New figures released this week show net overseas migration has fallen for the second year in a row, but remains well above pre-pandemic levels.
As a result, migration is shaping up as a political battleground.
The major parties all have different ideas about how many people should come to Australia and under what conditions.
Here’s what they each say.
The numbers
Australia measures migration using a figure called net overseas migration.
It’s 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 to Australia 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 shows net overseas migration fell to 306,000 in 2024–25.
That’s 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.
Labor
Labor says it is not trying to cut migration sharply, but to make it more targeted.
Australia’s permanent migration program is currently capped at 185,000 places a year. This is the number of people who can be granted permanent residency through the program each year.
Around 71% of those places are allocated to skilled migrants, rather than people coming to join family members.
The Government has also overhauled the temporary skilled migration system.
The old Temporary Skill Shortage visa has been replaced by a new Skills in Demand visa, which allows highly paid specialists to secure a four-year visa in as little as seven days.
Labor has also tightened rules for international students in recent years, although the number of student visas available increased slightly in 2026.
The Coalition
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Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has made migration one of his first major policy priorities since taking over the Liberal leadership in February this year.
The Coalition says it wants tighter controls on who comes to Australia.
Its plan includes making agreement with “Australian values” a legal condition of holding a visa, introducing mandatory social media checks for visa applicants and creating a dedicated taskforce to identify and deport visa overstayers.
The Coalition says the taskforce would target 65,000 unresolved overstayer cases. It has not announced a specific migration target.
This week, Taylor also distanced the Coalition from Pauline Hanson’s call to end multiculturalism.
“I judge people on their character and their conduct,” he said. “If she wants to judge people based on the colour of their skin or their race, One Nation needs to explain that.”
One Nation
Reducing migration is one of One Nation’s key policies.
The party wants to cap visa arrivals at 130,000 a year and reduce net overseas migration to -100,000, meaning more people would leave Australia than arrive.
One Nation also wants to refuse entry to migrants from countries it says promote extremist ideologies and withdraw Australia from the United Nations Refugee Convention.
Greens
Rather than focusing on reducing numbers, the Greens want Australia to accept more refugees and treat people seeking asylum more humanely.
Australia currently accepts 20,000 refugees each year. The Greens want to increase that to 50,000 places
annually and establish a Royal Commission into the
treatment of refugees over
the past decade.
They also want to end indefinite detention by introducing a seven-day limit on how long someone can be held.
Crossbench
Independent MP Zali Steggall has argued immigration helps drive “population growth, workforce expansion, cultural diversity and long-term economic resilience.”
Queensland MP Bob Katter, meanwhile, was ejected from Parliament in February after calling for “no migration without assimilation”.
He has also called for bans on migrants from the Middle East and North Africa, specifically Muslims.
