Former prime minister Tony Abbott has joined Pauline Hanson in criticising chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission, Lucy Turnbull, over her remarks on Australia's immigration rate.
The former Lord Mayor of Sydney told the Daily Telegraph that Sydney was far from "full", despite tensions over housing developments in the northwest suburb of Ryde.
“Sydney has been growing since 1788,” Mrs Turnbull told the newspaper.
“We need to make sure that growth is well planned so that people understand their quality of life will not be diminished by the creation of housing."
Mrs Turnbull said the Greater Sydney Commission is creating a "citizens panel" to discuss the issues of liveability, productivity and sustainability.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull embraces his wife Lucy at the start of the Mother's Day Classic in Sydney. Source: AAP
Senator Hanson has accused the prime minister's wife of being out of touch.
"She's got her standard of living and way of life but many Australians don't have that. I don't think she's in a position to say whether Sydney is full or not full," Senator Hanson told Sky News.
"They have got to reduce the numbers. Our way of life, our standard of living is dropping."
Former prime minister Tony Abbott also said he respectfully disagreed with Mrs Turnbull.
"I'd say we are full and frankly, we're fed up," he told 2GB radio.
He argued Sydney did not have the infrastructure to cope with its population density.
"We're fed up with not being given the infrastructure that even the existing population densities deserve, let alone the greater population densities people want us to have," he said.
Map of Sydney. Source: Google Maps
"The only way you can keep cramming more people into Sydney is badly damaging our quality of life. And I don't want to damage that quality of life.
"I think Sydney is at its best one of the world's great liveable cities. I think for a long time it has been one of the best cities in the world to live and to work, and I don't want to change that.
"What we need urgently is more and better infrastructure."
