“Stuffed that up”: Today Show host clashes with Angus Taylor over migration

Today host Sarah Abo has accused Opposition Leader Angus Taylor of blaming migrants for Australia’s housing crisis during a tense interview after his budget reply speech.

Taylor appeared on the program after outlining a major Coalition policy that would cap migration according to the number of homes built each year. But when Abo asked what annual migration number the Coalition was proposing, Taylor would not give a figure.

He argued Labor had allowed migration to rise without matching it to housing supply.

“What we’ve seen under Labor is that they’ve set migration targets without regard for housing construction. This has been insanity. It’s been madness,” Taylor said.

“What we’ve seen is way fewer houses than they planned and way more people than our country can absorb through our housing supply.”

Abo pushed back, questioning whether the housing crisis was the result of more than just the current government.

“Is it their problem, or has it been consecutive governments who have stuffed that up?” she asked.

Taylor said that may be true, but maintained the Coalition’s plan would force governments to better align migration with available housing.

“What we’re saying is it’s got to change,” he said.

“What we’re proposing here is each year the housing minister would say, ‘We’ve got so many houses that have been built, that means we can absorb this growth in population,’ and that will set a cap on migration.”

Abo then accused Taylor of tying migrants to the housing shortage rather than focusing on immediate solutions for Australians already struggling.

“You’re tying migration to housing, but what are you doing about the current situation for Australians right now?” she asked.

“Who, by the way, apart from Indigenous Australians, are all migrants? You’re talking about migrants being the people who are causing this housing problem when it’s the housing problem that’s come first.”

She noted that Australia built only about 172,000 homes last year and said the country was still “behind the eight ball” on supply.

“How will you cap migration at a figure that you don’t actually know the amount of?” she asked.

Taylor rejected the suggestion that he was blaming migrants themselves.

“It’s not migrants causing the problem. It’s the government causing the problem because they’ve got their policy wrong,” he said.

Abo argued that, based on his own reasoning, Australia would have to accept almost no new migrants given how far behind the nation remained on housing construction.

“Based on those figures, Angus, you would accept no migrants because we are so behind the eight ball when it comes to building new homes,” she said.

Taylor responded that migration would need to be cut sharply in the short term while supply caught up.

“There has to be a sharp reduction to do that,” he said.

“We’ve said that there needs to be more than a 70 per cent reduction from the peak under Labor, and that is a big reduction. But that is what’s required to get the market back into balance.”

It is still unclear exactly where the Coalition would make cuts large enough to meet that target. Working holiday visas are politically delicate, especially as regional sectors such as agriculture depend heavily on seasonal overseas labour. Taylor also suggested on Thursday night that international student visas could be an obvious area for reductions, despite international education being one of Australia’s largest export earners.

Political editor Peter van Onselen said Taylor’s proposal to tie migration levels to housing supply “made sense” in principle.

“Australia can’t keep pretending that record population growth has no impact on rents, house prices, infrastructure, schools, hospitals and roads,” van Onselen said.

“Migration has economic benefits, we know that, but only if the country has the capacity to absorb it.

“When housing construction falls well short, voters are entitled to ask why the migration intake keeps running ahead of the nation’s ability to accommodate extra people.”

Budget papers released on Tuesday showed the Albanese government expects 55,000 more migrants to arrive over this financial year and next than previously forecast. They also project net migration will rise by 990,000 people over the four financial years to July 2029.