Opposition Leader Peter Dutton Walks Back Promise to Cut Net Migration

The Coalition will not set a target for net migration before the next election, Peter Dutton has said, walking back a previous commitment to nearly halve the intake.

“We’ll have a look at the economic settings when we come to government,” he said in a Sky News interview on Sunday, twice refusing to re-commit to the target he set in May of 160,000 a year.

That target, which relates to temporary migrants such as international students, was one of two the Coalition had set, the other being a reduction in the permanent intake.

Mr Dutton has affirmed that policy, which would see the annual number of permanent visas fall from 185,000 to 140,000 for two years and then rise slightly again.

As we enter the final year of the parliamentary term, pressure is growing for alternative solutions. And if the Coalition’s immigration policy announcement is anything to go by, it will need to lift its game on nuclear.

“What we’ve said is that we want our [permanent] migration program to step down in the first two years,” he said.

But the permanent program, which mostly grants visas to people who are already in Australia, bears little relationship to net migration, the figure that surged to well over half a million last year and has been the subject of political debate.

The government expects that will fall back to 260,000 this financial year, partly because there will be more departures from the students and workers who were allowed to extend their stays under the Morrison government.

That is a forecast, not a target, reflecting the fact that student and temporary worker numbers are not currently capped, and fluctuate based on demand.

But Mr Dutton had been explicit that he would set a target, saying in May the opposition had “carefully looked at how you can do that” but declining to give specifics.

Then in November, the Coalition came out against Labor’s plan to set an international student cap, promising an alternative policy of its own that it has yet to outline.

“We’ll set net overseas migration … according to the mess that we inherit from this government, that’s the approach that we’ll take,” he said at the time.

It leaves the opposition’s plans to reduce migration — a key plank of its election pitch — uncertain. Its only specific proposal so far is to reduce the permanent refugee and humanitarian intake from 20,000 to 13,750 per year.

Labor’s own plans are in limbo after it was unable to pass international student caps. Last week, Immigration Minister Tony Burke published a revised list of eligible occupations for employer-sponsored work visas.

That was more expansive than a draft version published earlier in the year but drew criticism from construction industry groups for excluding some construction workers.

The occupation list applies to any worker earning an annual salary of between $70,000 and $130,000.

The government raised the minimum income last year, which had previously been $53,900. Under its new policy, those earning $130,000 can apply for visas no matter their occupation.

It had also planned to introduce a new visa pathway for low-paid workers who filled workforce gaps, such as care workers and labourers, but has not progressed this.