Taylor’s immigration policy risks pleasing no one, except perhaps John Howard

October 8, 2026 — 7:30pm

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In the past month, Labor, One Nation and finally the Coalition have all announced major immigration policies that share a common premise: too many people are coming to Australia, so the numbers must be cut to let infrastructure, such as new housing, catch up.

Labor’s policy changes were the most conservative, with a target of reducing immigration to 230,000 people per year over the next couple of years, down from the current level of just under 300,000 people. Prioritising construction and healthcare workers for visa approvals and reducing the number of backpackers to reach a target Australia was heading towards anyway is fairly sensible, and designed to send a “we hear you” message to voters without freaking out the business community or burning the economy down.

One Nation’s was the most radical, with a net negative migration target for three years and a ceiling of 130,000 after that. International students and the families of skilled migrants would be hit hard, which is likely to damage the economy, as Pauline Hanson herself conceded. No modelling was released, but One Nation’s judgment is that it got “the vibe” right.

And this week we learned that an Angus Taylor-led Coalition government would slash the intake to 100,000 per year for a couple of years before allowing it to edge back up to about 160,000 people per year, with 650,000 temporary migrants to bear the brunt and higher skilled workers to be targeted.

Already, the aged care sector, universities, ride-share companies and business lobby groups are all........

© The Sydney Morning Herald