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February 22, 2026 \u2014 4:21pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Queensland\u2019s second-most senior politician has told the opposition to \u201ccry me a river\u201d over its criticism of the government\u2019s resumption of social housing sales.<\/p>\n Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie made the comments while opening submissions for a second $500 million round of his government\u2019s fund for infrastructure to accelerate housing developments.<\/p>\n Earlier in the day, Opposition Leader Steven Miles held a media conference with housing spokesperson Meaghan Scanlon in which he said the sales were \u201ctaking Queensland backwards\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n As a result, the opposition asked Housing Minister Sam O\u2019Connor a parliamentary question on notice about the expected proceeds \u2013 said by Miles on Sunday to be $119.3 million.<\/p>\n Scanlon added: \u201cIt defies logic that the Crisafulli government would sell off public housing in the middle of a crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters at his media conference on Brisbane\u2019s south, Bleijie hit back, noting that between 2015 and 2020, Housing Department sold an average of 280 social homes each year.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, cry me a river from the Labor Party, they can\u2019t lecture people on the housing affordability \u2026 crisis we have in Queensland at the moment,\u201d Bleijie said.<\/p>\n \u201cConsidering 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article 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 \u2013 many by his government.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Department-owned land \u201cunsuitable to support social housing outcomes\u201d was also considered for sale as part of this process \u201cso it can be made available for broader housing supply\u201d.<\/p>\n He said the last state budget featured $119.3 million as \u201ccash inflow from the sale of non-financial assets\u201d, in line with Labor\u2019s budgets from 2022 and 2023, and forecast to continue going forward.<\/p>\n This was not linked to any expectation or target, with any proceeds reinvested to the department\u2019s social and social and community housing capital program, O\u2019Connor wrote.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Bleijie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/088d437d6b223413404a71a3ef34522224ce3b6598de5ecf5bd997fdd86a7a43.jpeg\")
Bleijie said hosting the rowing in Rockhampton was the only option.Julius Dennis<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/69fd6053d5de80664f85447a69cc7b667f7c1d4f.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766286373_104_4c6c415aa4c25cb22dee91beaa9ff9de97bbc568.png\")
Matt Dennien<\/a> is a reporter at Brisbane Times covering state politics and the public service. He has previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 22, 2026 \u2014 4:21pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-497189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}