Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, , 7:41:47 to 7:44:44
Discussion turns to the relationship between migration targets and housing demand. Officials clarify that while Treasury handles housing modeling, the Department works to align migration settings with economic needs.
Topics: Infrastructure, Government spending
Speakers: Hon Jonathon Duniam, Clare Sharp, Stephanie Foster
Okay, that explains that. Thank you very much. If I can then go to the matter of housing in the Minister's press club address, he did reference the need to address migration as a means of dealing with housing in a sense, uh slow down the numbers to catch up and allow houses to be built so that we can accommodate. I'm just wondering what modelling was used to inform the numbers that we ultimately are have arrived at, or the government has arrived at for its NOM. Is there any information on that? What housing modelling input there was?
So the NOM figure that we're working towards, which is 245,000 this year and 225,000 next year, is nom modelling that was produced by the Treasury, and it was really forecasting where it thought NOM would get to. The measures we're taking are really to ensure that those we we we've had a shift. I think it's reasonably open governments been pretty open about that, from thinking of that as an economic forecast to treating it like a target. They're not numbers that were set um uh based on housing like uh an analysis of housing demand that it's it's a non it's a non-forecast.
Yeah, look, I understand the point you make there. So that being said, it is more an assumption than in this speech that you know you reduce numbers here, it enables us to catch up on housing as opposed to there having been a formal input into the numbers that either Treasury or home affairs undertake.
Um I think I think very much you need to direct questions about how many, you know, the the rate at which homes are being built and the like to Treasury.
Sure. Um in so far as it relates to their projections on the norm, is that what you mean?
Uh insofar as what level of norm and and how fast housing is being constructed and the like. We worked very closely with Treasury on the migration reform package and and on the non-modelling and also on you know settings around how do we get more construction workers and the like in as a higher proportion of the programme?
Yeah, okay. So but in terms of that partnership you've just explained, there was no here are a range of housing construction numbers for a 12-month period that Treasury might have brought to the table and said here's how we think we might be able to deal with this issue the minister talks about in his speech.
So, Senator, um I think we're trying to be helpful in terms of what inputs we make, but the actual modelling really really needs to go to Treasury, it would be a brave home affairs department that gave an opinion on Treasury Modell.