Senator Andrew Bragg proposed slashing the National Construction Code from over 2,000 pages to eighty, a move that would benefit developers by lowering housing standards. He rebuffed concerns that homes without energy efficiency standards would be unliveable. "It just has basic amenity standards," Bragg stated, describing a "simple house" that "won't fall down, it's secure, it won't burn down, but it doesn't have anything else in it." This proposal, which would require only basic amenities like windows, prioritizes the profit margins of the construction industry over the living conditions of the working class.
Who Profits from Scarcity
Senator Bragg invoked "Maslow's hierarchy" to justify building "more cheap housing just to get the thing moving." He suggested that "if people want optional extras, that's up to them." This approach ensures rapid, low-cost construction for capital, while shifting the burden of quality and long-term liveability onto future residents. It's a clear move to reduce developer costs and accelerate housing commodification.
The political class, meanwhile, debates migration numbers as a solution to the housing "shortfall." Government sources indicate a target of 225,000 net migration in 2027-28, aiming to "gain greater control" over backpackers, rejected refugee applicants, and possibly family visa applicants. This strategy frames the housing crisis as a problem of population rather than a failure of capital to provide affordable shelter.
Opposition figures, including Senator Bragg, suggest net migration under 180,000 is "achievable" by cutting international students and working holiday-makers. These groups often fill low-wage jobs, making them a flexible and exploitable labor pool. The Coalition's policy, launched by Mr Taylor this year, would link annual net migration targets to housing completions from the previous year, starting with "one house per person" to "catch up" on undersupply. This mechanism ties the entry of workers directly to the rate at which developers construct housing, maintaining a controlled labor supply.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson also targets international students and family visas for cuts, while allowing backpackers. She pointed to roughly 75,000 people who have "overstayed" their visas, a figure from the Department of Home Affairs. These individuals represent a highly vulnerable, undocumented workforce, subject to state enforcement and further exploitation.
Financial Extraction and State Complicity
Senator Bragg also attacked the compulsory superannuation system, calling it "a loss of liberty." He argued the Superannuation Guarantee "takes 12 per cent from people's wages to vest them with managers they will never meet." This highlights the systematic extraction of workers' wages, funneling them into financial markets managed by distant capital. Bragg claimed there was "no public finance benefit and minimal personal benefit" from this system.
He further acknowledged the widespread practice of profit shifting by multinational companies. Bragg proposed taxing these companies "at the point they make revenue" to generate "billions of dollars." He stated, "The organisations doing the most damage in our society, they make the most power, and frankly pay bugger-all tax." This admission exposes how global capital avoids contributing to public resources, despite accumulating immense wealth, and how the state has historically failed to enforce equitable taxation.
Political Theater and Systemic Failure
The internal confusion within opposition ranks over migration policy comes as the government also grapples with "rising public hostility to migration." Senator Bragg, while proposing policies that benefit capital, also offered a performative critique of his own party. He admitted leaders over the past two decades had been "indolent" and that his party had "contributed" to the country's "malaise." He even apologized for not doing "more to stop the madness" as a backbencher in the Morrison government. This rhetoric attempts to reframe systemic failures as individual political shortcomings, offering "authenticity" and a move beyond "paternalistic and glib politics" without challenging the underlying economic structures. The entire debate over migration numbers, whether 225,000 or under 180,000, serves to deflect attention from the core issue: the commodification of housing and the state's failure to ensure shelter for all. It blames a transient population for a crisis manufactured by capital's insatiable drive for profit. Australia, Bragg asserted, must be prepared to fight multinational tax avoidance, not be "immobilised by fear of President [Donald] Trump."