Business groups and miners welcome Labor's migration policies, but farmers angry
Australian Immigration Minister Tony Burke has announced new policies to reduce net overseas migration to 225,000 annually. The plan includes stricter visa rules for students and backpackers, though it has drawn criticism from the farming and hospitality sectors.
Why it matters
The policy shift reflects a major political debate in Australia regarding the balance between economic labor needs and population growth management.
Link copied Share Share article Tell us about your experience.
Minister for Immigration Tony Burke announced Labor's much-anticipated migration policy reforms on Thursday.
He said Labor wanted to push net overseas migration (NOM) down to 225,000 people a year, from 292,000 where it currently sat.
He also wants to tighten visa rules for international students and backpackers, and to increase efforts to remove visa overstayers from the country.
Labor will restrict international student families, cap longer backpacker stays and target visa overstayers.
His announcement came days after One Nation unveiled plans to push NOM into negative territory for three years before imposing an annual cap of 130,000, and as the Coalition was finalising plans for a policy expected to pursue NOM of between 150,000 and 170,000 people.
"We are now walking straight into an argument," Mr Burke declared on Thursday.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in