Tony Burke signals an immigration shift as Labor confronts migration reality

The immigration debate in Australia is moving away from slogans and scare campaigns towards the more difficult question of how immigration should actually be managed, writes Dr Abul Rizvi.

Immigration Minister after more than a year trying to avoid talking about immigration policy Tony Burke Finally, he talks about immigration policy. Much of what he has said recently has probably been deliberately misrepresented.

But given the multitude of policy issues facing Burke, what can we make of what he actually said, and what might it mean for the future of immigration policy?

Burke’s comments On integration versus assimilation of immigrants restatement of policy for at least 50 years. misunderstanding of words This incident, uncovered by the usual suspects, shows how far the quality of public debate on immigration policy in Australia has fallen.

For example, Greek and Italian immigrants in the 1950s and 1960s, although completely loyal to Australia, would never “assimilate”. Former Minister of Immigration Al GrassbyHe introduced the term “” in 1973.multiculturalism” to reflect the fact that first- and possibly second-generation immigrants will always retain some aspects of their own culture (and actually lead existing residents to adopt some of the newcomers’ culture).

Much of the deterioration in the public debate on migration stems from the failure of successive governments to develop and articulate a long-term plan for migration; which leads to the void being filled by One Nation, and now the Coalition’s desperate attempts to play One Nation lite (while trying not to look like Donald Trump).

Against this backdrop, it was good to see Burke talking more broadly about immigration, rather than merely responding to issues raised in the media.

I’m talking to Indian Link Media Group Pawan Luthra Podcast Last week Burke made several broad statements that were in fact consistent with long-standing Labor Party policy but not entirely consistent with the Albanian Government’s actions over the last four years.

Leaving aside the inevitable political point-scoring, the key policy points Burke emphasized were in the following areas:

managing the pace of migration;
Addressing the issue of “permanent temporary” visa holders and guest workers;
increased skill targeting; And
The importance of social cohesion and citizenship.

Burke’s statements were necessarily wide-ranging. I hope he will add some detail to these statements when he announces the 2026-27 Migration Program at the end of this month.

Managing migration speed

Unlike him (frankly stupid) last year’s statements about “There is no magic number” On immigration, Burke acknowledged that a long-term immigration plan would restrict government flexibility. “It is not possible to have unlimited immigration without causing problems with housing and infrastructure. That’s why we need to make sure that this is managed and its tempo is adjusted.”.

Although it may seem like an obvious statement for Burke and his predecessors, Clare O’NeilThis represents a huge step forward. The fear of being labeled as supporting “Great Australia” overwhelmed them. They now have this label even though they have no long-term migration plan.

Burke’s challenge now will be to explain what he plans to do about “accelerating” immigration and how it will be managed and achieved. I called for this My address to the National Press Club In mid-2024.

Burke notes that the Albanian Government has reduced net migration from its peak of 500,000 in 2022-23 by tightening the extraordinarily loose policies it inherited from the Morrison Government. Much of this tightening was actually done by O’Neil. Further tightening of student visas in recent months has been made by the Deputy Minister. Julian Hill (ironically it mainly targets students from South Asia, especially India).

We have yet to see Burke support a policy shift towards broader immigration policy rather than a boat arrival policy. Immigration Law Preventing entry of Iranian visitor visa holders.

To reduce net migration to the Treasury’s estimated 225,000 in 2026-27, which is key to “accelerating” migration as he says is necessary, Burke needs to take the lead.

Permanent temporary migrants and guest workers

While Labor has long recognized the need to address the issue of “permanently temporary” immigration and avoid low-skilled guest worker programs, the Albanian Government has done relatively little in this area. Former National Leader dismissed David LittleproudThe Agricultural Visa, the largest and most abused low-skilled guest worker visa in Australian history.

The Albanian Government abolished the Coalition’s unlimited work rights and COVID visa for students. But he has done little to solve a problem he recognized as a problem more than a decade ago.

In fact, the Albanian Government has authorized Pacific Australia Labor Mobility (PALM) program (the exact definition of a low-skilled guest worker visa) continued despite a large death/injury rate, worker exploitation, and workers fleeing and/or seeking asylum.

If Burke had been true to his word on guest worker visas, he would have eliminated the PALM plan. But this will not happen because it will buy him a fight he cannot win with the ministers of foreign affairs, labor and agriculture.

It could also buy a fight with every farm lobby group in the country, lobby groups that have been surprisingly silent on One Nation policies to reduce net migration to minus 100,000 per year; This would require the removal of all visas for the agricultural industry and regional Australia.

Burke should try to provide an opportunity skill development path For permanent residence of PALM visa holders. Currently, PALM visa holders must enter the Pacific Participation Visa lottery to have even a remote chance of gaining permanent residence. This is a terrible way to manage permanent resident visas.

Skill targeting

Burke says he not only wants to reduce the number of “permanently temporary” migrants, but also attracts the brightest and best and better targets Australia’s long-term skills needs. This is good to hear, as Burke has done little in these areas to date.

Apart from students, at the end of March 2026 the number of people in all other long-term temporary entry categories in Australia (temporary graduates, skilled temporary visa holders, working holidaymakers and New Zealand citizens) was at record levels. In addition, the number of bridging visa holders (people already in Australia and applying for another land visa) reached a new record at 432,300; This is a sure sign that the visa system is in deep trouble.

To achieve the goals he has set for himself, Burke must:

Replace the current sky-high student visa denial strategy (inefficient, untargeted and chaotic) with one that actually targets the best students. This will be possible by introducing a solid university entrance exam as the main criterion for the first student visa.
Limit the issuance of further onshore student visas to applicants who register to attend high-quality courses in areas with Australia’s long-term skills needs. This will have the added benefit of addressing the huge backlog of onshore student applications at the Administrative Review Tribunal, as well as bridging the visa backlog.
Similarly, limit temporary postgraduate visas to students trained on high-quality courses in areas with Australia’s long-term skills needs.
Develop robust visa regulation to ensure that highly skilled construction industry has onshore access to employer-sponsored visas.
Removing the third working holidaymaker visa option and standardizing the English language requirement for working holidaymakers.
Encourage the country’s large numbers of failed asylum seekers to leave and/or carefully increase removals (not the Trump way, as One Nation and the Coalition advocate).

These measures would have the additional benefit of reducing net migration towards the level estimated by the Treasury (presumably the immigration “rate” that Burke wanted).

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 or Bluesky @abulrizvi.bsky.social.

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