Migrants would have to apply for asylum within the first few months of arriving in Australia under a Labor plan to stop a flood of bogus claims, while students’ right of appeal to extend their stay will be curtailed as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese scrambles to win Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s support for his immigration reforms.
Details of Labor’s tightly held plan to respond to the growing issue of visa-hopping were obtained by this masthead, a month after the government built up expectations of an eye-catching plan to regain control of migration in a speech Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was due to deliver at the National Press Club last month.
But this masthead reported on Wednesday that Albanese wanted a low-key announcement without the spectacle of a keynote speech that would elevate an issue that has driven the surge in support for Pauline Hanson and One Nation.
Albanese asked Taylor to meet on Wednesday to try to pass laws as early as next week should the Coalition support Labor. But while the Coalition is not opposed to the proposals, a deal is not in sight because Labor has not given ground to Taylor’s demands, including a tougher “ISIS brides” ban, that would help the opposition counter One Nation’s attacks.
Labor’s two-part draft bill includes proposals to drastically reduce the nearly 30,000 claims for asylum made in the last financial year, more than 85 per cent of which were rejected.
Sources familiar with the bill, under instruction not to leak the details, said it would allow migrants to apply for humanitarian assistance only in the first few months of their time in Australia, possibly after as little as 30 days.
This would stop people applying for asylum as a last resort to stay in Australia after spending years on other visas. More than 200 British citizens claimed asylum last year and were all eventually rejected, in an example of the abuse of the system.
The second proposal is aimed at stopping international students extending their stay by appealing visa rejections. The backlog of appeals from students already in Australia who had a second visa rejected has skyrocketed under Labor to above 50,000.
Once a student applies for a visa under the current system, they automatically gain appeal rights and can stay in Australia until a tribunal makes a resolution, usually years later.
The new model would make students file an “expression of interest” in applying for a visa for further studies. Officials could simply ignore applications for “low-value” courses – providing no avenue for appeal – while allowing successful applicants the right to apply for another visa.
Coalition sources heavily played down the chances Taylor would agree to Albanese’s proposals.
“We need a win, otherwise it’s not worth the transaction cost,” one Coalition source said of the pain Hanson would inflict if the Coalition backed Labor without landing a good deal.
Taylor said he wanted to see a net overseas migration figure of about 170,000, which is 50,000 fewer than Labor’s target, so that housing supply was brought into line with migration.
Taylor said in Canberra that the Coalition didn’t think the government’s proposed reforms were good enough. “We’ve laid out very clearly what our asks are and as it stands, we’re not getting those.”
Immigration expert Abul Rizvi said more students could leave under the proposed student visa changes. But he warned the current appeals backlog at the Administrative Review Tribunal might be replaced by a new backlog processing expressions of interest.
“There would be huge numbers of media stories about high capability students and temporary graduates, like nurses, falling between the cracks and becoming unlawful,” Rizvi said.
“In my view, a better approach would be to establish a list of courses/qualifications that make a potential onshore applicant eligible for a further student visa or a temporary graduate visa. All others would not be eligible to apply (and thus would not acquire appeal rights).”
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas echoed the views of business lobby groups in a speech at the Sydney Institute on Wednesday, urging Labor against a “race to the bottom” with One Nation and accusing left-wing activists of making migration unpopular.
“In my view, people on the far left who are understandably utterly horrified about the extraordinary rise of far-right politics in Australia and around the world would do well to engage in a moment of self-reflection,” he said, arguing that migration was key to the economy.
Victorian Premier Ben Carroll backed Malinauskas, saying “a strong, diverse economy is essential for Victoria’s prosperity and its future”.
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Paul Sakkal is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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