Australia’s annual migration cap could be reassessed but not until after the current limit of 160,000 is reached, something that will take some time, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.

Amid calls from business groups and leaders to allow a surge of migrants to make up for the lost years of the pandemic, and to then settle at a higher annual intake, Mr Morrison told The Australian Financial Review Business Summit “you just don’t turn the tap on and all of a sudden, 160,000 people turn up next week”.