Taylor says business opposition to migration cuts ‘vested interests’

Opposition leader Angus Taylor has denied the Coalition has been selective about the costing details of its migration policy, after multiple business and industry bodies slammed the proposal.

Taylor yesterday unveiled the opposition’s plan to cut migration to 100,000 a year, calling it “the biggest cut to immigration in the history of this country”.

Net overseas migration would be capped at 100,000 in the first and second years of a Coalition government, then rise to 160,000 by year four.

The Coalition would also cut the number of temporary visa holders by 650,000 over four years – or 162,500 a year.

Labor is pushing for a 225,000 a year target, while One Nation would cap net migration at 130,000 a year.

Speaking on Today, Taylor said his priority was not to outdo One Nation.

“We’ve seen the biggest increase in immigration in our history as a country, and that’s why we need the biggest cut - to breathe again,” he said.

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Coalition unveils plan for ‘biggest cut to immigration in Australian history’

“We’ve got to allow space to build the houses, to build the infrastructure, the services.”

He said the Coalition’s plan would also be to improve the standards for the skills that migrants to Australia would have.

“We saw 550,000 people come into the country in one year, and we still weren’t getting the skills we needed,” he said.

He described criticism from bodies such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce, the Property Council of Australia and the Business Council of Australia, as stemming from a vested interest in a “guest economy”.

“The country’s becoming a hotel, not a home,” he said.

“That’s what’s happened under Labor. And that might be okay for some business groups, but it’s not okay for our country.”

He denied “picking and choosing” which parts of the costings were released to the public, and said that by raising the standards of who could come to Australia, migration could be budget-neutral.

“The reason you can cut the numbers and still have a balanced budget outcome, and strengthen the economy, is because we’ve been bringing the wrong people into the country,” he said.

“When you raise the standards, they pay more tax, they make a bigger contribution. They commit to our country and they become Australians, and that’s what we want to see.”