Angus Taylor Vows to Cut Immigration and Tie Intake to Housing in Budget Reply Speech

Angus Taylor delivered a budget reply speech that laid out the opposition's plan to drastically cut immigration and tie future intake directly to the pace of new housing construction. The opposition has promised to drastically cut immigration. It will link immigration intake to new housing builds, with Taylor arguing the current imbalance has strained resources.

Taylor said the number of people coming in far exceeds the number of houses built. He used the speech to argue that rapid population growth without matching housing supply had worsened affordability pressures across Australia. "By inviting in too many people too quickly, we’ve also seen some come with the wrong values.

People who don’t want to join and embrace Australia, but people who want to change Australia to suit them," Taylor said in the address. The Guardian reported that the remarks were heavily foreshadowed in the days leading up to the formal reply. Taylor also used the platform to pledge indexing tax brackets to inflation and directing resource windfalls into a dedicated fund, though he gave few numerical targets for the immigration cuts.

The speech formed the Coalition's official response to the Australian budget 2026. It positioned housing supply as the binding constraint on migrant numbers, a stance likely to shape debate in the months ahead as parliament considers the government's fiscal blueprint. Taylor's comments on values represented one of the sharper elements of the address.

He framed unchecked immigration not only as an infrastructure challenge but as a cultural one, repeating the opposition's long-held view that integration must remain a core requirement. The budget reply speech took place against a backdrop of sustained public concern over housing shortages and cost-of-living pressures.