Recent comments from Coalition Shadow Immigration Spokesperson Jonno Duniam expose inconsistencies in the party’s immigration policy, raising questions about feasibility, cost, and intent.

Coalition Shadow Immigration Spokesperson Jonno Duniam made major changes to the Coalition’s recently announced immigration policy during this short interview with SkyNews’ Andrew Clennell.

His responses highlighted the ‘thought bubble’ nature of the policies announced to date. But were the changes to policy he announced deliberate or was he just expecting the usual softball SkyNews interview and got caught out by Clennell’s probing questions? There would be merit in the changes Duniam announced during the interview being checked with Angus Taylor who appears to have a different view.

Social media vetting for Australian values

The Coalition policy states that the Coalition will:

“Make compliance with the Australian Values Statement a binding requirement for visa holders”. “Enable visas to be refused or cancelled where individuals fail to uphold these values”. “Establish an Enhanced Screening Coordination Centre within the Department of Home Affairs. This would also see social media screening of visa applicants move from an as needed risk basis to become a standard feature of vetting” (my emphasis added).

“Make compliance with the Australian Values Statement a binding requirement for visa holders”.

“Enable visas to be refused or cancelled where individuals fail to uphold these values”.

“Establish an Enhanced Screening Coordination Centre within the Department of Home Affairs. This would also see social media screening of visa applicants move from an as needed risk basis to become a standard feature of vetting” (my emphasis added).

A clear emphasis in the Coalition policy is a shift from the current risk-based use of social media vetting to it becoming ‘a standard feature of vetting’. But during the interview Duniam said:

“You’d operate on a risk-based approach and those individuals coming from riskier jurisdictions would certainly receive a greater deal of attention than those coming from a less risky jurisdiction…This is about weeding out people who are going to come here and incite hatred, incite violence”.

“You’d operate on a risk-based approach and those individuals coming from riskier jurisdictions would certainly receive a greater........

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