Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I do want to get through this answer. In Australia, over time, net overseas migration has gone up. If you take that 2010 benchmark, in what year was it the highest? When did we hit a record number of visas issued? When did we hit 9.6 million visas issued, the biggest upward pressure you could get on net overseas migration? It was in 2017-18. And who do you think was in charge of overseeing issuing each of those 9.6 million visas granted? It was the now Leader of the Opposition. So, out of full respect to him, that media conference and their decision today was completely true to form. While they've run the opposite rhetoric every time they have had the chance, they have put upward pressure after upward pressure, and this time they've made an announcement that they will vote for more upward pressure, that they will vote to let it rip on however many student visas get issued, however many come in—although I'll say that any immigration minister in the future will have a hell of a time trying to catch up with the number of visas issued by that man.

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