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Key events

Health minister says One Nation plan would devastate critical industries

The health minister, Mark Butler, says Pauline Hanson’s plan to cut temporary visas by 750,000 over three years would kill critical industries.

Speaking to reporters in the press gallery corridor this morning, Butler says it would cause serious economic damage – particularly to construction and aged care sectors.

Pauline Hanson said a few weeks ago, she didn’t care what the impact of her migration policy would be on business, but this is just another level entirely. This is going to smash industries like construction. It would devastate the health sector and aged care and disability.

The government has stalled on its own migration plan that was initially supposed to be announced by home affairs minister, Tony Burke more than a month ago. Butler remains tight lipped over when Burke will make the announcement.

One Nation reveals ‘net-negative’ migration policy

One Nation is targeting international students and the families of skilled migrants in its proposal to cut 750,000 temporary visa holders in Australia over three years.

The move would return temporary visa numbers back to 2017 levels.

Hanson says net migration under the plan would be “net-negative” for the first three years, and then sit at 130,000 – however who knows what that actually means because when One Nation recently announced this, none of its MPs seemed to be able to define what net migration was.

For those playing at home, net migration measures people coming into or leaving the country for a period of at least 12 months over 16 months and thus excludes tourists. Much of the confusion was around whether backpackers and people on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme would count under the Nom.

About 10% of the temporary visas to be cut would include people living in Australia who don’t have a visa and have exhausted all options to stay.

Krishani Dhanji

Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you for another busy sitting week.

There’s a few moving parts in Parliament this week – One Nation has this morning announced a migration plan that will drastically cut temporary visas, and lead to more headache for the Coalition who are asked why Pauline Hanson is driving the agenda and not them.

Speaking of Hanson, her fight with Andrew Hastie shows no sign of ending – we’ll likely hear more back and forth from the pair today.

And, the government could look to water down its digital duty of care laws after hints from the communications minister Anika Wells yesterday that she was willing to negotiate on the ministerial powers in the bill.

Let’s get stuck in!

Save $5,000 by electrifying, organisations say

Australian households could save $5,000 a year by electrifying their homes and cars, AAP reports, and more than 30 organisations will call for incentives and stronger policies in Canberra as part of a national campaign.

The campaign is linked to the international Electrify Now campaign, and follows a COP31 push to raise the global electrification rate from about 20% to 35% by 2035.

Groups including Energy Consumers Australia, the Electric Vehicle Council, Farmers for Climate Action, and Rewiring Australia will launch the campaign at Parliament House, calling for changes to help more Australians replace equipment powered by gas, petrol or diesel.

Energy Efficiency Council policy head Jeremy Sung said:

There’s a role for the Australian government to send a clear signal that electrification is happening and that it’s what the future of our energy system will depend on.

At the moment, federal policy is sending mixed messages.

Labor announces $300m grants for crisis accommodation

Krishani Dhanji

The government is giving $300m in grants to build crisis and transitional accomodation, that will deliver 500 new homes and support around 19,000 vulnerable Australians.

The housing minister, Clare O’Neil and social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, say the total crisis housing package will support more than 50,000 women and children escaping family violence, and help young people at risk of or already experiencing homelessness.

But the money itself isn’t new: it was previously announced as concessional loans for the sector to help build the accommodation, and will now instead provide direct grants following consultations.

The grants will go to providers including state governments, community housing providers and First Nations organisations.

Plibersek said in a statement:

Too often we ask, “why didn’t she leave?,” when we should have asked, where would she go? We know that safe housing is absolutely critical to help women and children leave violence. That’s why we are building more than ever before.

Bumper weekend for auctions

Cait Kelly

Data from Cotality has shown auction rates were up over the weekend, with almost 60% of homes selling – the highest peak in 19 weeks.

The national preliminary clearance rate hit 58.5%, a small jump from the 52.7% recorded last week.

Experts have warned that Australia’s penchant for auctions – we are among the few countries that regularly use them – has helped push prices up.

While the weekend rate was up, there is still an overall decline in the number of houses being sold through auctions.

Speaking to the Australian Financial Review on Sunday, Cotality’s Tim Lawless said the rise in clearance rates should be viewed against a longer-term plunge in volumes.