Australia’s net overseas migration intake would be cut to roughly one-third of its current level under a Coalition plan announced as the party loses support to anti-immigration group One Nation.
Opposition immigration spokesman Angus Taylor said on Tuesday that, if elected at the next election, the Coalition would reduce annual net overseas migration from almost 300,000 people to about 100,000 in its first year in office.
The intake would then rise to 160,000 people a year after four years—well below Labor’s target of 225,000, but above One Nation’s proposed limit of 130,000.
The Coalition would also halve the annual refugee intake, reducing it from 20,000 people to 10,000.
“What we are proposing today is the biggest cut to immigration in the history of this country,” Taylor said.
“That is what is necessary right now given the failures of the Labor government.”
The proposal comes as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation gains ground in the polls, eroding the Coalition’s traditional voter base and pushing migration to the centre of the political debate.
Several elements of the Coalition’s plan mirror One Nation policies, including a requirement for prospective migrants to leave Australia and submit new visa applications from offshore.
The Coalition’s plan would reduce Australia’s net migrant intake to about one-third of its current level as One Nation gains support with its anti-immigration platform
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says the Liberals are taking her party’s policies
The measures are designed to curb so-called “visa hopping” by stopping migrants whose visas have expired from applying for another visa in Australia and lodging appeals to remain in the country.
That change would effectively eliminate most bridging visas.
“We will regain control of our borders, we will regain control of immigration in this country, and we will ensure that immigration policy is in the interests of our great country and no one else,” Taylor told reporters in Sydney.
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According to Coalition estimates based on undisclosed figures prepared with assistance from the Parliamentary Budget Office, the policy would reduce the number of temporary visa holders—excluding New Zealanders—by about 650,000 over four years and add roughly $260 million to the federal budget.
Taylor said lower migration would benefit the economy by focusing the program on skills Australia needs and increasing the proportion of skilled workers entering the country.
However, the Coalition will not release formal costings until closer to the 2028 election, when the government has provided updated forecasts for net overseas migration.
Temporary graduate visas would be scrapped, while student visa numbers would fall from 528,800 in 2025/26 to 456,200 in 2031/32.
The humanitarian intake would also be reduced to 10,000 places a year, with onshore applicants given a maximum of 30 days to submit an application.
The Liberals are under pressure from One Nation as voters look beyond Australia’s major political parties
Working holiday-maker visas, which farmers and regional communities rely on heavily, would be reduced by 23,700 by 2031/32. Fees would also increase for visa holders heading to non-regional areas.
But the Coalition will introduce an extra 15,000 skilled visas for major projects and a new agriculture visa from 2030.
Family reunion visas will be unchanged.
The Coalition will also draw up a list of safe nations to limit the number of vexatious protection visa claims.
Senator Hanson said the coalition was planning to build more homes than bring in more people to compete for them.
‘The coalition has turned up late to the grand final after both teams have headed back to the change rooms, waving a photocopy of One Nation’s immigration policy,’ she said.
‘Who trusts the major parties that created this mess to fix it anyway?’