Australia’s immigration program should discriminate against migrants based on their values, according to Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, who will use his first major policy speech to claim that too many self-serving migrants have taken advantage of the country and eroded its national culture.
Taylor will also take aim at the approximately 1300 Gazans who came to Australia after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, warning they “present a clear risk to our country” and arguing “that cohort must be re-assessed entirely with far greater scrutiny”.
In an inflammatory speech that borrows from the Trump administration’s hardline approach to border protection and deportations, and seeks to appeal to voters who have abandoned the Coalition for Pauline Hanson, Taylor will argue at the Menzies Research Centre on Tuesday morning that “declining immigration standards have seen our door opened to too many migrants of transactional intent”.
“Australia has a non-discriminatory immigration program. We do not discriminate based on nationality, race, gender or faith. But for an immigration program to work in the national interest, it must discriminate based on values,” he will say, according to speech extracts.
“Our nation has paid the price for believing that anyone, from anywhere, will embrace our way of life. Not everyone wanting to migrate to Australia has a noble intent. Not everyone wanting to migrate to Australia will be a net benefit to Australia – indeed, many will be a net drain.”
The Coalition has been wrestling with its message on immigration since it was defeated by Labor in most urban electorates at last year’s election and then usurped by One Nation in major national polls. Public polling has shown widespread concern about migration levels, which surged after the pandemic. The migration numbers have since stabilised, but remain above the long-term average.
Taylor took over the leadership this year promising to cut immigration and bolster standards as a point of difference from former leader Sussan Ley, who at times took a conciliatory tone on immigration to woo back multicultural communities.
But Ley toughened her message throughout her tenure as she came under siege from right faction MPs who wanted the Coalition to take a tougher line. Taylor’s pitch contains some elements of the plan being crafted under Ley’s leadership while dramatically escalating the opposition’s rhetoric.
His policy includes making compliance with Australian values a compulsory visa condition, mandatory social media screening, re-introducing temporary protection visas after they were abolished by Labor in 2023, fast-tracking the rejection of unfounded asylum claims and scaling up deportations.
The speech does not outline his ideal immigration intake but instead lays down battlelines over culture and values that will set the Coalition apart from Labor, which has been emphasising the value of migration to Australia, while moving it closer to One Nation’s position.
“Australians are fed up with politically correct preaching on immigration,” Taylor will say.
“Looking to parts of the UK and Europe, Australians see the erosion of national culture and the Balkanisation of communities that have come from immigration policies that which haven’t prioritised values. Indeed, Australians are worried we’re on the same disastrous road.
“Our door has also been opened to people who, while rejecting hate and violence, nevertheless still reject our core values. People who don’t believe in equal rights for men and women. People who don’t believe in the rule of law and want to establish parallel legal systems. People who don’t believe in freedom of speech, association and religion.
“For too long, we’ve turned a blind eye to a reality of immigration and integration: Those who migrate from liberal democracies have a greater likelihood of subscribing to Australian values compared to those migrating from places ruled by fundamentalists, extremists and dictators.”
Coalition platform echoes Ley, Hanson and Trump
The Coalition’s policy will make the Australian Values Statement, which all new migrants are currently required to sign, a condition of their visa. This means their visas can be cancelled if they don’t abide by its contents, which includes elements such as supporting freedom of religion, a fair go and English as the national language.
This was a key element of former opposition leader Sussan Ley’s mooted policy, this masthead previously revealed, although immigration experts have already raised concerns about the legal difficulty of determining when values had been breached.
The idea of a “safe country list” for asylum claims would allow the government of the day to fast-track assessments and more speedily reject claims. This is designed to deal with a backlog of about 65,000 people who are in Australia after exhausting all avenues for protection visas, although the Coalition has not specified which countries will be on that list.
Applicants from China and India usually make up the largest number of monthly asylum applicants. While a majority are rejected, dozens of their claims are approved each year. An opposition source clarified that the safe country list would not be a blanket ban on any country and that exceptions would be possible.
Law enforcement agencies would get extra funding to deport unlawful non-citizens, while Taylor also announced an “enhanced screening co-ordination centre” within the Department of Home Affairs, involving ASIO, the AFP and the Australian Border Force.
“The centre will stop radicals, extremists, and terrorists from entering our country,” he will say, by screening social media accounts and boosting the vetting of new migrants.
James Massola is chief political commentator. He was previously national affairs editor and South-East Asia correspondent. He has won Quill and Kennedy awards and been a Walkley finalist. Connect securely on Signal @jamesmassola.01Connect 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.
