Australia's major parties remain divided and internally conflicted over migration policy as the housing crisis intensifies, with the Coalition yet to specify which visa programs it would cut despite promising to tie migration to housing supply.
Senator Andrew Bragg told the National Press Club that net migration under 180,000 is "achievable" through cuts to backpackers and international students. But senior opposition sources, including frontbenchers, quickly distanced themselves from his remarks. One senior Liberal said the comments should be "interpreted as by Bragg for Bragg, and it is not a formal policy announcement." The shadow cabinet hasn't decided which visa programs would face reductions.
Government's Own Target Remains Unclear
The government's approach isn't much clearer. Senior sources told the ABC that Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's forthcoming migration plan will aim to achieve Treasury's net migration forecasts of 225,000 in 2027-28. Actual numbers have continually overshot Treasury projections. The government will seek greater control over backpackers, rejected refugee applicants, and possibly family visa applicants.
The Coalition launched its policy this year under Angus Taylor, promising to set annual net migration targets based on the previous year's housing completions. It would start with one house per person to "catch up" on undersupply. An opposition spokesperson said details on which visa streams would be cut are still being worked through and would be released closer to the election when more current housing figures are available.
Senator Bragg said his analysis suggesting fewer than 180,000 over the next four years wasn't a target and would change depending on future housing completions. He acknowledged his party had "contributed" to the country's "malaise" and that leaders over two decades had been "indolent," including "the custodians of liberalism" in his own party. "I get that people are over the two-party system and it is a tough ask to say to Australians, 'We buggered it up, but please vote for us again,'" he said. "As someone who was a backbencher in the Morrison government, I am sorry I didn't do more to stop the madness."
One Nation Clarifies Position
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson clarified last week that her party's 130,000 target applies to permanent visas, a cut of just over 50,000 from current levels. She named international students and family visas as possible priorities for cuts while suggesting backpackers would still be allowed. She's also pointed to roughly 75,000 people who have "overstayed" their visas, a Department of Home Affairs estimate of those with no legal right to remain.
Bragg's Broader Economic Vision
Bragg used his speech to attack compulsory superannuation as "a loss of liberty" and "state-sanctioned corruption." He said the Superannuation Guarantee "takes 12 per cent from people's wages to vest them with managers they will never meet," asking, "What was the point if there is no public finance benefit and minimal personal benefit?"
He called for taxing multinational companies, including social media firms, "at the point they make revenue" rather than relying on international cooperation. "Australia must be prepared to fight this, not immobilised by fear of President [Donald] Trump," he said. "We would generate billions of dollars from this initiative … The organisations doing the most damage in our society, they make the most power, and frankly pay bugger-all tax."
Bragg also defended his proposal to slash the National Construction Code from over 2,000 pages to eighty, dismissing concerns about livability. "It just has basic amenity standards. So it's a house. It won't fall down, it's secure, it won't burn down, but it doesn't have anything else in it," he said, adding that houses would be required to have windows. "Maslow's hierarchy dictates to you that you need to build more cheap housing just to get the thing moving."
Why This Matters:
The confusion within both major parties reveals how political leaders are struggling to address public anxiety about housing affordability without scapegoating migrants or students who contribute to the economy and fill critical labor shortages. International students alone generate billions in revenue for universities and regional economies. Working holiday-makers provide essential labor in agriculture and hospitality. Family reunion visas affect thousands of Australians trying to bring relatives to the country. Without specific details on which programs face cuts, voters can't assess the real trade-offs between housing supply and economic needs. The policy vacuum also risks inflaming anti-immigrant sentiment without addressing the core problem: decades of underinvestment in social housing and infrastructure that successive governments, as Bragg himself acknowledged, failed to remedy.