In brief
- Opposition leader Angus Taylor will deliver his budget reply speech in parliament on Thursday night.
- He will outline a plan to limit net overseas migration to the number of homes built in the previous year.
Australia’s incoming Coalition government plans to link the country’s migrant intake to the annual number of new homes constructed, should they assume power. This strategy aims to alleviate the strain on Australia’s housing market and counteract the rising influence of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party.
In his inaugural budget reply, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor will elaborate on his proposed migration reforms, which include a significant reduction in the number of immigrants permitted entry to Australia. This approach also revisits elements of Peter Dutton’s 2025 election campaign platform.
Taylor is expected to assert in parliament on Thursday evening, “Australia should only welcome as many people as it can accommodate.”
He will further criticize the current Labor government, stating, “Under Labor’s leadership, migration has far outpaced housing development, escalating rent, housing prices, and hindering young Australians from progressing.”
Taylor’s proposal includes implementing a cap on net overseas migration, directly correlating to the number of new homes built during the preceding year.
Net overseas migration is the difference between the number of people arriving in Australia and the number of departures, and also includes temporary migrants like foreign students.
Tuesday’s budget forecasts the figure at 295,000 for this financial year, dropping to 225,000 by the 2027/28 financial year.
That’s well below the post-pandemic high of more than 550,000, when a surge of migrants re-entered the country as borders reopened, but still higher than pre-COVID levels.
Last financial year, around 175,000 new homes were built. If Taylor’s policy were implemented, that would mean a cut to net migration of about 40 per cent for this financial year.
The opposition leader will also seek to challenge Pauline Hanson’s One Nation on migration after its win over the Liberals in the Farrer by-election, leaning into populist right-wing rhetoric around “mass migration”.
That includes a proposal barring new migrants from accessing welfare, including the aged pension and NDIS, until they become Australians citizens.
The Daily Telegraph reported migrants would first have to become Australian citizens before they could access welfare support.
Speaking to Channel Seven on Thursday morning, Taylor said the policy is the Coalition’s way of “putting Australians first”.
“What we’re seeing in this budget and more generally is the Labor Party slashing programs to hardworking Aussies,” he said.
“We think that is the wrong priority and we need to get the priorities right. Australians should come first.”
During his reply on Thursday night, Taylor will say: “This is about mass migration running ahead of the homes, roads, hospitals, schools and services Australia can provide.”
Taylor’s budget reply speech sets up a fight with Labor over housing policy, after the federal government revealed plans to scrap tax concessions for property investors in a bid to help more young people buy a home.
The Coalition has promised to repeal the changes if it wins the next election.
Taylor has also revived former Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s promise from the 2025 election campaign to create a $5 billion housing infrastructure fund, which would help provide water, sewage, utilities and access roads to new housing developments.
The change will unlock up to 400,000 new homes, he will say, while also promising to scrap Labor’s flagship housing funds, including the Housing Australia Future Fund, the Help to Buy and Build to Rent schemes and the New Homes Bonus.
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