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Liberal party’s future tied to strong housing policy, shadow minister says

Sarah Basford Canales

The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, will tie the Liberal’s future to adopting a strong housing policy, sounding the alarm at a centre-right event this afternoon.

Bragg, one of the party’s leading moderates, will use the address at the Centre of Independent Studies event in Sydney to warn that depopulation in former Liberal inner-city strongholds will cost the party even more votes in future elections.

In a broad speech on housing policy ideas – yet to be officially adopted by the opposition – Bragg will suggest upzoning (rezoning areas for taller buildings) and gentle density (increasing density in single-detached neighbourhoods) could increase housing supply and construction productivity in the short-term.

The shadow housing minister will say:

Put simply, we need more buildings. It doesn’t matter what they are. We need to build like mad. We need to think outside the box – every back yard could potentially host a new house or granny flat if the owner wanted it.

Shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

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• 12m agoReport finds many Australians with psychosocial disabilities falling through support gap
• 13m agoLiberal party’s future tied to strong housing policy, shadow minister says
• 15m agoGood morning

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Member of NSW national parks firefighting team dies

NSW premier Chris Minns said a member of the national parks firefighting team has died on firegrounds in the state.

Minns said a man was likely killed by a tree, “obviously a terrible reminder of how difficult and dangerous this work is and how the people who put their lives on the line to protect lives and property do an incredible job for us in this state”.

“It’s a deeply distressing turn of events, and a sad day for New South Wales this morning,” Minns told ABC News Breakfast.

There are about 700 firefighters across NSW working today to contain the blazes, including nine that remain uncontained.

Minns said it was “quite a forboding beginning to the beginning of the bushfire season” being only a couple days into the summer season.

Report finds many Australians with psychosocial disabilities falling through support gap

Sarah Basford Canales

More than 130,000 Australians with psychosocial disabilities are slipping through a support gap, receiving neither NDIS or health system care, a new report by the Grattan Institute has found.

The report, released Sunday night, said the NDIS provided nearly $6bn to support about 66,000 people with psychosocial disabilities last year but more than 130,000 received nothing from either the disability insurance scheme or mental health system.

The institute’s disability program director, Sam Bennett, said a new national program should be established outside the NDIS but using existing contributions to fix the gap without adding to the scheme’s funding pressures.

Bennett said:

Rebalancing the system so there are stronger recovery-oriented supports available inside and outside the NDIS would transform the lives of Australians with psychosocial disability and make better use of existing funds.

Liberal party’s future tied to strong housing policy, shadow minister says

Sarah Basford Canales

The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, will tie the Liberal’s future to adopting a strong housing policy, sounding the alarm at a centre-right event this afternoon.

Bragg, one of the party’s leading moderates, will use the address at the Centre of Independent Studies event in Sydney to warn that depopulation in former Liberal inner-city strongholds will cost the party even more votes in future elections.

In a broad speech on housing policy ideas – yet to be officially adopted by the opposition – Bragg will suggest upzoning (rezoning areas for taller buildings) and gentle density (increasing density in single-detached neighbourhoods) could increase housing supply and construction productivity in the short-term.

The shadow housing minister will say:

Put simply, we need more buildings. It doesn’t matter what they are. We need to build like mad. We need to think outside the box – every back yard could potentially host a new house or granny flat if the owner wanted it.

Shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Good morning

Good morning, and happy Monday. **Nick Visser **here to jumpstart the day’s blog. Here’s what’s on deck:

Andrew Bragg, the shadow housing minister, will use a speech later today to tie the future of the Liberal party to a strong housing policy. He will suggest upzoning and gentle density could increase housing supply and construction productivity in an address at the Centre of Independent Studies.

Dozens of homes have been destroyed across New South Wales and Tasmania amid a spate of bushfires, spurred by hot, dry, windy conditions this weekend. 60 fires are still burning across NSW and 11 in Tasmania.

Stick with us.