Embattled Coalition leader Sussan Ley is refusing to set a fixed migration target, despite losing voters to One Nation due to growing community concern about the issue of mass immigration.
According to a Redbridge/Accent poll published on Sunday, One Nation is now winning 18% of the primary vote, just six points behind the Coalition and two behind the Liberal Party, with Pauline Hanson’s party seen as having the best immigration policy.
But the Liberal leader, who has been the subject of persistent leadership spill rumours, is concerned that specifying a migration cut of 100,000 will lead to attacks from Labor about potential economic damage and a hit to the budget, The Australian reported.
Opposition sources said Ms Ley would instead release an immigration plan before Christmas containing principles and directives, and highlighting visa classes where changes were needed.
Home Affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam said on Tuesday the Coalition immigration policy would reduce numbers but avoid “plucking a number out of thin air”, although he would not say which cohorts of migrants would be targeted.
Liberal MPs who helped push Ms Ley to dump “net zero” last week, including Andrew Hastie and Jacinta Price, are now pivoting to focus on immigration, with Mr Hastie calling it a “red-hot issue with people” and “out of control under Labor”.
“But cutting numbers isn’t enough. We need to make sure our immigration program serves the best interests of the Australian people. There should be two objectives in our reform: we must uphold social cohesion, and we must be laser focused on essential skills,” Mr Hastie said.
“We don’t want a nation of tribes, and we don’t want an economy that treats immigration like an endless revenue stream.”
The chief executives of Australia’s two biggest banks also spoke out about immigration levels at a committee hearing in Parliament on Tuesday.
Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn said migration levels should be “in the order of 180,000 per annum”, but the bank later clarified he was talking about net permanent migration, which is already set at 185,000 a year.
Westpac CEO Anthony Miller said Mr Comyn’s figure was “very close to right”, and said mass immigration was pushing housing prices up.
“Population growth, whether that be natural or immigration, to the extent that they want to have access to property or own property does increase demand,” he said.
“And unless you solve by increased supply … that would put pressure on prices.”
Ms Ley’s predecessor Peter Dutton also repeatedly refused to set a migration target in the lead-up to losing the May federal election, before eventually promising to reduce permanent migration by 25%, and net overseas migration by 100,000 people a year, which is still far above the historical average.
After taking over Ms Ley then scrapped both promises and with pro-multiculturalism immigration spokesperson Paul Scarr has since focussed on trying to win over migrant voters instead of pushing for cuts.
Header image: Left
