A key member of the Coalition has hesitated to detail his party’s strategy to reduce migration numbers, even as a formal declaration is anticipated later on Wednesday.
Andrew Bragg, who is the Opposition spokesperson for housing, plans to address the National Press Club on Wednesday. In his speech, he will advocate for nearly halving the current net overseas migration levels to better align with the supply of new housing.
The Treasury’s forecasting, revealed in the May budget, indicates that net overseas migration is projected to decrease from 301,000 to 225,000 by 2030.
However, Bragg aims to push for average annual net overseas migration to be around 180,000, catering to the current deficiency in housing availability.
“Reducing net overseas migration to this extent is feasible and consistent with past reductions we’ve successfully managed,” Bragg intends to state.
“Lifting migration standards, and analysing them carefully each year, is crucial to ensure integrity and public trust in our migration settings.”
But his colleague, Opposition treasury spokesperson Tim Wilson, backed away from confirming the number just hours before the speech.
Wilson was pressed on the topic during a News24 interview, in which he said: “I don’t think you should bank that at all (the 180,000 figure). Let’s just wait and see, firstly, what Senator Bragg’s saying in his speech”.
“We haven’t made an announcement about where we’re going to be going into the next election, but our focus is actually about what we need to do to invest in the long-term growth and success of our country,” he said.
Building codes will also come under fire during the speech.
“It is now illegal to build a cheap house in Australia,” Bragg will say.
The centrepiece of Bragg’s speech will be a commitment to replace the National Construction Code with a new 80-page “Basic Australian Standard”.
The codes set minimum requirements for the safety, health, amenity, accessibility, and sustainability of certain buildings, as detailed in over 2,000 pages.
The Coalition’s new standards will focus on cost-effective structural, fire safety and health-related building standards.
“Anything else like mandatory ramps, flattened shower flooring or reinforced walls would be optional extras,” Bragg will say.
“The house won’t be gold-plated but it won’t fall apart. It will be safe.”
Labor announced it would freeze the National Construction Code following its productivity roundtable in mid-2026.
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil brushed off calls from the Coalition to cut the construction standards to 200 pages earlier in 2026.
“I’ve talked to builders about that, they laugh their heads off. That is absolutely ridiculous,” O’Neil told the National Press Club in May.
The government is not far off presenting a final plan to the building minister later this year to streamline the code, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told ABC Radio National on Wednesday.
Bragg has also called for the creation of a federal pattern book of model homes that could receive automatic approval from the states and territories.