Updated ,first published
A sprawling new immigration taskforce with officers who could screen phone communications at the border and enforce visa conditions in the suburbs was central to the hardline migration policy that Sussan Ley was hoping to announce this week.
Tougher English language requirements, banning people from regional terror hotspots in 13 countries, and lower overall migrant numbers were also part of the policy that Ley’s office was preparing before she was removed.
“Australian values must form a core tenet of the political narrative surrounding our immigration policy,” the document, marked shadow cabinet-in-confidence, states.
The policy says the Liberals should argue that a lack of housing, growing demand for schools and hospitals, and busy trains and freeways were “a source of great frustration”.
New Liberal leader Angus Taylor last week made clear that cracking down on undesirable migration was a top priority as he and deputy leader Jane Hume seek to firm up the party’s support base and stop hundreds of thousands of voters drifting to One Nation.
But the leaked details of Ley’s plan will complicate Taylor’s next steps, as the blueprint has the fingerprints of an old leadership team that his conservative allies viewed as too soft on migration.
Taylor made shutting the door to “bad migration” a central part of his message as he introduced himself to voters last Friday.
“We shouldn’t discriminate based on race or religion, but we should based on values,” he said at the Centre for Independent Studies on Monday.
“We clearly don’t want to let radical terrorists, Islamist extremists, into the country. I mean that is clear. I think that’s a very widely held view across the Australian community, including the Muslim community.“
Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was one of many Liberals out taking about tougher migration laws in the wake of Angus Taylor’s leadership victory. While Ley had sent Price to the backbench in part for suggesting Indians were getting visas because they would vote Labor, Price insisted on Sunday she had nothing to apologise for.
Taylor’s next test will be over a stronger policy direction that can take on One Nation. On Friday, Pauline Hanson called on Taylor to reveal which countries he would target. “No one will ever be as strong as One Nation on immigration,” she said.
A key tenet of Ley’s seven-part plan was an $80 million taskforce called Operation Gatekeeper, which would be led by a senior intelligence officer and include ASIO, AFP and the border force.
The body would toughen up screening at the border, including by looking at people’s phones, similar to the controversial US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. According to two sources familiar with the plan, it would also operate in the community to enforce Labor’s new laws on hate crimes and terror symbols.
In drafting the policy, shadow ministers thought they risked being perceived as advocating for a body similar to Donald Trump’s ICE agency, whose militarised approach to policing immigration has made it unpopular in the US and led to several deaths of American citizens. The MPs had prepared to rebut these suggestions by arguing Gatekeeper would only enforce existing laws.
The policy would also deny visas to people from overseas regions controlled by Islamist terrorist groups. These could span up to 37 regions within the nations of Afghanistan, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine, Philippines, Somalia and Yemen.
It was designed to send a message to One Nation supporters that the Coalition wanted to lower migration from Muslim-majority countries. The party was concerned that it risked breaching Australia’s non-discriminatory policy, but hoped to avoid the criticism by using the criminal 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 Jerome Laxale said on Sky News that the Coalition was succumbing to populist instincts and ramping up anti-immigrant rhetoric, pointing out that Australia had welcomed many new migrants from the Philippines.
Another element of the policy would be bolstering the power of the Australian values statement that new visa applicants are already required to sign, by making it a condition of keeping a visa.
This would lower the threshold for deporting people because anyone found to breach the principles, which include respecting freedom of religion, equal opportunity and a “fair go”, could have their visa cancelled. The gatekeeper program was designed to help enforce Labor’s suite of new hate speech and terror symbols laws passed after the Bondi massacre.
Permanent visa applicants would also have to agree that they would make reasonable efforts to learn English.
The policy sought to fix loopholes in the legal review system that have allowed more than 100,000 people with failed asylum claims to stay in the country. This involved calling on Labor to speed up processing of reviews, something the government is working on for student visas, while committing to make sure people denied visas are deported.
The policy document did not include a funding proposal for Operation Gatekeeper and the expensive and complex task of deporting the group, which could cost hundreds of millions, but Liberal sources said they wanted to deploy the agency for that purpose in future.
The current ban on foreign ownership of existing homes would be extended for two years, to 2029, while temporary residents would be banned from buying new homes.
The Liberals would also cut down on international student numbers, make city universities build housing and crack down on dodgy providers – all things Labor has been working on. However, the Liberal policy would have a lower target for student numbers.
Ley wanted to tighten the skills list for new migrants, restricting it to industries with the greatest need, and find ways to recognise the qualifications of under-utilised migrant workers, particularly in the construction industry.
Finally, the Liberals planned to limit net overseas migration to 175,000, pausing visa processing to slow arrivals until housing supply and public services caught up. Net migration in the 2024-25 financial year was 306,000.
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Paul Sakkal is chief political correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and has won Walkley and Quill awards. Reach him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14Connect via X or email.
Natassia Chrysanthos is Federal Political Correspondent. She has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect via X or email.