Dutton vows to slash migration and push nuclear
Slashing the permanent migration intake in a bid to fix the housing crisis is part of Peter Dutton’s blueprint for Australia’s future along with nuclear energy, as outlined in his budget reply speech.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton delivers his budget reply speech on Thursday. Photo: AAP
If elected in 2025 a coalition government would introduce a two-year ban on foreigners buying existing homes and cut the number of foreign students.
In his third budget-reply speech delivered late on Thursday, the opposition leader said Labor had made life “so much tougher” for Australians.
But Dutton didn’t reveal detail on two major issues: nuclear energy and lower taxes.
He placed housing at the forefront, saying more than 100,000 homes over the next five years would be freed up through reduced migration.
The coalition would cut Australia’s permanent migration intake of 185,000 by 25 per cent for the first two years, before raising it to 150,000 and then 160,000 in the fourth year.
The coalition will back energy bill rebates in the government’s budget, worth $300 for every household, but warned Labor was “treating the symptom” and not the cause of higher prices.
Dutton would scrap the $13.7 billion in tax incentives for hydrogen and critical minerals, the centrepiece of Labor’s Future Made in Australia plan.
“These projects should stand up on their own without the need for taxpayer’s money,” he said.
The opposition leader criticised Labor’s “‘renewables only” energy policy and said going nuclear was “right” for the nation.
Dutton said older Australians and veterans would be able to earn triple the current income rate, up to $900 a fortnight, without having their pensions reduced.
He announced an instant asset write-off scheme for small businesses would rise to $30,000.
On industrial relations, Dutton said the coalition would revert to a “simple definition” of a casual worker.
Following a number of violent attacks, the opposition leader said there would be a restriction on the sale and possession of knives for minors and dangerous people, with tougher bail laws for family violence.
Speaking after Dutton’s speech, Education Minister Jason Clare described the address as “dark”.
“If you want to be prime minister of this country, you’ve got to do more than look dour and angry and bark at the camera,” he said.
“You’ve got to have a positive vision for the country and you’ve got to have details and costed policies.”
Clare said Dutton “talked a big game” on immigration without providing detail on how a reduction of that scale would impact the economy.
He criticised the coalition for not revealing the locations the proposed nuclear reactors would be built under the coalition’s energy plan.
– AAP
