‘Backpacker ballot’ to form part of sweeping migration crackdown
Some backpackers will have to rely on a ballot to decide whether they remain in Australia under Labor’s long-awaited migration crackdown.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Thursday he would target backpackers, visa hoppers and overstayers in a National Press Club address – titled “who arrives, who stays, who leaves”.
Tony Burke has announced the government’s new migration policy. Alex Ellinghausen
Under a policy that targets backpackers, those in the second and third years of their stay will be put in a ballot to control how many remain.
There will be only 45,000 places for year two and 5000 places for year three, essentially whittling the backpacker program down to two years.
Last year, there were 57,000 people who would have qualified to go in the ballot for year two and 31,000 people who would have qualified for year three.
If those figures remained the same this year, it would mean about 38,000 backpackers would have to leave the country.
The rule exempts backpackers from the United Kingdom who are allowed to remain in Australia for three years under the Free Trade Agreement.
Burke said the federal government would work to change this with its British counterpart.
The government will also remove people overstaying their visas to new detention centres, visa hoppers, not allow new international students or graduates to add their families to their visas unless they are completing a doctorate and introduce a “no further stay” condition to all visitor visas to ensure they are not used as a pathway to remain in Australia.
The reforms will also ensure skilled migration is prioritised in healthcare, construction, education, law enforcement, defence and agricultural sectors, and target migration agents who knowingly support visa applications without merit.
Backpackers at Bronte Beach on Christmas. The government’s migration reforms could see almost 30,000 backpackers kicked from Australia. Flavio Brancaleone
Burke admitted the changes did not go as far as he would have liked but said drastic cuts would impact every area of the economy.
It comes after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor this week to discuss tougher measures on migration, however the two failed to come to an agreement.
“We need immigration. We just need to make sure that it is targeted for the needs of Australia in numbers and across the different categories that work for our economy,” Burke said.
Instead, he argued that targeting those seeking to rort or defraud the migration system will help bring Australia’s net overseas migration figure of 292,100 down to 225,000 by the next financial year.
Labor has been seeking to reduce net overseas migration to an ambitious target of 225,000 people a year, after it peaked post-pandemic at a record 556,000 in 2023, following pressure from One Nation and growing public sentiment.
Fresh figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics just an hour before the address put net overseas migration for the 12 months to March at 292,100 – below the Treasury forecast of 294,000 and above Labor’s target.
Pauline Hanson and her right-hand man, Barnaby Joyce, said they would watch the government’s announcement closely as they accused Labor of copying One Nation.
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce and One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson. Alex Ellinghausen
“They’ve sat on their hands. One Nation has forced them to reduce this immigration policy, but it’s not going to work,” Hanson told reporters in Canberra.
“It’s all smoke and mirrors. And again, Labor continues to lie to the people with a hidden agenda, I don’t trust them.”
Joyce accused Labor’s policy of being “an exact replication” of One Nation’s approach.
“That’s One Nation’s policy. He can’t possibly be about to announce One Nation’s policy,” he told Today.
“I like Tony, but honestly, he was the greatest no show since Amelia Earhart when he didn’t turn up to the Press Club.”
One Nation plans to cut migration by 750,000 people over three years, creating a negative net overseas migration figure during that period.
The far-right party has failed to conduct any modelling or costing of the policy.
It also wants to ban all migrants from 26 countries, defined by those where the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warns Australians “do not travel” because of the risk of terrorism or extreme violence.
The federal government will target visa overstayers and stop students from bringing family members into the country. Getty
While industry leaders and economists warned that One Nation’s drastic migration plan could trigger a recession, the Coalition hopes to tie net overseas migration to new housing supply.
Shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg estimated that would mean the target would be 180,000 people per year during his own National Press Club address in August.
However, Taylor had to walk that back and confirm it was not party’s official policy.
Burke’s announcement comes more than six weeks after his original address was cancelled at the last minute after what’s understood to have been a heated cabinet discussion.
Cabinet signed off on Thursday’s package of reforms on Wednesday, when his rescheduled address was announced.
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