Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Roberts. The first thing I'd like to say is that the Albanese government is very proud of the multicultural nature of the Australian population. I heard you earlier today in another debate, Senator Roberts, acknowledge that your own family has a fairly recent history of migration, and I think we should all recognise the very valuable contribution that migrants have played, and continue to play, in Australia. Having said that, we do acknowledge that there has been an increase in migration to Australia, particularly as a result of the pause to migration that occurred through the pandemic. The figures that have come out today are entirely expected and are consistent with the forecasts for net overseas migration that we set out in the mid-year budget review at the end of last year.

Migration levels are expected to have peaked in 2022-23 and are forecast to drop in half by next year. Our government is doing the hard work not done under the former government to bring migration back to sustainable levels—after all, comparable countries also experienced a surge post the pandemic. The changes that we made late last year are having a significant and immediate impact. For example, student visa grants are down more than 35 per cent on last year's level, and I know for a fact that Minister O'Neil, Minister Clare and Minister O'Connor have been working very hard on trying to tackle some of the rorts that were left behind in the international student visa system. That is having results in terms of bringing those student visa grants down by more than 35 per cent on last year's level.

The data that has been released today doesn't take into account the very substantial actions that our government has taken to bring down net overseas migration, and that's because most of those actions were implemented mid to late last year. But we recognise that this as an issue for Australians, and we're taking action to deal with it.