Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says his migration policy would not end up creating a body similar to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Following in the steps of the conservative-leaning One Nation and Labor government, the centre-right Coalition released more detail on its migration policy, promising to cut net migration to 100,000 per year—around a third of the current intake.
The number of temporary visa holders will be reduced by around 650,000 spots over four years. In December, the government reported more than 3 million temporary visa holders in Australia.
The plan has drawn some comparisons with ICE due to its focus on strengthening enforcement of visa conditions and removing unlawful non-citizens.
The Coalition has promised to give Home Affairs greater powers to identify international students breaching work restrictions, while requiring most repeat temporary visa applications to be made offshore to “virtually eliminate” the continued renewal of bridging visas.
Applying for bridging visas is often a tactic used by migrants to extend their stay in Australia.
The Coalition also previously committed to removing 77,000 unlawful non-citizens.
Speaking on the Sunrise program on Oct. 7, Taylor said it’s “not about” developing an ICE squad.
“You know, our intelligence and security agencies are good at what they do, but they have to be given the resources and the capacity to do it, and that’s why we’ve committed extra funding in previous announcements to ensure that they can identify those people,” he said.
“They will deport them and they should, these are people who have overstayed their welcome.
“They no longer have a valid visa. They’ve exhausted all avenues for appeal, and they shouldn’t be in our country.”
Taylor also ruled out long-term stringent migration cuts, saying once Australia could cope, the Coalition planned to increase its migrant intake.
“We need to regain control, get some breathing space, catch up on housing construction, infrastructure, services, and then we can start to bring the numbers back up again,” he said.
When asked about claims by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson that the Coalition was copying their policies, Taylor said, “I have no idea what One Nation’s immigration policy is.”
Labor Housing Minister Clare O’Neil also spoke on Sunrise, where she expressed concern that the Coalition policy could result in the removal of thousands of workers from Australia’s economy.
“It is a magic pudding, and something that Australians are going to be able to see straight through,” she said.
Business Body Calls for Migration ‘Bidding War’ to End
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has called on politicians not to cut workers from vital industries.
“The Coalition is right to call for better prioritisation of critical skills, stronger integrity measures and a bigger productivity agenda, but the scale of these cuts will hurt our economy,” ACCI CEO Andrew McKellar said in a statement.
“Business urges all policymakers to end the bidding war on the net overseas migration number and focus instead on reforming migration settings to lift Australia’s productive capacity, so we can grow faster without seeing the levels of today’s home-grown inflation.”
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