Liberals to target international students and skilled migrants in proposed cuts to immigration | Australian immigration and asylum

Liberal MPs say skilled migration and the number of international students must be reduced to reduce arrivals into Australia from overseas, but have warned colleagues not to demonize multicultural communities ahead of the next election.

As opposition leader Sussan Ley struggles to keep moderates and conservatives together, the Coalition is preparing to scrap a policy bill that would significantly reduce immigration. Ley and shadow ministers Jonathon Duniam and Paul Scarr want the policy debate to take place before the end of the year and could link the location of expatriates to the capacity to finance house construction, health and education.

New South Wales Liberal Jess Collins said skilled migration figures needed to be reduced.

“The first cut will come from there,” he said.

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“I know we need skilled immigration in many areas and tradespeople are a big part of that, but we know that unions are stopping us from recruiting skilled workers and making it very, very difficult for skilled people to use their skills in Australia.

“We need to look at the list of skills, match them with the skills we really need, and then any redundant, unnecessary skills that come in can be cut out.”

Collins works closely with shadow defense secretary Angus Taylor, Ley’s leadership rival.

South Australian Leah Blyth, a conservative Liberal senator who has sided with powerbroker Alex Antic, highlighted cuts to overseas education.

“I see foreign students as a way to regulate immigration numbers,” he said.

“I think I’m really careful to make sure we’re nuanced enough about this and that we’re not anti-immigration…we have to be really careful about how we do this in a sensitive way.”

Blyth, the child of immigrants of British, Indian and Burmese descent, said careful messaging was necessary.

“I’m a first-generation Australian. I was only able to come here because Australia abolished the White Australia policy, or my family was able to do that. So I’m pro-immigrant and I can see that the lifestyle you can make on your own in Australia is a lucky country.”

Blyth added that the Liberals had “abandoned the centre-right of policy” and needed a sensible immigration position to win voters back from One Nation.

“I worry that if it goes on too long, if the Liberal party abandons its centre-right position, there may be other things that will fill the gap,” he said.

Commonwealth Bank governor Matt Comyn told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that limiting immigration to around 180,000 people each year would give the federal government and states the “ability to plan for critical infrastructure, including housing”.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott, whose views remain influential among sections of the parliamentary party, described Australia’s immigration intake as “miles too much” and called for cuts by a third; this returned to Howard era levels of around 100,000 people.

Abbott used the Institute of Public Affairs’ podcast to call for immigration levels that are good for Australia, but “not because they are good for immigrants”.

“The productivity of immigrants is likely to be below the productivity of the general population on average right now,” he said.

“No one should be coming from abroad to do a job that a better educated and higher paid Australian could do, and I think that’s the way forward.”

Liberal supporter Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who accused Labor of pursuing a “mass immigration agenda”, said significant cuts or a temporary pause in parts of the immigration program were needed.

“Our nation’s future success means prioritizing family over immigration,” he said this week.

“It’s time for the Liberals to stop pursuing sectional interests like elite metropolitan universities and big business lobbies.”

Sarah Henderson, a critic of Ley’s leadership in the party, called for a reinstatement of the Dutton-era policy restricting university enrollment at the weekend. This plan would require student groups to include no more than 25% of foreign nationals.

Shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg said on Tuesday Australia needed more skilled tradesmen to migrate and accused the CFMEU construction union of blocking foreign workers. The underlying problem, he said, is a chronic lack of housing supply.

“Even if you turned off the tap on people coming from abroad today, it wouldn’t solve the housing crisis. Australia needs to build more homes.”

Net overseas migration (NOM) is the difference between the number of people arriving in Australia and staying there for more than 12 months and the number leaving on a long-term and permanent basis.

NOM for the year ended March 31, 2025 was 315,900. The Treasury expects this figure to fall to 260,000 this financial year and 225,000 in the next three years.

Labor has left permanent immigration intake unchanged for this financial year at 185,000 people.

The opposition is expected to determine the general principles of its policy position in the coming weeks. A target is not expected until the next federal election.

New housing construction figures, as well as health and education funding, should be taken into account when determining Australia’s overseas migration intake, Duniam said on Tuesday.

“I think you’ll see us explain how we’re going to set a figure, how we’re going to take a common-sense approach, how we’re going to work with both state and territory authorities to find out how many people we can sustainably bring into the country without overloading public health and education,” he told the ABC on Tuesday afternoon.