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

Of course, with net migration, the key driver that any government has over it is how many visas you issue. There are some visas where we've taken action, like we have with respect to student visas—action which they voted to make unlimited. There are other actions we've taken—for example, we got rid of the 'golden ticket' visa, one of the things that would feed into net migration figures. The 'golden ticket' visa, the one that we've previously described as 'cash for visas', is something that the Leader of the Opposition wants to bring back.

But the overriding control you have in immigration is how many visas you issue. Now, in terms of the concept of record highs on that input, it has only happened twice in Australian history that a minister for home affairs or immigration has issued more than nine million visas. It has only happened twice. It wasn't me as minister. It wasn't my predecessors. Who possibly would've issued more than nine million visas for two consecutive years? No-one else has caught up with this record.

Honourable members interjecting—

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