,000 houses short over the five years?

Well, net dwellings are the relevant number, aren't they?

Yeah.

So what do you think?

I mean, well, let's look at the target for a minute.

The 1.2 million, was that, do you think, was that based on any, as far as you're aware, in any forecast of demand?

Or was it just a round number that they came up with?

And so the accord, I think, is largely focused on approvals, right?

So the states have come up with, the Commonwealth's got this number, and then they give it to the states, or they divide it up among the states, and the states then divide it up among local councils.

Is that, that's kind of the way it works?

Yeah, but is there a difference between approvals, which is what they're kind of talking about, and the amount of housing being constructed?

I mean, someone told me that there's 100,000 houses in New South Wales that have been approved but aren't getting built.

Is that kind of thing happening?

Yeah, that's right.

I mean, you're right.

I mean, that 1.2 million target is actual houses, not just approvals.

The trouble is that the state government and the local councils, they can't actually make force builders to build houses, can they?

I mean, and developers, because the projects have to stack up.

So, I mean, to what extent is that becoming the issue that the development of new housing is proving difficult to be profitable?