Leaked documents reveal hardline plans for phone screening and visa enforcement
A sprawling new immigration task force, staffed with officers who can screen phone communications at the border and enforce visa conditions in the suburbs, was at the heart of the tough immigration policy Sussan Ley hopes to announce this week.
Stricter English language requirements, banning people from regional terrorism hotspots in 13 countries and lower immigration numbers overall were also part of the policy Ley’s office was drafting before he was ousted.
The policy, which points to the shadow cabinet, states that “Australian values should form the central tenet of the political narrative surrounding our immigration policy.”
The document says the Liberals should argue that the lack of housing, increasing demand for schools and hospitals, and busy trains and highways are “a source of great frustration”.
New Liberal leader Angus Taylor made clear last week that curbing unwanted immigration was a top priority as he and deputy leader Jane Hume sought to consolidate the party’s support base and stop hundreds of thousands of voters shifting to One Nation.
But leaked details of Ley’s plan will complicate his next steps because it bears the fingerprints of a former leadership team that Taylor’s conservative allies viewed as too soft on immigration.
Taylor made closing the door on “bad immigration” a central part of his message as he introduced himself to voters.
“We should not discriminate on the basis of race or religion, but on the basis of values,” he said in a speech at the Center for Independent Studies on Monday.
“We clearly don’t want to allow radical terrorists, Islamic extremists, to come into the country. I mean, that’s clear. I think that’s a pretty widespread view in the Australian community, including the Muslim community.”
Taylor’s next test will be on a stronger policy direction that can capture One Nation. On Friday, Pauline Hanson called on Taylor to clarify which countries he would target. “No one will be as strong as One Nation on immigration,” he said.
A key tenet of Ley’s seven-part plan was an $80 million task force called Operation Gatekeeper, which would be led by a senior intelligence officer and include ASIO, the AFP and the border force.
According to the controversial US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the agency will strengthen screenings at the border, including scanning people’s phones. The organization will also operate in the community to enforce Labour’s new laws on hate crimes and terrorist symbols, according to two sources familiar with the plan.
When drafting the policy, shadow ministers felt they ran the risk of being perceived as advocating an agency similar to Donald Trump’s ICE, whose militaristic approach to policing immigration has made it unpopular in the US. MPs were preparing to rebut these proposals, arguing that Gatekeeper would only enforce existing laws.
The policy will also deny visas to people from overseas territories controlled by Islamist terrorist groups. These can be spread across up to 37 regions within the countries of Afghanistan, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine, the Philippines, Somalia and Yemen.
It was designed to send a message to One Nation supporters that the Coalition wanted to reduce immigration from Muslim-majority countries. The party was concerned about the risk of violating Australia’s non-discrimination policy, but hoped to avoid criticism by using punitive provisions on terrorist hotspots such as the Mindanao region of the Philippines, rather than targeting entire countries based on their ethnic or religious makeup.
Labor MP Jermome Laxale said on Sky News that the Coalition had succumbed to populist instincts and increased anti-immigrant rhetoric, noting that Australia welcomed many new immigrants from the Philippines.
Another element of the policy is to strengthen the power of the Australian values declaration, which new visa applicants are currently required to sign, by making it a condition of holding a visa.
This would lower the threshold for deporting people because anyone found to have violated principles such as respect for religious freedom, equal opportunity and “fair treatment” could have their visa revoked. The watchdog scheme is designed to help enforce the new package of hate speech and terrorist symbols legislation that Labor passed after the Bondi massacre.
Permanent visa applicants will also need to agree to make reasonable efforts to learn English.
The policy was aimed at addressing loopholes in the legal review system that has allowed more than 100,000 people with failed asylum claims to remain in the country. This included calling on Labor to speed up vetting processes the government is working on for student visas, as well as committing to ensuring people who are refused visas are deported.
Operation Gatekeeper was not immediately allocated funds for the task of deporting the group, an expensive and complex task that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but Liberal sources said they wanted to task the agency for that purpose in the future.
The current ban on foreign ownership of existing homes will be extended for two years until 2029, with temporary residents banned from buying new homes.
The Liberals will also reduce the number of international students, build housing at city universities and crack down on dodgy providers; Everything Labor has been working on. However, the Liberal policy target for student numbers will be lower.
Ley wanted to narrow down the skills list for new immigrants, limit it to sectors where they are needed most, and find ways to recognize the qualifications of underutilized immigrant workers, particularly in the construction industry.
Finally, the Liberals planned to limit net overseas immigration to 175,000 and slow arrivals by pausing visa processing until housing supply and public services caught up. Net migration in the 2024-25 fiscal year was 306,000.
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Paul Sakkal is the chief political correspondent. It has previously covered Victorian politics and won the Walkley and Quill awards. Reach him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14Connect with: X or email.
Natassia Chrysanthos is a Federal Political Correspondent. He has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
