SYDNEY – The prime minister of Australia has visibly hinted at discouraging immigration through fresh policies which would be announced soon.
The premier acknowledged that a review of the immigration system found abuses of Australia’s acceptance of international students.
“What we know is that we need to have a migration system that enables Australia to get the skills that we need but make sure the system is working in the interests of all Australians,” he told newsmen on Saturday.
Anthony Albanese was also skeptical of the effectiveness of the courses in which foreign students enroll, emphasizing the need to fix the system.
“People are coming here, enrolling in courses that don’t really add substantially to either their skills base or to the national interest here,” he said and added that there needs to be a crackdown against this practice.
The premier said that while the government already had a blueprint for increased housing and a $120bn infrastructure rollout, the full details of the immigration reforms would be announced next week.
“We have a plan to fix migration by ensuring Australia can get the skilled workers that Australia needs, but putting an end to any abuse and any rorts,” he said.
“The new Migration Strategy we’ll announce this week will bring migration back to sustainable levels. There was always going to be a jump post-Covid in our migration numbers,” he added.
Mr Albanese visibly implied to discourage immigration and said the Department of Treasury projected migration will decline significantly over the coming financial year.
When asked if the changes would include the incoming international students, the premier did not confirm a reduction in education-based visas but did issue a warning to anyone looking to game the system.
“It’s important … that people coming from countries like India … Indonesia, continue to get access to high-quality courses that make a difference to them but also produce income for Australia,” he said but added that multiple reviews of migration indicate that in some cases, the system has been abused.
