Australia politics live: Coalition to heavily cut net migration and shred ۹۶% of house construction code; CBA posts bumper $۱۱bn profit

‘Some people call it putting on a jumper’: Should energy efficiency standards in housing be optional?

The opposition is considering it.

Andrew Bragg says under his ۸۰-page national construction code essential structural, fire safety and health requirements will be compulsory but additional features will be “optional”.

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson is in the RN Breakfast hot seat after Jim Chalmers and is asked whether that sounds about right to him.

Wilson says there are “risks on all side” in whether you make energy efficiency standards compulsory or not, and that different parts of the country have different climates so there shouldn’t be a “one size fits all approach”.

We have a risk that Australians can’t afford to rent or to buy their own home by the government’s own budget design.

There are some places in the country where you will get cold spells or hot spells for a very small amount of the year, whereas for the rest of the year, it’s not necessary … Some people call it putting a jumper on in winter rather than spending huge amounts of money, tens of thousands of dollars.

Commonwealth Bank has recorded a bumper $۱۱bn full year cash profit, up ۷%, after recording strong growth in home and business lending, despite recent weakness in the housing market.

The robust result, for the ۱۲ months to ۳۰ June, was largely locked in before mortgage volumes started to fall in response to a series of interest rate hikes and Labor’s investor tax changes, announced in May.

CBA told shareholders this morning that while the economy had remained resilient, growth was slowing with “higher interest rates and inflation placing uneven pressure on households incomes and economic activity”.

There are signs of distress among some of the bank customers, with arrears among personal loan customers surging. Arrears for home loans and credit cards have also ticked higher in recent months, although they remain at modest levels.

The bank declared a final dividend of $۲.۷۰, representing a ۱۰c increase on the last half year dividend.

Bragg ‘bit late to the party’ on reforming construction code: Chalmers

Jim Chalmers says the government is already acting on simplifying the ۲۰۰۰-page construction code to make it easier to build houses in Australia.

Today the shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg will announce that the Coalition wants to slash that code down to ۸۰-pages, but Chalmers says he’s “late to the party”.

The government has frozen the code for four years, and Chalmers says a revamped code is coming soon:

We’re going to present a final plan to building ministers later this year and that will streamline the code, reduce variations, improve where the provisions are too complicated, make the code relevant in an age of AI.

Don’t judge the housing market over a few months of data, says Chalmers

The government is facing heat over a cooling housing market across Australia, which the treasurer says is due to a range of factors, not just the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax announced in the May budget.

Jim Chalmers is on ABC RN Breakfast this morning welcoming the Reserve Bank’s decision to hold rates yesterday, and says that there have been several housing downturns in recent decades.

You shouldn’t judge the housing market by volatility over a period of a few months.

If you think about house prices in this country in the ۲۰۰۰s, even with that quite remarkable house price growth over that period. If you take the last ۱۰ years or so, we’ve actually seen prices go down at least seven times by our count … The Reserve Bank Governor said yesterday, I’ve said on a number of occasions, the private sector market economists have said as well, what we’re seeing in the housing market is a consequence of a whole range of factors, economic conditions, interest rates, policy changes, not any one factor on their own.

Asked about data from Westpac showing a dropping number of home loan applications, Chalmers takes the same argument, that “you shouldn’t jump to conclusions based on a few months of data”.

‘The Liberals have absolutely lost the plot’ says O’Neil on melon-gate

The regular Wednesday TV sparring match between the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, and shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, has spent half the morning debating … you guessed it … melon-gate.

O’Neil says the opposition has frankly “lost the plot” by referring the leak of a diplomatic note sent by Japan to the Australian federal police.

The Liberals have absolutely lost the plot here. They are referring this podcast matter to the Australian federal police. My personal view is that the Australian federal police should be allowed to focus on their job, which is keeping Australians safe and fighting crime for Australians.

Cash says it’s totally justified for the police to dedicate their time to investigating that leak to the media, and takes aim at O’Neil for defending the PM:

This has now gone from embarrassing to extraordinary. A sensitive diplomatic cable from one of our closest allies has ended up in the media, and the AFP should investigate that. But I actually think the hypocrisy from the Labor women like Clare – that is an utter disgrace. You have just defended the grubby, dirty comments of our prime minister.

Let this be over soon one way or another.

Are the Coalition ۱۰۰% set on cutting net overseas migration to ۱۸۰,۰۰۰?

Despite Andrew Bragg’s speech being sent to the media overnight, this morning the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, doesn’t seem to want to lock in the ۱۸۰,۰۰۰ net overseas migration target.

Speaking to News۲۴, Wilson was asked a couple of times about the details of Bragg’s announcement but wouldn’t commit to the figure.

He said, “I’ll leave Senator Bragg’s speech in his National Press Club address to Senator Bragg” and stuck to more general statements about migration intake in Australia.

Asked directly whether the Coalition is looking at the ۱۸۰,۰۰۰ target, Wilson replies:

I don’t think you should bank that at all. Let’s just wait and see, firstly, what Senate Bragg’s saying in his speech – and we haven’t made an announcement about where we’re going to be going into the next election – but our focus is actually about what we need to do to invest in the long-term growth and success of our country.

The Coalition has promised to drop net overseas migration to under ۱۸۰,۰۰۰ a year over the forward estimates, including by cutting family and international student visas, as part of a push to open up more housing supply.

The shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg will be up at the national press club and says the opposition will strip the ۲۰۰۰ page national construction code, which he says makes it “illegal to build a cheap safe house”, down to an ۸۰-page “basic Australian standard”.

The current permanent migration level is set to ۱۸۵,۰۰۰ while the net overseas migration figure has been trending downwards from post-covid peaks and is anticipated to be ۲۴۵,۰۰۰ for ۲۰۲۶–۲۷.

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 ۱۳۰,۰۰۰ dwellings which can be closed if the NOM drops under ۱۸۰,۰۰۰ over four years.

A NOM reduction on this scale is manageable and in line with reductions we have managed in recent history – for example in ۲۰۰۹-۲۰۱۰ when the NOM declined from ۳۰۰,۰۰۰ to ۱۷۵,۰۰۰ in around ۱۸ months.

This will be achieved through a higher share of skilled migrant workers linked to jobs that meet Australian industry needs. This includes more reductions in other streams like family, international students and other temporary migrants.

Welcome

Krishani Dhanji

Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you for another busy sitting day ahead! The negotiations are continuing between the government and the opposition on gambling, NDIS, and news bargaining incentive reforms – all of which Labor will be hoping to pass this fortnight.

And why milk it for one day when you can milk it – or should I say juice it – for two? The prime minister is still facing pressure to apologise over melon-gate which pretty much took over parliament yesterday.

And the opposition is promising to strip back the housing construction code to help builders build quicker – more on that shortly.

Stick with us!