What Are People Saying About One Nation’s Plan to Cut 750,000 Temporary Visa Holders

One Nation’s proposal to remove 750,000 temporary visa holders from Australia over three years has triggered warnings across the political landscape.

The party argues a dramatic reset is needed to relieve pressure on housing and living standards.

International student visa numbers face some of the largest reductions, reverting back to 2015 levels, while migration levels overall would be cut to 2017 levels.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson accused successive governments of relying on “mass migration” to grow the economy—through increased demand for goods and services—leaving regular Australians to deal with costly housing and stretched infrastructure.

“Young Australians are being locked out of home ownership while wages and infrastructure fail to keep up,” Hanson said. “Patients are stuck in ambulances because there are not enough hospital beds.

Labor, Coalition Question Impact of Migration Cut

Health Minister Mark Butler had a different view about cutting migration levels.

“It would devastate the health sector and aged care and disabilities, which rely heavily on migrant workers, particularly in rural and regional Australia,” he said.

“What we need is a careful balance between the ability of the country to absorb migrant numbers and the needs of our economy.

“You do not get that through One Nation.”

Minister for Industry Tim Ayres said a cut to migrant numbers would be a “wrecking ball” through regional economies.

“It would hurt the agriculture sector, it would hurt the hospitality and the aged care sectors,” he said on ABC Radio National, in reference to the heavy reliance on working holiday workers in the regions.

“In particular, it would be devastating for tourism in Northern Australia.”

The centre-right Coalition, which has itself called for lower migration, stopped short of supporting One Nation’s proposed reduction.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor expressed concerns around the scale of the cuts, saying proper modelling was needed and this risked damaging businesses.

Hospitality, Care, Farming Sectors Need Migrant Workers: ACCI

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) CEO Andrew McKellar said businesses would be hit by “major cuts” to migration.

“Business is asking all decision-makers in Canberra to ensure migration policy settings are designed from what Australia needs up, not to chase an arbitrary [net overseas migration] figure,” McKellar said in a statement.

“Pubs, cafes, hotels, and accommodation providers desperately need chefs. Aged care homes and hospitals are short of staff already. Farmers and resources sector businesses continue to face persistent workforce shortages. Housing projects are being held up, while others remain unviable because of lack of workforce and skills shortages.”

McKellar did call for integrity to be restored to the system.

“Those who overstay their visas should be sent home, and the visa system must not be able to be gamed.”

Tourism Chief Concerned About Worker Shortage

Erin McLeod, CEO of the Australian Tourism Industry Council, said a reduction in backpackers threatens the viability of regional towns.

“Working holiday-makers fill critical roles where there are labour shortages across our regional destinations,” she said in a statement.

Student Volume Drop Would ‘Decimate’ Industry: Universities

The tertiary sector warned of thousands of job cuts if international student numbers slowed.

Phil Honeywood, chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia, told AAP the changes would “decimate an industry that employs 250,000 Australians and crucially keeps our public universities afloat.”

Universities Australia Chief Executive Luke Sheehy echoed those concerns, saying dramatically reducing international numbers would leave Australia “poorer” and less skilled.

“You can’t take skills, jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity out of the country and pretend there will be no consequences,” Sheehy said in a Sept. 14 statement.

“International education is one of Australia’s biggest exports. It supports jobs across the economy, helps build the skilled workforce we desperately need and strengthens our relationships around the world.”

Sheehy also questioned what would replace that lost revenue if student numbers were sharply reduced.

One Nation MPs Say Housing, Productivity Unable to Cope

Yet One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce defended the proposal, pointing to the 3 million temporary visa holders in the country.

“That’s more than half the population of Sydney,” he told AAP, alluding to the sheer scale of visitors as an issue.

Joyce said the policy was intended to bring the temporary migrant population back to previous levels and give Australia time to catch up on building new housing and infrastructure.

While One Nation Senator Tyron Whitten said there was simply too many workers for Australia’s level of productivity.

“The Reserve Bank’s head of economic analysis, Michael Plumb, said the lack of ‘capital deepening’—meaning less capital investment per worker—has held back labour productivity,” he told the Senate on Sept. 14.

A rapid growth in the number of workers can contribute to “capital shallowing” if investment in machinery, technology, and other productive capital fails to keep pace.

Put simply, a taxi company with 10 vehicles and 10 drivers would have one vehicle available for each worker to produce an income. However, if it employed 20 drivers without increasing its fleet, the amount of “capital” available per worker would halve, which also impacts productivity. Labour productivity is the amount of goods and services produced for each hour worked.

Crystal-Rose Jones contributed to this story.