While Opposition Leader Peter Dutton plans to slash migration numbers, he also wants to boost the number of tradies to build more houses.
Australia will elect the next Prime Minister on May 3, with migration shaping up to be a key issue ahead of the election.
The Coalition has proposed to reduce permanent migration by 25 percent and by 100,000 places compared to Labor.
Dutton claimed that cutting the number of migrants would help more young Aussies achieve home ownership.
“We’ve thought through it very carefully but our policy is to cut migration and stop foreigners from buying Australian homes so that we can get young Australians into homes more quickly,” Dutton told reporters in New South Wales.
“I’ve said, and I’m very serious about the fact that I want to be the prime minister for home ownership. The prime minister has crushed the dreams of millions of Australians. Young Australians are putting off having kids.”
However, despite this plan to cut the total number of migrants coming into Australia, Dutton still wants to bring in skilled workers into the country to help boost the housing supply.
“We’re not going to continue with Labor’s Big Australia policy because it’s crunching the housing market and the prime minister’s created this housing crisis,” Dutton said.
“But we have said that we want to prioritise, for example, tradesmen and women who bring skills in to help build the houses. We’re not going to prioritise yoga teachers.”
The opposition leader made his comments during a joint doorstop interview in Salamander Bay in the seat of Paterson, held by the Labor Party with a 2.6 percent margin.
Dutton said the Coalition has been very clear about its migration policies.
“[Albanese] didn’t tell any Australian about it ... he brought in a million people over two years. ... When has that happened in our country’s history before? It hasn’t. In fact, it’s a 70 percent increase on any two-year period in our country’s history,” Dutton said.
“Now, rightly and understandably, those people want homes when they get here, and the supply of housing has been crunched, because of the CFMEU and other factors.”
The cuts to migration Dutton is proposing would not include working holiday visas, Coalition Senator Bridget McKenzie told ABC Insiders on April 27.
What Is Labor Planning On Migration
Labor has largely avoided discussing migration during the federal election as it targets other policies.However, Labor’s 2025-26 federal budget predicted that migration would drop to 225,000 in the 2027, 2028, and 2029 financial years.
The budget shows a net overseas migration of 435,000 people in 2023-24, 335,000 in 2024-25 and 260,000 in 2025-26, dropping to 225,000 in 2026-27 and thereafter.
“Arrivals are expected to continue to decline in 2024–25 before stabilising in 2025–26. Departures are expected to pick up from recent sustained lows as more people who arrived after the pandemic near the expiry of their visa.”
However, on April 28, Labor announced an increase to student visa application fees from $1,600 to $2,000 in the next financial year. An increasing cost to applications could serve as a deterrent.
As part of their election costings, the party would save $760 million from increasing the visa application charge to $2,000 from July 1, 2025.
“The arrangements for Pacific Island and Timor-Leste primary applicants will remain the same,” Labor said.
In order to build more homes, Labor is also proposing to fast-track the qualification of 6,000 local tradies at a cost of $78 million.
“Recognising the skills of these 6,000 workers and helping them to become qualified tradies will help reach the Albanese Labor government’s goal to build 1.2 million new homes in five years,” it said.
