Michael McLaren says the decision by Sydney Water to increase their customer bills by 50 per cent over the next five years only highlights the government-made housing crisis.

He points to the fact as the population grows and new houses need to be built, new infrastructure is required – an unintended consequence of the population boom.

“Tellingly, in the case of the predicament facing Sydney Water today, rather than leading the population growth with proprietary infrastructure, we’re now playing catch-up,” he said.

Listen to all of the highlights from Afternoons with Michael McLaren here: