Opposition leader Angus Taylor unveiled a hardline immigration policy on Tuesday that would cut 650,000 temporary visas, going further than Peter Dutton's 2025 election promise and beyond Pauline Hanson's bottom line. The plan reduces net overseas migration (Nom) by 60,000 more people than Dutton's proposal, which targeted about 160,000 arrivals a year. Taylor's plan cuts Nom to 100,000 in the first two years of a Coalition government, then allows growth to 130,000 in year three and 160,000 in year four.
Political shift to the right
Taylor's plan marks a significant shift in Australian politics, with all three major parties—Coalition, Labor, and One Nation—now proposing cuts to Nom. Hanson's surge in support since the 2025 election has coincided with intense focus on Nom, previously a routine budget forecast. Taylor called the plan "the largest cut to immigration in Australian history."
The plan targets overseas arrivals, who voters increasingly see as clogging essential infrastructure, taking houses, or rorting the rules. Taylor met demands from Nationals MPs and left space for working holidaymakers needed in fruit picking and rural hospitality. He also criticized universities, claiming one of Australia's biggest exports sells visa pathways, not higher education.
Humanitarian and skilled visa changes
Humanitarian visa places would be slashed to 10,000 under the Coalition, a 50% cut from Labor's cap of 20,000 per year. Immigration expert Alan Gamlen of Australian National University says achieving such cuts would be difficult and would result in economic losers. It remains unclear how skilled visas, currently demand-driven, could be increased by about 100,000 people in select industries as Taylor proposes. Labor believes the only way to increase uncapped visa numbers would be to allow migrants to arrive without a job offer.
Eliminating bridging visas, used by migrants awaiting processing for permanent residency, skilled work, or family rights, could be more difficult and expensive than Taylor imagines. The plan drew criticism from business and asylum seeker advocates.
Business and advocate reactions
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry boss Andrew McKellar said chasing arbitrary Nom targets was misguided and would hurt the economy. "Business rejects the false binary that Australia must choose either fewer migrants with higher skills or more migrants with lower skills," he said.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre's Jana Favero said Taylor was out of touch, adding, "Instead of focusing on the real problems – how to help people pay their rent, manage their mortgage or put food on the table – the Coalition is joining the far right's blame game." Hanson said the major parties had to be dragged to their cuts and couldn't be trusted to deliver. The political centre has shifted dramatically in One Nation's favour, and where it stays could change the country.
