Dutton committed the Coalition to cutting down net migration by a further 100,000 people than the budget forecasts if he gets into government. This was a noteworthy development because Dutton had not yet come into this election campaign with a net migration target.
He has been promoting the Coalition’s promise to cut permanent migration by 25 per cent, but this isn’t the figure that has the most impact because permanent migrants are typically people who are already living in Australia. The net overseas migration numbers are the ones that show how much the population has actually grown.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton.Credit: James Brickwood
Labor has significantly exceeded its net migration targets every year, which is why the Coalition says it has failed to manage population growth.
Dutton announced a 160,000 target for net migration after the budget in 2024, a figure that scared businesses, which feared it would exacerbate workforce shortages.
He then walked away from that number in December, when the Coalition said it would give a revised “realistic” target, although the opposition has not put a number on net migration since.
But under questioning in today’s press conference, Dutton said the Coalition was committed to bringing down Labor’s numbers by 100,000 people.
Given the latest budget forecasts are for net migration of 260,000, this effectively reinstates Dutton’s old target.
This is a significant commitment from Dutton, who has revealed his policy to bring down student numbers by 30,000 more than Labor, but will need to target other areas of the migration program to achieve the numbers he is talking about.
