The rise of the One Nation-curious CEO

September 16, 2026 — 3:56pm

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On Wednesday morning, ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos launched himself rather clumsily into a politically toxic debate on migration, by urging Australia to start handling its borders like a business.

“In a company, in a business, you choose the people you hire. You don’t just open the doors and say, ‘Well, whoever wants to work with this company, just come in’. That’s not how it works,” he told an Australian Financial Review summit.

“You choose the people you hire, you choose the people you bring to your country, but you need them. You need them to grow the economy because they will bring talent.

If you think this sounds familiar, you’re not wrong. Matos’ interjection bore echoes of former prime minister John Howard’s famous “we will decide” line delivered way back during the 2001 election campaign, which has set the tone for Australia’s immigration debate ever since.

His plea for Australia to choose people based on the country’s need also sounds an awful lot like our skilled migration program, which has existed in some form since the 1970s and has been widely copied by the likes of the United Kingdom, New Zealand and........

© The Sydney Morning Herald