Pauline Hanson claims One Nation migration plan could save Aussie renters $4300 a year

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has released new modelling showing that her party’s plan to slash temporary migration by 750,000 over three years and shrink Australia’s population would save renters up to $4300 a year.

Australia’s three million temporary visa holders, including many international students, typically live in rental accommodation and housing cost increases are vastly outpacing already high inflation levels as home building completions fail to keep up with rapid population growth.

“Families are competing with hundreds of people for rental accommodation while more of their wages disappear into rent,” Senator Hanson said on Wednesday.

“For too long, Labor and the Liberals have outsourced immigration policy to universities and put the demand for cheap unskilled workers ahead of Australian living standards. Universities collect the fees, while Australians compete for the homes and pay the price.”

Her party has released modelling on three scenarios based on Cotality’s national median rent of $705 a week a day after Opposition Leader Angus Taylor unveiled a plan to slash the number of temporary migrants in Australia and cut net overseas migration by two-thirds - from 300,000 to 100,000 - sinking to levels last seen in the late 1990s, outside of COVID.

Under One Nation’s best-case scenario with a 10.1 per cent saving, rents would fall by $83 a week, adding up to $4340 a year.

In the middle case, rents would fall by 6.5 per cent, as a $54 weekly saving equated to $4340.

The lower case had rents dropping by 4.7 per cent, with the $39 saved every week adding up to $2019 annually.

One Nation last month unveiled a plan for Australia to have net negative migration for three years, based on reducing the number of temporary migrants and visa overstayers by 750,000 over three years, before net overseas migration settled at 130,000 a year.

This long-term intake would return to pre-mining boom migration pace of 2004 based on arrivals of at least a year minus equivalent departures.

“The Liberals are now talking about lower migration after years of helping create this mess. Australians deserve more than another major party target that won’t be achieved,” Senator Hanson said.

“One Nation will deliver net-negative migration for three years, with more people leaving Australia than arriving, before returning to our long-term net overseas migration ceiling of 130,000 a year.

“We will reduce the number of temporary migrants and unlawful non-citizens by more than 750,000 over those three years, giving housing and essential services breathing space.”

With One Nation consistently outpolling the Coalition, Mr Taylor has responded by picking a fight with the business lobby, made up of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Business Council of Australia and the Property Council slamming the Coalition’s plan to reduce the number of temporary migrants by 650,000 over four years by banning bridging and temporary graduate visas.

“Can I say, we will develop our policy and announce our policy based on the national interest, not based on vested interests,” he told Nine’s Today show.

“I talk to business groups all the time, particularly small businesses, and right now what we are seeing is a guest worker economy.”

Under a Coalition government, net overseas migration would fall to 100,000 in its first two years, which, excluding the pandemic, would be the smallest intake since 1997 and 1998.

After that, it would rise slightly to 130,000 in year three and 160,000 in the fourth year.

After that, future net overseas migration would be based on home building completions, which stood at 173,367 in the year to the end of March.

Australia’s biggest employer group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is against cutting the net overseas migration number, despite Australia having tight rental vacancy rates.

“Well, I think from a business point of view, the issue is we don’t have a migration problem in Australia. What we have is we have a housing supply problem, and we also have significant skill shortages,” chief executive Andrew McKellar told ABC News Breakfast on Wednesday.

“So, those are the things that we’ve got to address if we are going to lift the growth potential of the economy and get better economic performance in the future.

“And I think when we look at what the Coalition has said, even when we look at what the government and One Nation has said, the problem is each of them are starting from the proposal that they’re targeting a net overseas migration figure. That’s the wrong place to start.”

Australia’s net overseas migration rate stood at 292,100 in the year to March.