Australia's Migration Scheme: Prioritizing Construction Skills
Andrew Bragg, the shadow assistant minister for housing affordability, has highlighted that the opposition, led by Peter Dutton, is making homeownership a central issue for the upcoming election. Bragg emphasizes that this will involve linking the net migration intake to the completion of housing projects.
Speaking at the Sydney Institute, Bragg pointed out the significant disparity between migration rates and housing construction, describing it as a "train wreck" that needs to be addressed. He argued that the Coalition is best positioned to tackle this issue.
While some have blamed migrants for the increase in housing costs, Bragg notes that the problem stems from a long-term shortage of available homes for sale or rent. Even mainstream economists like Chris Richardson suggest that until housing supply improves, there may be a need to slow down migration.
Bragg referred to Robert Menzies, the founder of the Liberal Party, as the architect of the "Australian Dream," noting Menzies' ability to stimulate a housing boom despite a scarcity of housing and high migration rates.
He highlighted historical data, showing that during the Chifley Labor government, there were 149,000 net overseas migrants, but only 57,000 dwellings completed. This created a ratio of one new dwelling for every 2.6 migrants. By the end of Menzies' government, dwelling completions rose to 113,000, with migration stabilizing at 112,000, resulting in increased home ownership rates.
Bragg expressed concern over the current situation, with net migration reaching a record high of 548,800 in the year to September 2023, while only 170,000 new dwellings were constructed. This resulted in a ratio of one house for every 3.2 migrants, worse than the ratio during the Chifley government.
He contrasted this with the peak under the Coalition in 2016-17 when 216,000 dwellings were completed, closely matching the net migration figure of 262,000. This was a much more balanced ratio.
Bragg criticized the current government, accusing Labor of putting undue strain on the housing market. He also criticized Labor's reforms, which exclude construction workers from the core skills temporary migration stream, exacerbating chronic skills shortages in the construction industry.
He proposed reprioritizing construction skills within the temporary migration scheme to ease workforce bottlenecks while simultaneously training a larger domestic workforce, without increasing overall housing demand by bringing in more migrants.
Additionally, Bragg suggested expanding the Coalition's super for housing policy, including the possibility of allowing homeowners to pay their super into their mortgage offset accounts.
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