Opposition Leader Angus Taylor will propose linking Australia's temporary immigration intake directly to the annual number of new home completions in his budget reply speech on Thursday night. The plan includes a $5 billion housing infrastructure fund and changes to weaken the national construction code to speed up building and reduce costs.

Under a Coalition government, the minister for housing would be required to deliver an annual report on the number of new homes completed in the previous 12 months, and that figure would be used as a ceiling for net overseas migration. The Coalition also plans to further tighten temporary migration through tougher rules for international students and prioritisation of quality in skilled visa categories.

"This is about mass migration running ahead of the homes, roads, hospitals, schools and services Australia can provide," Taylor said. A Coalition government would also abolish Labor's housing programs, including the Housing Australia Future Fund, the Help to Buy scheme, build-to-rent tax incentives and the new homebuyer bonus.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, 172,657 new houses were completed in Australia in the previous year. Net overseas migration was 306,000 in 2024–25. Net overseas migration measures the difference between people arriving and staying in Australia for longer than 12 months and long-term and permanent departures, a figure governments find difficult to directly control due to traveller behaviour.

Leaked internal Coalition documents forecast reducing net overseas migration to between 150,000 and 200,000 per year. Howard-era net overseas immigration levels were about 100,000 per year.

The $5 billion housing infrastructure fund is charged with speeding up connection of water services, sewerage, utilities and access roads for new homes. The speech will also include plans to boost economic growth, improve energy security and reward aspiration.

"Under Labor, migration has run miles ahead of housing and that puts pressure on rents, house prices and on every young Australian trying to get ahead," Taylor said.

Taylor, who ousted Sussan Ley as Liberal leader, will use the address to reassert his authority and stop an exodus of support to One Nation after the Farrer byelection loss. The Pauline Hanson-led party wants to cut migration to 130,000 people a year.

Newly elected Farrer MP David Farley said the government should "match immigration to a housing policy, a health policy and an education policy."