Andrew Bragg addressed the National Press Club on Wednesday, covering a variety of topics. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n
Coalition colleagues say Andrew Bragg's suggestion that net migration cuts could be achieved by targeting backpackers and graduated students is not an agreed opposition policy.<\/p>\n
In a wideranging speech, the Liberal frontbencher also called compulsory superannuation "a loss of liberty" and that large tech companies should be taxed more.<\/p>\n
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has also been unclear about whether she has a target for net migration.<\/p>\n
A Liberal frontbencher's suggestion that net migration under 180,000 is "achievable" with cuts to backpackers and international students is unauthorised and does not reflect an agreed position of Angus Taylor's shadow cabinet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking to the National Press Club about the opposition's policy to link net migration to housing completions, moderate Andrew Bragg said a figure in that order would be enough to close the housing "shortfall" of recent years and was "manageable".<\/p>\n
"This reduction can be achieved while benefiting the budget and the economy, including by \u2026 modest reductions in international students, working holiday-makers and post-study work visas," he said.<\/p>\n
But several senior opposition sources, including frontbenchers, told the ABC this was not an agreed position and that Mr Taylor's shadow cabinet had not yet decided which visa programs would be the focus of any cuts.<\/p>\n
In a wideranging speech, Senator Bragg also said his own party had "contributed" to the country's "malaise" and that leaders over the past two decades had been "indolent", including "the custodians of liberalism" in his own party.<\/p>\n
"I get that people are over the two-party system and it is a tough ask to say to Australians, 'We buggered it up, but please vote for us again,'" he said.<\/p>\n
"As someone who was a backbencher in the Morrison government, I am sorry I didn't do more to stop the madness."<\/p>\n
The confusion over migration within opposition ranks comes a week after the ABC revealed that the government was also working through protracted discussions over how best to address rising public hostility to migration.<\/p>\n
Labor's focus is also on net migration, a measure which tracks arrivals and departures of Australians and foreigners, and which became a lightning rod for political debate when it exceeded half a million for the first time in 2023.<\/p>\n
The ABC understands the cuts to migration numbers are contentious within Labor, but no reason for the delay is given.<\/p>\n
Several senior sources have told the ABC the government's own migration plan, which is still unfinished and will eventually be announced by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke at the National Press Club, will aim to achieve Treasury's net migration forecasts.<\/p>\n