Tony Burke is set to unveil a crackdown on temporary visas at the National Press Club on Thursday, with Labor aiming to cut Australia’s net overseas migration to 225,000 people by 2028. The plan leans on regulation, not new legislation, after talks with the Coalition over stronger laws fell apart. That’s the machinery of control at work: when parliament stalls, the state reaches for the rulebook and keeps moving the queue.
Who Gets Hit First
International students are in the firing line. Under the proposed changes, they would effectively be banned from bringing family members to Australia, even though student numbers are expected to stay untouched. Last financial year, 337,427 student visas were granted, and 45,991 of those went to secondary applicants, classed as dependents or family. The government is not talking about fewer students. It’s talking about fewer people allowed to come with them.
Burke’s speech carries the title “The Work of Managing the Migration Program: Who Arrives, Who Stays, Who Leaves.” The wording says plenty. It frames migration as a sorting exercise run from above, with officials deciding who gets in, who gets delayed, and who gets pushed out of the line. The people affected don’t get to write the script.
The Queue as a Weapon
The government also wants to target temporary migrants seeking to bring family members to Australia, switch visas or extend their stay. Under Ministerial Direction 119, any worker applying for a skilled visa from overseas is now at the back of the queue, pushing visa wait times from days to over a year in some cases. That’s not a neutral process. It’s a hierarchy made visible in paperwork, with some applicants shoved aside while the state claims it’s merely being “sensible.”
Burke had planned to announce the policy six weeks earlier, but delayed the address amid disagreement between ministers weighing competing priorities. Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek dismissed reports of the split as “overstated.” She said, “We’ve been having sensible, detailed conversations because that is what a mature government does,” and added, “We want to have a sensible policy as a government that recognises that some immigration is still very important to this country. We also want to make sure the debate retains at its centre the reminder that Australia has been built on migration.”
The line sounds polished. The policy still tightens the screws.
What They Call Reform
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor met twice last week as Labor sought support for its immigration reforms. The government wanted legislation that would restrict the time people had to make onshore asylum claims and limit international students’ right of appeal to remain in Australia. Those talks stalled after the Coalition presented a list of demands including tougher restrictions on so-called ISIS brides and linking migration to housing completions. Coalition figures later argued the government already had sufficient powers to curb migration through regulation.
During Question Time on Wednesday, Burke said the “best” outcome would have been to tackle migration through legislation. He said, “In the absence of that, there are still more levers the government will be able to use.” That’s the whole game in one sentence. If one lever breaks, another gets pulled.
Under pressure to reduce overseas arrivals, Burke has already paused or slowed processing of working holiday maker visas in July and re-prioritised processing of skilled visas. Asked by Indi MP Helen Haines about the “go slow” on working holiday visas hurting regional Australia, Burke told parliament the government needed to get net overseas migration “down.” He said, “We need to make sure that we deal with the numbers overall and do so in a sensible, targeted way that provides the easiest pathway through for the Australian economy.”
The Political Theatre Around the Clampdown
Ahead of Burke’s speech, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson accused Labor of “starving” regional Australia of labour and tourists. She said, “The government would rather destroy industries in regional Australia than face the problem of unskilled arrivals and students head on.” Hanson’s attack came before the government’s own forecast, which would mean an extra one million people in Australia over the next four years if reached.
One Nation this week announced it would cut the number of visas by 750,000 over three years, resulting in net negative migration. The proposal, which targets international students and the families of skilled migrants, has been criticised by the Coalition and Labor. Environment Minister Murray Watt said it would “probably drive the Australian economy into recession.” The opposition is finalising its own migration proposal, which Shadow Home Affairs Minister Jonno Duniam said it will release in the coming weeks. Nationals Leader Matt Canavan said he was on a unity ticket with Coalition leader Angus Taylor, who agreed immigration numbers “must come down.” Canavan said, “We’ve got to get this right in terms of balancing the impacts to the economy,” and added, “I don’t see that as an issue seen as the election is not for another 18 months.”
The parties argue over pace, numbers and optics. The people at the bottom get the wait times, the restrictions and the family separations.