Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition notes that 388,241 additional migrants arrived in the first nine months of the 2023-24 financial year. Experts believe annual migration under Labor will overshoot Labor's target of 395,000 and could even surpass 500,000 arrivals. Under Labor, one million migrants have arrived in just two years, as Australia endures a housing shortage and cost-of-living crisis. Former immigration department deputy secretary Dr Abul Rizvi says that net overseas migration could reach as high as 475,000. Corinna Economic Advisory's Saul Eslake expects the net overseas migration to be at least 495,000. KPMG Chief Economist Brendan Rynne predicts that net overseas migration would reach between 480,000 and 490,000.

We have experienced record migration since Labor came to power, and housing supply isn't close to keeping up. That drives up the cost of housing and rents, which further increases inflation as Australians endure cost-of-living pain. The Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, needs to explain where all of these people are going to live. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Ms Michele Bullock, has said that new migrants add to demand and 'have certainly added pressure on the housing market'. Former Queensland Labor premier Steven Miles has said:

… if migration continues at current levels we'll need tens of thousands more homes every year than the industry can build. That's a big part of why prices and rents have risen so rapidly.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics building activity data has confirmed there is no end in sight to Labor's housing crisis. The year 2023-24 saw the lowest home building commencements in over a decade, dropping 8.8 per cent to just 158,690 new starts.

The coalition believes that by rebalancing the migration program and taking decisive action on the housing crisis, we would free up almost 40,000 additional homes in the first year and well over 100,000 homes in the next five years. First, the coalition will implement a two-year ban on foreign investors and temporary residents purchasing existing homes in Australia. Second, the coalition will reduce the permanent migration program by 25 per cent from 185,000 to 140,000 for the first two years, in recognition of the urgency of this crisis. The program will then increase to 150,000 in year 3 and 160,000 in year 4. The coalition will also reduce the refugee and humanitarian intake to its long-term average of 13,780 per year. The coalition will also ensure there are enough skilled and temporary skilled visas for those who are in the building and construction industry to ensure that there are enough skills to support our local tradies to build the new homes Australians desperately need.