Angus Taylor disowns Coalition policies behind 2022–23 migration surge

Angus Taylor may choose to rewrite the timeline, but the migration surge in 2022-23 was directly caused by the policies his own government has put in place. Dr Abul Rizvi reports.

ON ABC 7.30 (Monday, February 16, 2025), Leader of the Opposition Angus Taylor It was reminded that the net migration explosion in the 2022-23 period occurred within the framework of the policies implemented by the Coalition before the May 2022 Elections.

He makes a mockery of us all by claiming that these policy environments have nothing to do with the Coalition Government in which he is Minister.

Ahead of the May 2022 Elections, the Coalition Government was under intense pressure from the business community to rapidly increase immigration to address major labor shortages.

The Coalition responded by introducing unlimited work rights for students, free visas for students and working holidaymakers, and special COVID visas that allow temporary entrants, especially students, to extend their stay without having to continue studying and without needing sponsorship from an employer. It had significantly expanded its working holidaymaker programme.

In August 2022, the right-wing Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) was challenging action stating:

‘Australia currently faces an unprecedented nationwide worker shortage… Addressing this worker shortage should be a high priority for state and federal governments. ‘Australia’s international borders have reopened since the start of 2022, but worker shortages are still on the rise, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting 480,100 job openings in the May 2022 quarter.’

Former Opposition Leader in September 2022, despite taking steps to accelerate immigration towards end of Covid-19 Peter Dutton said:

“We need an increase in migration numbers, but it remains to be seen what the government will actually deliver, as this could take months, if not several years.”

In other words, a quarter of the way into the 2022-23 financial year, Dutton doubted the Labor Government could increase immigration quickly enough. At the time Labor was holding its jobs and skills summit and then Parkinson’s Review of the Migration System. This review was completed in March 2023 and the Government was due to begin implementing the recommendations shortly afterwards.

But by then, the 2022-23 financial year was about to end. Figures regarding the net migration explosion are starting to emerge. Students and working holidaymakers, two categories used by the coalition to boost migration, combined with a very strong labor market, enabled net migration to rise to over 500,000.

While there is an argument that Labor took too long to act to tighten policy, it was the Coalition that put its foot on the immigration accelerator. To claim otherwise, according to Taylor, is simply a denial of the facts.

Doctor Abul Rizvi He is an independent Australian columnist and a former Deputy Secretary of the Immigration Service. You can follow Abul on Twitter @RizviAbul.

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