Pauline Hanson's One Nation party has unveiled a proposal to decrease Australia's temporary migrant population by approximately 750,000 individuals over a three-year period, advocating for a significant reduction in overall overseas migration.
The plan targets specific visa categories, including a reduction of 239,923 student visas, 229,674 graduate visas, and 103,448 temporary skilled visas. Additionally, it aims to reduce the number of bridging visa holders by 112,533 and address 80,000 unlawful non-citizens and individuals with expired visas.
Senator Hanson stated that the proposal is a response to the challenges faced by Australians, citing difficulties in securing rental accommodation and hospital beds, as well as young people being priced out of home ownership. She criticized the current political landscape, suggesting that successive governments have prioritized the demands of vested interests for continued mass migration at the expense of Australian living standards.
According to the proposal, the number of temporary visa holders has reportedly increased from 2 million in 2022 to roughly 3 million in 2026 under the current Labor government. One Nation argues that an expanding economy on paper does not translate to improved individual prosperity if citizens face housing shortages, strained public services, and stagnant wages.
The party's policy aims to revert the temporary migrant population to levels seen around 2017 and the international student population to 2015 levels. Following this reduction phase, One Nation proposes to implement a permanent net overseas migration ceiling of 130,000 per year, which would result in a net-negative overseas migration over the initial three-year period.