Australia's opposition Coalition has promised to reduce net overseas migration to under 180,000 a year over the forward estimates, including by cutting family and international student visas, as part of a push to increase housing supply.
Shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg will tell the National Press Club that the opposition will strip the 2000-page national construction code, which he says makes it "illegal to build a cheap safe house", down to an 80-page "basic Australian standard".
The current permanent migration level is set at 185,000, while net overseas migration has been trending downwards from post-Covid peaks and is anticipated to be 245,000 for 2026–27. Net overseas migration is the total number of people coming into the country against those going out, which means it can be tricky to have total control over.
Bragg will tell the press club that the government has sat over a shortfall of 130,000 dwellings which can be closed if the NOM drops under 180,000 over four years. He says: "A NOM reduction on this scale is manageable and in line with reductions we have managed in recent history – for example in 2009-2010 when the NOM declined from 300,000 to 175,000 in around 18 months."
This will be achieved through a higher share of skilled migrant workers linked to jobs that meet Australian industry needs, including more reductions in other streams like family, international students and other temporary migrants.