Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has addressed the National Press Club after having postponed his address last month.
His speech titled, ‘The Work of Managing the Migration Program: Who Arrives, Who Stays, Who Leaves’ outlined the minister’s plan to overhaul Australia’s migration system.
The Announcement
Minister Burke reiterated in his announcement that his reforms aim to ensure Australia’s migration system meets the current needs of Australia. Removing unlawful non-citizens, reducing visa hopping and introducing a ballot system for second and third year Working Holiday visas are among some of the changes introduced to reduce temporary migration.
Six groups were the focus of his announcement: unlawful non- citizens, students, tourists, working holiday makers, skilled migrants and migration agents.
Working Holiday Makers
A ballot system will be introduced for second and third year working holiday makers who are required to work regionally. Only 45,000 working holiday makers will be able to stay for a second year and just 5,000 for a third year compared to 57,000 and 31,000 respectively in previous years.
British citizens will remain exempt from having to work regionally in their second and third years as the government will continue to honour a free trade agreement between Australia and the UK.
International Students
International students and those on graduate visas will no longer be able to bring family members with them to Australia. There will be some exceptions for PhD students and students from the Pacific and for the ASEAN nations This change applies to new student visas. Families of students currently studying in Australia will be permitted to stay.
International students will now only be able to extend their visa if they are transferring to a higher course. For example, once a student completes a bachelor’s degree, they can only apply for a master’s course, they cannot transfer ‘across’ to an entirely different area of study. This change is to avoid students visa hopping, however Mr Burke acknowledged there are at times legitimate reasons for students needing to change their course or extend their visa. To facilitate this change, the government will be setting up a ‘qualification scale’ where students can only progress up the scale.
Visitor Visas
Visitor Visas will now have a ‘no further stay’ provision. This change will only affect future visas, not visitor visa holders already in Australia. This change aims to ensure visitors are in fact genuine visitors and not using visitor visas as a pathway to an extended stay in Australia. While this provision already exists, it will become mandatory for new visitor visas.
Skilled Migrants
The skilled migration pathway will see a change to Ministerial Direction 119 which would give priority processing to key sectors including healthcare, construction, education, resources, agriculture and fisheries.
Changes will also be made to the points test to increase the economic value of skilled permanent migration, with housing construction trades to receive the same recognition as a university qualification.
Unlawful Non-Citizens
It is estimated there are currently 77,000 unlawful non-citizens in Australia. Those overstaying their visas will be taken into detention. This is a revival of a policy that was in place back in 2015 under the Liberal government.
To prepare for this action, the government will also seek more facilities, compliance officers and beds.
Migration Agents
The Minister foreshadowed sanctions against migration agents who make non-meritorious claims for protection on behalf of clients.
The Tony Burke Wishlist
While there will be quite substantial changes taking place, Tony Burke has outlined two gaps in his migration package – controlling student arrivals and disingenuous protection claims.
The minister would like to see an expression of interest mechanism introduced for student visas allowing the government to control student arrivals rather than just processing demand.
He would also like to introduce changes targeted at people with weak asylum claims after exhausting other visa pathways in order to remain in Australia during lengthy review and court processes.
These two changes require legislation to implement. He noted that at this stage Labor did not have a likely pathway through the parliament for these new laws.
Some Net Overseas Migration Stats
Tony Burke’s announcement coincided with the Australian Bureau of Statistics release of fresh migration data for the March quarter of this year.
The population grew by 130, 887, bringing Australia’s total population to 27.9 million. Generally, March is the biggest quarter for population growth as migrants and students move into the country.
Net Overseas Migration for the quarter was 101,006 which represented a 6% decrease compared to the same period in 2025.
Throughout the year, net overseas migration eased to 292,100 – the smallest figure since mid 2022. This figure is also below what was expected by the federal government in its most recent forecasts. Overall population growth eased to 1.4% over the last year. Excluding the pandemic, this is the lowest growth rate since 2011.
The changes introduced by the Home Affairs Minister indicate a continued focus on managing Australia’s migration program, strengthening compliance and ensuring migration settings support Australia’s economic and workforce needs.
To learn more about these changes or any other aspect of migration, contact the team of registered migration agents at Visa Solutions Australia.
