The federal government is set to unveil a major new migration strategy on Monday that aims to dramatically cut Australia's intake.
Temporary migration has jumped sharply over the past year — largely driven by foreign students — leading to a record intake. The Net Overseas Migration is expected to have hit about 500,000 over the year to September.
This was previously described as a post-COVID 19 influx of returning foreign students, but the ABC understands the government believes this is more than a one-off surge.
Rather, it is seen as part of a broader international trend, involving middle-income families in India, South-East Asia and Latin America seeking better opportunities in high-income countries including Australia, Canada, the US and UK.
As part of the new migration strategy — which has already been signed off by cabinet and follows months of consultation with the higher education sector, business groups and other stakeholders — steps will be taken to cut the intake of foreign students entering low-quality courses.
The ABC understands the government will not cap the number of foreign students allowed in but will crack down on low-quality training providers and limit opportunities for student visas to be used as a backdoor for low-skilled workers to stay in Australia.
The new strategy will also involve new efforts to retain the best-performing students in Australia and new pathways to attract more high-skilled permanent migrants.
The changes follow a review, published in April, into the migration system by Martin Parkinson — the former secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet — which found the visa system was "broken".
Speaking ahead of the release of the new strategy, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged to fix the system.
"We do need to have our migration levels brought to a sustainable level", he said.
He foreshadowed a crackdown on foreign students in particular.
In 2020, Scott Morrison told international students to go home if they couldn't support themselves. Now, Australia wants them back, but will they be treated better as the cost of living rises?
"People are coming here, enrolling in courses that don't really add substantially to either their skills base or to the national interest here," Mr Albanese said.
There is a political imperative for the government to act on the issue.
For months, the opposition has been blaming the government for record levels of migration putting pressure on housing and infrastructure.
Last month, the annual Scanlon Foundation report on community attitudes found social cohesion at its lowest level since the survey began more than 15 years ago, with 33 per cent worried the migration intake is too high.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week announced plans to slash the number of migrants arriving in the UK by about 300,000. The measures included lifting the minimum pay for a foreign skilled worker by a third.
The Australian government has already taken a similar step, lifting the minimum wage for foreign skilled workers to $70,000 from July.
Posted Sat 9 Dec 2023 at 7:18pm Saturday 9 Dec 2023 at 7:18pm Sat 9 Dec 2023 at 7:18pm