On Monday, One Nation shared its immigration policy.
The party wants to see “net-negative” overseas migration, or more people leaving Australia than arriving.
The plan would also see international student visa numbers capped at 100,000 per year, reduced from 157,000 in 2024-25.
Labor and Coalition leaders have criticised the plan, as well as industry bodies from the university, farming and business sectors.
Here’s what you need to know.
Migration data
Each year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals Australia’s net overseas migration rate.
This is the number of people who arrive and stay for at least 12 months, minus the number who leave and stay away for at least 12 months.
If 500,000 people move here for a year or more, and 200,000 leave for a year or more, net overseas migration would be 300,000.
The latest ABS data, released in December, shows net overseas migration fell to 306,000 in the 2024–25 financial year.
The rate was down for the second year in a row after reaching a record high of 538,000 in 2022–23, when migration surged following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
Temporary students made up the largest group of arrivals.
The Government expects migration to fall further, forecasting net overseas migration of 245,000 in 2026–27 and 225,000 in 2027–28.
One Nation plan
This week, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson announced that if it formed Government, the party would seek net-negative overseas migration levels.
This means more people are leaving the country than arriving.
The plan includes reducing the number of people who hold temporary visas, and “unlawful non-citizens,” by 750,000 over three years.
The number of visas given to family members of temporary skilled migrant visa holders would also be cut.
Hanson said “illegal migrants” would be given three months to leave Australia.
If they remain in Australia after this, the party would deport them and ban them from ever re-entering the country.
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Currently, people who overstay their visa are deported (and must pay the costs of this) and generally banned from re-entering for up to three years.
One Nation would also block people from migrating from countries with a “do not travel” warning from Smartraveller.
The most recent advice labels 26 destinations with a “do not travel” notice, including Ukraine, Lebanon, Russia, Palestine, Myanmar, Iran, and Afghanistan.
Intl students
In the 2024-25 financial year, the Government says international education contributed $53 billion to the economy.
Under One Nation’s plan, Hanson said universities could enrol 100,000 international students annually, down around 36% from 2024-25 numbers.
Hanson also proposed a new visa scheme to attract “the world’s brightest minds” to study postgraduate medicine, science and engineering in Australia.
Govt response
Health Minister Mark Butler said the plan would “smash industries like construction,” and “devastate the health sector and aged care and disabilities, which rely heavily on migrant workers, particularly in rural and regional Australia”.
At a press conference on Monday, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said One Nation needs to clarify its plan, adding “the numbers are not there”.
“They need to explain what their policies mean for hard-working small businesses in this country,” he added.
Industry response
Universities Australia is the peak body for the university sector.
Its CEO Luke Sheehy said: “A vote for dramatically fewer international students is a vote for a poorer, less skilled Australia.”
“You can’t take skills, jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity out of the country and pretend there will be no consequences,” Sheehy noted.
“If politicians want to rip that revenue out of the system, they need to tell Australians what replaces it.”
The Business Council of Australia addressed the plan in a statement, saying it is “concerned that One Nation’s proposal to cut migration by more than 750,000 people risks holding back economic growth and worsening Australia’s skills shortages.”
National Farmers’ Federation CEO Michel Guerin said in a statement:
“Temporary workers help put food on tables, with backpackers alone filling roughly one in seven farm jobs nationally... They are not the cause of Australia’s housing crisis.”
Guerin added that during COVID-19, worker shortages “contributed to fresh produce price increases of 15-25%.”
