Angus Taylor's wide-ranging remarks on immigration on Tuesday were less of a policy statement than they were an illuminating insight into the thinking within the current Liberal leadership.

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For regional communities, Taylor's address to the Menzies Research Centre presents a high-stakes balancing act. He is attempting to thread an impossibly fine needle: out-Hansoning Pauline Hanson to claw back disaffected voters, while desperately trying to keep regional industries onside. After all, the bush depends heavily on migration, backpackers, and temporary visa holders as the absolute bedrock of its agricultural and business models.

One wonders if this is simply the same policy Sussan Ley was about to release before she was dumped, repackaged as a "stop the planes Mk II" for a new political season. And with promises of an ICE-style Joint Agency Taskforce to deport legacy visa cases, the rhetoric is escalating. Conservative voters have every right to feel profoundly confused.

Is this the Coalition's unified stance, or is it merely the Liberal Party's opening bid while the Nationals proceed with a separate recipe stolen directly from One Nation?

Ultimately, the presentation lacked genuine substance and detail, erring heavily on the side of the dog whistle. Taylor was careful to say nothing that would alienate the Nationals tail that constantly tries to wag the Coalition dog, and consequently said very little at all. While the speech masqueraded as a bold policy agenda, it operated primarily as a thinly veiled attack on Labor.

Taylor insists that immigration under the current government has been far too high, yet he provides no ballpark figures of his own to correct the course. He singles out foreign students and temporary visa holders as a major part of the supposed problem, conveniently ignoring the reality that these cohorts make up a critical proportion of our casual and part-time workforce.

Furthermore, he claims their presence is "degrading" the quality of the student experience for the Australian-born, but fails to substantiate that inflammatory assertion in any meaningful way.

There is a strong counter-argument that interaction between local and foreign students benefits both groups. It provides valuable cultural exchanges, forges international contacts between potential future leaders, and broadens the minds of all concerned.

Then comes the explicit targeting. Note the repeated, pointed references to the 1700-strong cohort of Gazan refugees, who Taylor claims need to be "reassessed" because they are ostensibly a "high risk to our nation". Pauline Hanson herself could not have said it better.

The emphasis on legally binding "Australian values", while sounding worthy in a jingoistic kind of way, is little more than political window dressing. The reality of human nature dictates that people will swear up to whatever they need to say to get through the arrivals gate.

What they truly think in their heart of hearts is another matter entirely.

Queen Elizabeth I recognised this with the religious settlement of 1559 that bears her name, prompting Francis Bacon to observe she had no desire to "make windows into men's souls". Thought control was an impossible undertaking then and it remains so today - regardless of social media vetting and "values testing".

A famous pragmatist, Queen Bess recognised public conformity with the laws of the land was what mattered and that attempting to police perceived heresies in the private recesses of people's minds was entirely futile.

That is exactly the way the world was back then, and it remains the way it is right now. Taylor would do well to recognise that reality, whether he personally likes it or not.

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